“We can try to send word to him. He can join us.”
“How? They’ve got a tracker on him,” I say in frustration. “He’s a prisoner.”
Cross barks out a disbelieving laugh. “And you want me to be one, too? Wren. Wake up. I can’t work with the Uprising.”
“And I can’t turn the other cheek and pretend the Company isn’t experimenting on Mods, that your brothers aren’t killing us. I know you believe that Adrienne is corrupting minds, but I promise you, if you come back with me, we’ll get to the bottom of it. I genuinely don’t think she would do that.”
“She is,” he says flatly.
Sadness creeps into my chest, filling all the little cracks in my heart that are beginning to form with every word that comes out of his mouth. Because I don’t know where this is going, and it scares me.
“You would really leave with me tonight?”
He doesn’t even hesitate. “Yes.”
“And do what? Where do you propose we go, Cross? Join a Faithful camp?”
“It doesn’t matter what we do, as long as we’re together. You and me. Wolf and Daisy.” His voice grows hoarse. “I love you. I’ve loved you my whole life.”
Tears prick my eyelids. “I love you, too.”
He bridges the distance between us. He’s so much taller than me, and I have to tilt my head to look at him. He leans in and presses his forehead against mine. My heart is pounding. Nothing ever prepared me for this. For this love that makes me feel both invincible and utterly fragile.
“Then let’s go,” he says, his warm breath tickling the tip of my nose.
“That isn’t a plan, Cross. You don’t even know where we would go, how we would live.”
“Doesn’t matter.”
I meet his eyes. “And if people’s minds really are being corrupted? Children’s minds? You’re willing to walk away and let that happen?”
“Yes. Because maybe the Continent is a lost cause. Maybe the people here can’t be saved.” He strokes my cheek with his thumb. “Say the word and we’re gone. We can start fresh. Find somewhere new. Just us.”
I clamp my teeth over my bottom lip to keep the tears at bay. We’re standing less than a foot apart, yet I feel the distance between us. Vast. Unbridgeable.
“I can’t,” I whisper.
His jaw clenches, blue eyes shadowed with hurt.
“I agreed to fight this war. Ineedto fight this war. Your brother executed sixteen Mods this morning. My own parents killedhundredsof Mods—”
“Is that what this is about?” he interrupts. “You see pledging yourself to the Uprising as atonement? A way to make up for the damage your parents caused? Because it’s not your responsibility to do that.”
“Maybe not, but if I can undo even a fraction of their betrayal by helping to overthrow Prime rule, then I have to do it. I can’t abandon my people.”
Cross grips the edges of his black jacket as though he’s trying to hold himself together. His knuckles whiten, shoulders tensing as if he’s bracing for a blow. “So you’d rather abandon me?”
“That’s not what I’m saying—”
“It’s fine. Just go.”
My breath catches, sharp and painful, and I feel my knees going weak. I sway forward, instinctively reaching out, but stop myself before I touch him. I know if I do, I’ll start to cry.
“What, it’s over between us then?” I choke out. My voice is trembling.
He looks away, jaw tight, and scrapes a hand down his face. The fact that he hesitates rips a hole right through my heart.
“I don’t know.”
