Still, I keep my chin high and match his stare. I’ve spent six months in Cardinia worrying about how he feels and what he’s capable of doing. I know how to handle it.

As guards remove the bodies, I return to my place beside Constantine. The bond between us settles into its usual state, tense and uneasy. I stay calm. He’s going to send me out into the city, most likely, to comb every inch of the streets, supervised by teams of soldiers. He’s going to want me to be the one who finds Adena and Aramin and ends their lives.

But when he speaks again, that’s not what he says. Instead, he turns to me and gives me a bitter smile. “I have another surprise for you this morning, Talin. I think you know why. After all, given what’s been happening, I think it’s wise to move your mother a bit early. Don’t you agree?”

The mayor’s gaze flickers to me, and there, I see a hint of fear. She hadn’t expected this from him.

I meet Constantine’s look without blinking, determined to hold my own. But his words cut straight through my defenses, the claw of it clenching around my heart. He knows.

I didn’t free them, I say through our bond.

Of course you didn’t, Constantine replies, his voice smooth and sincere.

But when I look at him, all I see are his eyes, dark and impenetrable, searing into me. Searching for secrets.

“Come with me, Talin,” he says, gesturing for me to follow him. The other guards fall into step around me. “There’s someone I want you to see.”

29

TALIN

The place where Constantine leads us isn’t anywhere near the solstice festivities. As the rest of the city remains festooned with banners and people continue to celebrate in the streets, we head to the walls of Cardinia, toward the various rail bridges that arc over the river surrounding the exterior of the city.

Here, along one of the bridges running through the back of the city, there are no banners. No people wander along the outer wall to admire the river. This is an overgrown section of the river, weedy and thick with mud, the bridge crumbling slightly. And when we arrive, there are only a few soldiers standing at the ready, waiting for us.

They have a prisoner with them. It’s an older woman, hair gone white as my mother’s, with her hands bound firmly in front of her. Basean, judging from the tatters of her clothing. She’s on her knees in the middle of the bridge as we approach her, and when she looks up to see the Premier, she starts trembling uncontrollably.

On Constantine’s other side, the mayor doesn’t miss a step. But as we stop and she shifts to stand next to us, she catches my gaze for a second. She looks helpless. Like she knows something terrible is about to happen.

I don’t recognize the prisoner. She’s not my mother. But she resembles her so much that I freeze in my tracks behind the Premier, my eyes locked on the bound woman.