“What did the others do with Cylas?”
“They took him to a secure location underground to extract information from him.”
I scoff. “Good luck with that. He’s not going to tell you anything.”
“Oh, you’d be surprised. We’re very resourceful,” he replies with a grin.
“How long have you been a part of the rebellion?”
“It’s been brewing for a while,” he says as he twirls one of the kitchen knives in between his fingers. “Things picked up about eight months before you arrived at the Sector your first year and that’s when I was recruited. It was really the change in the training regimen that was the last straw for people.”
“Oh yes, I had heard about that, but he had changed it back?” I counter.
“By then it was too late. Once everyone got a glimpse of who he truly was there was no going back.”
“And what about now? I’ve seen the crowds. People are praising him for ending the rebellion.”
“Some, yes. He’s a smart man as much as I hate to admit it. But this rebellion started long before I got involved and it’s not going away until the king is out of power.”
“Well, you better have one hell of a trick up your sleeve if you think you can go up against him.”
“Oh, honey, it’s not a trick we have. It’s an army.”
Chapter 6
Artemus promised me I’d get more answers later tonight, and seeing as how he did save me, I don’t push it. In the meantime, Tilly offers to give me a tour of the house. Just like the outside, this house is deceptive. I expected the inside to be small with maybe two or three bedrooms, but I couldn’t have been more wrong.
There are eight rooms in total, and they already prepared one of them for me. How exactly they knew I would be coming is one of those questions I was promised I would get answers to tonight.
When we get back to the main living room, Artemus is waiting with a coy smile.
“I may not be able to give you all the answers you seek, but I can give you these.” He pulls his hands out from behind his back and holds out a pair of daggers.
“Are you serious?” I squeal, running over to him.
“They’re all yours.” He flips both of them in his hands and catches them by the blade so that I can grab the hilts. They’re not as perfect as the ones Damien gifted me for my birthday, but I don’t care. It just feels good to be holding a set of daggers again. “What do you say we brush up on those throwing skills of yours?”
If I have to wait until tonight to get the rest of my answers, I can’t think of a better way to distract myself until then. I follow him out back to a tree with a target nailed to it. It’s just like the one that was there the day I met him in Cyron.
Unlike last time, there’s no clanging noise following my throw. I didn’t quite hit the bullseye, but I’m not far off. If I had chosen to specialize in any other weapon, I wouldn’t be able to do much right now with the loss of my strength. Lucky for me, daggers don’t take much muscle, just precision.
“Someone’s come a long way in two years,” Artemus comments from beside me.
“It seems you found the one thing I’m good at.”
“Oh, I don’t know about that,” he says, pulling the dagger out of the board. “Rumor has it you’re equally as impressive with your power.”
“Yeah, well, that takes a bit more control than throwing daggers.” I flip the one still in my hand. I shouldn’t feel so uncomfortable talking about my power, but I’ve had to keep it hidden for so long that it feels wrong acknowledging it now.
“Show me.”
“Show you what?” I ask, grabbing the other dagger from Artemus.
“Your power. I want to see it for myself.”
“Here?” I look around at the wall of trees that are just begging to be caught on fire.
He follows my line of sight.
