“I don’t know.” Kerrigan pushed the fire hotter, and Valia screamed. “I swear I don’t know. He wears a Red Mask at all times. It molds to his face so that even in death, we’ll never know who he is. Isa may know who he is, but I do not. I’m not sure anyone else does.”

“It’s not Lorian?”

But Kerrigan already knew the answer. She knew it before Valia started shaking her head. Lorian wasn’t the leader of the Red Masks. He was just a bigot. One who would suffer for the sins of others.

“Did Lorian do the things that he was accused of?”

A tear streaked down her cheek. “No,” she choked out. “It was a plant.”

Kerrigan released her in a rush. “We have to stay the execution.”

Valia grabbed her arm before she could go dashing back toward the mountain. “It’s too late. He’s already gone.”

“You let an innocent man die!”

“Lorian Van Horn was not innocent,” Valia said. “He was not a Red Mask, but he was hardly innocent. You can’t save everyone, Kerrigan.”

“I can damn well try,” she said, shaking her hand off and heading back toward the mountain.

“I’m offering you a chance!” Valia rushed after her.

Kerrigan turned back to face the real traitor in their midst. “A chance at what? Leading me astray again? You said yourself that they’ll kill you for this.”

“Yes, if they find out. Like if you barge in there right now and explain how Lorian is innocent. But”—Valia raised her chin and met her head-on—“if we work together, maybe we can stop Father before it’s too late.”

“How do I know that this isn’t another trick? How do I know that the Father didn’t send you to do this?”

“You don’t,” she said, swiping at her tears. “You have no way of knowing, but I swear to you on the grave of my mother that I am telling you the truth.”

“I could never trust you.”

“No,” Valia agreed with a sigh. She dropped her chin to chest, a wash of shame coming to her cheeks. “But you could still work with me.” She lifted her head again and met Kerrigan’s stare with one of matching fury. “I’m done watching the world burn and doing nothing about it.”

Kerrigan looked at the girl and saw her for the very first time. She had blood on her hands and weight on her shoulders. She’d been raised to be a spy and an assassin for a broken man. Kerrigan might never have this chance again. It would mean she would be trading Lorian’s life for information to bring down the whole bloody organization.

“If you betray me, I will unleash on you a thousand fold.”

“I know,” Valia said with a smile. “I know you, Kerrigan.”