“Did I wake you?”
“It’s okay.” I snuggle closer to him.
He shows me his phone screen. On a black field, there are two glowing green spots signaling where Noah’s trackers are.
I go to ask a question, and Noah puts a finger to my lips. Eyes and ears, he signs, pointing around the room.
I widen my eyes. If I’m understanding correctly, Noah thinks the Blackthroats are surveilling us.
“Really?” I mouth. I remember Sully telling us the guards would keep their distance, but maybe that promise ended at dawn.
He points to one of the green lights on the screen. O he signs. For Oriana.
L, I sign and point to the other green light. He nods.
I sigh, settling closer. This is why he’s awake so early. He’s watching his mother and half-sister, trying to figure out how to free them. The mark on my shoulder throbs, and my heart swells with tenderness for my caring, courageous mate.
The green light that represents Liora is on the move.
“Gardens,” I mouth to him. Looks like she’s up early to do her chores. “I wish we could see her.”
“I have audio.” He switches over to a text file and hands it over to me. “The tracker listens, but it’s one way. I can’t communicate with her, and I need a computer to access my drones, so I can get visuals. But even then, we won’t be able to talk to her.”
“Maybe Brick will loan you one,” I joke. I’m not sure if the stern Alpha is going to help us yet.
I hope so.
I scroll through the file. It’s a long transcript of all the audio the tracker picked up. A lot of it is garbled, but some of it is tagged as either “Liora” or Unidentified Speaker.”
It’s several pages long. I skim the first few paragraphs and get the gist. I use his phone to type,
Liora’s been ordered by the Warden to help prepare the females for purification.
What’s purification? Noah fingerspells purification.
I love that we’re using ASL for covert communication. I can’t wait to learn enough to be fluent.
For now, I use his phone to type the message.
The Warden sends the females to a sacred spring near the Tower to bathe and prepare for the rites. The Seeress usually oversees it.
That’s probably when Oma started drugging the acolytes to make them docile.
A phantom pain shoots through me, faint but pulsing through my limbs. Is it regret? Or a warning?
No, I don’t have premonitions anymore. This is just my psyche reaching for my gift–and finding nothing.
Maybe I do feel regret.
I bite my lip.
The lunar eclipse is in two days,
Noah types.
We’re running out of time.
Plan?
