“Does Asa know about the tunnels? Surely he does,” she deflected, staring at her boots. She didn’t want Malachi to know why she was really asking about the passageways, and yet she found herself wondering at his answer all the same. “Your brother had me sneak out to meet him, but he never told me about any tunnels. I was wondering, you know… if there was a reason he didn’t tell me.”

Probably he thought her getting caught not worth sharing the secret.

“He didn’t tell you because he didn’t know,” Malachi said, surprising her. “My father only told me.”

“What were the tunnels made for, then?” Nomi asked.

“For escape,” Malachi said. “To protect the Superior. Just after the Floods—”

“You mean the coup to overthrow the queen of Viridia,” she corrected. It was his own fault—he’d given her a book detailing the true history of Viridia… now she knew the Floods were not the natural disaster they’d been made out to be, but a deliberate effort to sabotage the country and the queen’s power. Her advisors had overthrown her, and the first Superior had taken her and her two daughters as his first Graces.

The story still made Nomi feel sick.

Malachi cleared his throat. Renzo looked up with a “What?” but they ignored him. “Yes, after the coup,” Malachi continued. “The palazzo was rebuilt, but the Superior and his advisors were worried about retaliation. He made sure there was an escape route.”

“And he oppressed the women of Viridia in every way he could, so there never would be retaliation.” Nomi stood up and paced, her heart beating too fast.

“What are you talking about?” Renzo asked, his gaze flicking between the two of them.

“The history you were taught in school wasn’t entirely accurate,” Nomi said, but she didn’t explain further. She had too much to think about, too much rage pumping through her veins.

By twilight, Nomi had made up her mind. Malachi was not the only one desperate for revenge. And she didn’t need to wait for a regiment to help her get it.

“Dessert?” Renzo asked, holding out a pastry.

She shook her head. In the guise of tidying up, she took stock of Renzo’s belongings as she folded them: three linen shirts, his wool jacket, one heavy cloak, two pairs of pants. His schoolbooks, notebook, and one graphite pencil. Three blankets, a single pillow, his boots. The money purse. She and Malachi had a bag, a flagon, her prison clothes, and a few silvers between them.

Renzo insisted that she take the pillow when they settled down to sleep. Nomi chose a spot on the floor near her brother, and she hugged him tightly and kissed his cheek before they lay down.