“Don’t lump me in with you,” Malachite instantly fires out. “I didn’t betray anyone.”

“We’re very different creatures,” I agree. “Your honor is pristine, and I never had any to begin with. I suppose it left with all my memories of my old life.”

“Memories?” Lucien asks, quiet.

“Oh. You didn’t know?” I examine my nails carelessly. “When our hearts are taken out, we forget everything about our human lives before that moment. Mothers, fathers, growing up, sad memories and happy ones, loving ones and hateful ones—all of it. Gone.”

None of the three speaks. The muggy summer air chokes us all silent, the droning of the cicadas filling the quiet.

Malachite, ever the brave one, blurts, “If I didn’t know better, I’d say you were trying to make us feel sorry for you.”

I snort. “I’m long past trying to make any of you feel anything for me. It won’t get me my heart anymore. So there’s no real point.”

“Then what are you doing beneath South Gate?” Lucien asks sharply. “I’ve tried to get in. I’ve gone by every route, old and new, but the security is impenetrable.”

“And I’ve tried to bribe every last guard,” Fione offers. “Every polymath, every adjacent laborer. But no one budges. Someone always budges. Always. But not this time.”

They’ve been working so hard. They can’t just leave well enough alone, can they? I smile sympathetically. “And that worries you, doesn’t it?”

“Answer their spiritsdamn questions!” Malachite demands.

I shrug.

“She might not be able to,” Fione murmurs. “I’ve seen Varia command her to do…terrible things. She could have command her to stay silent.”

“She hasn’t,” I correct. “But why would I talk?”

Fione and Malachite share a look, and Lucien’s eyes harden. It’s never been clearer than in this moment that they think of me as an enemy. I could wipe away all their suspicion, all their wariness, if I just told them what was going on. If I told them about the valkerax, surely their feelings for me would soften. We wouldn’t go back to the way things were, but at least it wouldn’t be this crushing mistrustfulness anymore.

But the valkerax is dangerous. The Bone Tree is dangerous. Varia’s keeping them in the dark for a reason—she doesn’t want them to be associated with the fallout of it. She wants to take all the power and all the hate and fear that come with it. And she’s right. Anyone involved with the Bone Tree will be public enemy number one when Varia finally gets it.

They’ll be safer not knowing.

I breathe in. “Varia’s offering my heart to do what I do, quietly and quickly. And you three are offering me, well.” I smile wider, looking Lucien up and down. “Nothing but heartbreak and threats.”