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“Who is it?” I say.
“I guess we’ll have to wait and see.” He pauses. “The washerwomen said this one was involved with the Benefactors.”
Allisander. Or Lissa Marpetta.I pull back farther into the shadows. Lissa hasn’t left her sector in weeks. Not since she was accused of helping Allisander to stage a coup in the palace. I’m torn between running like hell, or standing right here to find out what she’s up to.
“Fox,” Maxon says quietly, shifting closer, but my thoughts are all tangled up and I don’t realize he’s talking tomeuntil his hand falls on my arm.
No one ever touches me, and it takes me by surprise. I jerk my gaze over to meet his.
He’s holding out the handful of coins. “Take it back,” he says. “It’s too much.”
“It’s not,” I say. “I insist.”
He frowns a little, like he’s trying to figure me out, but then a murmur runs through the crowd, and motion from the trees catches my eye.
A tall woman with deep brown skin is striding into the clearing, her hair bound back tightly, her clothing very fine, but understated.
“Arella,” I whisper.
Then I notice the man at her side, and I go absolutely still.
“You know her?” says Maxon. “She’s not the one with the horse, is she?”
I have no idea what he’s talking about. I can’t stop staring at the man walking along beside Arella Cherry.
It’s Christopher Huxley, the captain of the palace guard.
They’re followed by Laurel Pepperleaf, daughter of the most powerful baron in Allisander’s sector.
I don’t know what to do. Consul Cherry and Captain Huxley are not friends. Laurel Pepperleaf has no business here at all. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen any of them exchange words. My heart is pounding so hard that my lungs can’t keep up. Breath rattles into my chest, and I’m worried I’m going to start coughing again.
“Fox?” says Maxon.
“Thank you for coming,” Arella says loudly, her voice carrying effortlessly over the crowd. “There are so many more of you than I expected.”
“The Benefactors cheated us,” a man calls from the other side. “Who’s to say you aren’t going to do the same?”
“I’m not offering medicine,” Arella calls back.
“Then what do you have?” a woman says. “We need medicine, and they still haven’t given us enough. They took Lochlan away.”
“No one is telling us anything!” another man shouts. The din is growing, and Arella raises her arms, but the shouts continue.
“If you don’t have medicine,” someone calls, “then what do you have?”
“Information,” she says. “Please! There are patrols in the woods—”
Another shout cuts her off. “What good is information going to do if we’re dying—”
“Information on the king!” Captain Huxley shouts, and his voice is even louder. “On how he’strickingyou.”
“He’s telling you to take less medicine!” Laurel Pepperleaf calls, adding her voice to the fray, but she’s nearly drowned out by the people. “Only because he knows there will never be enough to go around!”
“Lochlan went to get more medicine!” someone else shouts. “When Lochlan returns, you’ll see!”
“That ship is a farce,” calls Arella. “It’ll never reach Ostriary. The king is getting the prince and Lochlan out of theway.”
“Fox,” Maxon murmurs.
