But I’d hoped. I close my eyes and force my shoulders to remain strong and straight. It’s one thing to know a truth in your head but another to understand it in your heart. I’ve known that Elias wasn’t mine to love and I would never be his. But my heart has always wanted to believe differently.

I think about Abigail when I saw her on the bridge. Her clean hair and smooth skin. Of course it would be her he loves: my sister. My twin. The girl who’s just like me in every way except that she’s soft where I’m hard and she’s hot where I’m cold and she’s pretty while I’m hideous.

She’s perfect. And I am not.

When I open my eyes Ox is staring at me with a knowing look, as if he can read my mind. It makes my stomach roil. I don’t like this stranger thinking he understands me.

I jut my chin out. “Where is Abi—” I swallow the name I was about to say. “Where is my sister?”

He raises an eyebrow at me as if this is a game and I’ve just stumbled right where he wants me. “She’s here,” he says, waving his hand in the air. “She’s fine. She caused a scene on the bridge from the mainland and Conall brought her back here knowing Elias would eventually figure it out and take care of the rest.”

I press my lips together and stare back over the river to the City, watching how the clouds are slowly eating away at the top stories of the tallest buildings. Soon the snow will fall, turning it all into one bright blank canvas.

How long until every inch of it’s stained with blood?

“You’re a fighter,” he says. There’s respect in his voice, and it warms my skin, but other than that I don’t respond.

He leans forward and braces his hands against the short wall ringing the roof. “You can’t have survived in this city without fighting.” He glances at me. “Especially as a woman alone.”

I ignore him, but he keeps talking as if trying to provoke a reaction from me.

“If there’s anything I know about fighters like you, it’s that you won’t give up. I know that even right now you’re thinking of ways to get out of this. To get the upper hand. Maybe figure a way off this island.”

He’s completely right but still I say nothing.

He shrugs. “If I were you I’d be doing the same thing.” Abruptly he stands back up, straightens his black Recruiter uniform.

“See, this is what you need to understand,” he says, stepping closer, using his bulk to intimidate me. “I know how you think because I’m just like you: a fighter and a survivor. This is why you need to understand something: this is your last chance at safety.”

As if to punctuate what he’s saying, he places a heavy hand on my shoulder, and I jerk back, brushing his touch away. “I’m just letting you know where reality stands so you can make the right decision.”