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I rub my hands over my face and sit in the armchair near his desk. A leather folio sits on top of all his other documents, the seal from Artis.
I ease it off the desk and flip the cover open. They’ve submitted an amended request for funding. Jonas is wasting no time. I pinch the bridge of my nose.
“Cory.”
I glance up. Harristan is blinking at me from the bed.
“You’re supposed to be sleeping,” I say.
“So are you.” He pauses. “What did you do to the girl?”
“She’s sleeping in the Emerald Room. Under heavy guard.”
“No.” He gives me a look. “What did you do?”
“Nothing. I fed her dinner and sent her to bed.”
He studies me. I study him back.
I want to tell him. I’ve wanted to tell him for years. He’d understand my drive to get out of the palace, to get out of the Royal Sector. He’s the one who taught me how to sneak out, how to scale the wall and get lost in the pleasures of the Wilds. He’s the one who always wanted freedom from this place.
I’m the one who got it, even if only for a short while, and it seems unfair to taunt him with the knowledge.
Even if it’s over. I’m done.
Regardless, it’s as treasonous an act as anything I could come up with. I was stealing from our subjects. I was acting in direct opposition to his orders—in direct opposition to orders I’m expected to enforce. If anyone found out, it would be a scandal beyond measure.
Harristan’s gaze is heavy, as if he can pick apart my secrets with nothing more than his eyes, and I finally have to look away.
He clears his throat. “I find it hard to believe that you’d offer leniency to someone who snuck into the palace to kill me.”
He’s right, but I can offer him this truth. “She snuck in to steal medicine. She meant no harm.”
“A smuggler?”
“Not quite.” I think of the books in her pack, the way Quint thought we would need spin. “She has many theories about how to adjust the dosage of Moonflower elixir to make it more effective.” This isn’t a lie, but it feels like one. I pause. “She steals medicine and distributes it among the people. For those who cannot afford it.”
That turns him quiet for a long time, as I thought it might. Regardless of what people think, Harristan isn’t heartless. The dwindling fire snaps in the hearth. “Do you think there are many who do this?”
I shake my head. “I have no idea.”
“When the guards said someone breeched the palace, I thought revolution had finally found us.”
I think of the true smugglers who escaped, the way the crowd called for rebellion. “It still might.”
He falls quiet again, but this time, his eyelids flicker.
“Sleep,” I say softly. I stand. “I’ll leave.”
“Cory.” His voice catches me before I reach the door.
I stop and turn. “What?”
“There’s something you’re not telling me about her.”
My brother rarely dwells in details, and it usually serves him well. But there are times, like now, when something earns his focus, and it’s always hard to shake it loose.
I’ve been quiet too long, and the silence swells between us.
