“It makes sense from a military standpoint,” Eris said. Her voice was soft, but the expression on her face was tight. Rhea wished she could touch her again to catch a glimpse of her feelings. “Create someone loyal from birth, who can’t be compromised. But you were never programmed by the Oracle.”

“I couldn’t be. They learned from an earlier testing group that Evoli abilities are incompatible with programming.”

“Unless they’ve had a brain injury,” Eris said softly, her expression inscrutable. “But for the most part, yes.”

Rhea frowned. Now, more than ever, she wondered about who Eris was before she became a member of the resistance. How did she know so much about the Evoli? How did she withstand Rhea’s abilities?

“But you affect emotions,” Nyx said, drawing Rhea from her thoughts. “It’s how you helped Ariadne deprogram me.” Nyx’s face was implacable, but Rhea felt the other woman’s unease. “And you can control people. Why didn’t you just escape Tholos on your own? Why did you need us?”

“The Archon and Damocles are mostly immune to me.” Rhea bit her lip. She decided not to bring up Eris, despite her questions. “And influencing more than one person at a time takes too much concentration. I usually have to be touching them. The amount of ichor here seems to be making the difference—I’m not usually so . . .”

Out of control, she almost said.

Rhea kept her walls up, trying to keep their emotions separate from hers. Her heart hammered. Keeping the illusion was like having a layer of dried paint on at all times. She felt strangely free.

“I guessed who you were,” Ariadne admitted. “When you knocked Cato out with your abilities. The Oracle had files on the Evoli DNA experiments and mentioned one living child, but she was always referred to as TBDAM-43425.”

“Wait a minute, when she knocked me out with what?” Cato asked.

“You were going to kill Ariadne,” Rhea said. “There are still bruises on her neck, Cato.”

Cato quieted, his expression flickering with shame. But his unease remained. Rhea couldn’t read thoughts, not exactly, but she’d guess he was wondering if there was much difference between Rhea and the Oracle. If Rhea wanted, she could make Cato throttle someone against his will, too. But only one at a time. There was an Empire of difference between her and the machine, she wanted to say.

Rhea kept looking out at the hills, away from the others’ scrutiny. The view was so peaceful, marred by the ichor threading through the floating island beneath her feet. Wind rustled through the trees as it swept down onto the floating island. Rhea wished she didn’t have her helmet on; it would make breathing so much easier. She was still nauseated, and her body trembled.

Nyx frowned. “What does TBDAM stand for? That’s not the usual cohort naming system.”