Talin looks on, seemingly amused, as her mother then turns away from us to check on Adena’s bruises. Then she sits down on the step beside me and gives me a smile.

Hello, she says to me.

To be close enough to her again that I can communicate, to once more hear her voice through my bond, strong and steady.

It brings tears to my eyes. I laugh a little and look down, embarrassed, and blink rapidly as if to get rid of them.

Hello, I answer back through our link.

The sound of my voice in her mind must startle her too, because her smile widens and her eyes gleam in the fading light. She looks like she wants to tell me something more, hesitates, then smiles again, shyer this time.

Your mother’s doing well? I ask her. Her hand…?

Talin glances over her shoulder to where Adena is now complaining gently about her mother’s concern. She will be, she answers. She never tells me about her pains. But she’s happy to see us all here.

My lips twitch in a small smile. If the Federation let her, she could have this entire nation sorted out before sunset.

I believe it, Talin replies with a whisper of a laugh. Then she glances with concern at my bandages. Your back, she says.

I just turn so that my bandaged back is facing her. Why? I ask, glancing over my shoulder at her. Does it look bad?

She tilts her head playfully at me. Not your best look.

I’ll grow out of it.

She smiles, then looks over to where Adena moans halfheartedly as Talin’s mother rewraps a bandage around a cut on the Striker’s arm. On impulse, I reach out to take Talin’s hand gently in mine.

Touching her. The real her, here, in the flesh. It feels so good. My hand tightens around her fingers, and she squeezes back.

Thank you, Talin says after a pause. Her smile is gone now, replaced by a grave expression. I never thought I’d see her again. And then you got her out of there.

I hesitate, bashful now myself, unsure what to say. We needed you here, I say. With the rebellion, not at Constantine’s side.

Talin’s emotions waver through our bond, and I suddenly curse myself. Nicely done, Red. Tell her more about how the only reason you saved her mother was because you needed her to fight for the rebellion.

I clear my throat and prepare to tell her the real reason—but the mayor is taking a seat near us in the courtyard, and everyone around her hushes, turning in her direction to hear what she has to say. My moment passes. I force my answer down as Talin turns toward the mayor too. Our hands slide free.

Mayor Elland looks weary, tired in a way that seems unlike her. Still, when she speaks, her voice is strong and steady. “The Premier knows the edges of his Federation are crumbling,” she tells us. Beside me, Jeran translates in a soft voice to Aramin and Adena. “He knew the rebellion was stirring here in the capital, poisoning his authority. That’s what he meant the slaughter in the arena to be—a warning.”