“Fuck it, I’m in,” he said.
“Are you sure?” I repeated the same question.
“I don’t want you to get in trouble.” Alina shook her head.
“It’s too late for that,” Frid responded.
“You could let me go and tell them I escaped,” Alina continued.
“They’ll execute us for treason,” Victor snorted.
“Even if it wasn’t your fault?” Alina asked.
“Girl, why do you think we were chasing you all over the wastelands?” Frid chuckled.
“I ... didn’t know that.” Alina lowered her head.
“What do we do?” Frid’s eyes met mine.
“We can’t stay here.” I looked at all of them.
“Where are we going?” Frid asked.
“I need to think about it.” I exhaled.
“Is it possible to cross the border?” Alina offered, her eyes shifting from face to face before stopping on me.
“I’m not sure,” I said.
“They brought me here. There should be a way.” Alina pressed.
I thought about everything I knew about the border.
When was it deemed off limits for the general population?
It happened when the council came to power and the reason they gave us was that the border was magically sealedto contain the spread of the disease. It made perfect sense, but it seemed that the council was still crossing the borders and traveling to the land of commoners. No surprise there. People with power always took as much as they could get away with.
I leaned back in my chair, unsure of where to go next.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
ALINA
Icould not believe my ears when I heard the new plan Tynan introduced to the others. They would risk everything for me. They would do that for a girl they have only just met. He was not going to take me back to prison. My eyes got watery and something heavy settled deep in my chest. I looked at Tynan, except now I saw him in a different light. He was not cruel or unfeeling, everything he did was to protect his friends. He did not want to return me to the people who kidnapped me. The magnitude of those revelations was something I did not know how to deal with.
I picked up my cup and stirred the amber liquid, noticing that my fingers were shaking.
“Why?” I could not stop the question escaping my lips. “Why would you do something like that for a stranger?” I asked, forgetting that there were others around us.
Tynan’s eyes focused on my face, then he clenched his jaw, and for a long moment I thought that he would not respond.
“Because there’s more than just surviving,” he said at last.
I looked at him confused. Tynan caught my expression and his eyes darkened.
“There’s also honor,” he added.
My gaze shifted to the others and all of them agreed. Even Victor looked uncommonly serious.
