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“How long have you been here?”
His brown eyes shone in the firelight. “Three years.”
“You haven’t seen your family for three years?”
“No. Or”—he looked at the ground—“the woman I loved.”
“I’m sorry,” I said. “I hope you can find them. And her.”
“So do I, but even if I did get back to Cambria, it wouldn’t help me see her again.”
I twisted my hair and looked back at the fire. “Why is that?”
“Last I knew, she was in prison.”
An idea flew into my head. I searched his face, looking for something to confirm my suspicions.Prison. Three years ago. He had red hair like mine, she’d said. I shook my head in disbelief. “Is your name Lachlan?”
His eyes narrowed. “Who are you again?”
I felt a thrill as if I’d found a missing piece of a puzzle. “My name’s Bryn.”
“Right, but . . . have we met?”
“No, but I know Cait.”
The pride, anger, and bitterness in his face melted away. “Has she been outlawed too? Is she on Tramore?”
“No. She’s still in prison.”
His smile faded, but his newfound enthusiasm remained. “But you met her? How?”
“Well, it’s kind of a long story,” I said. “Let’s just say I found a way to upset the Academy.”
His smile filled his face. “You saw her in prison, then. And she’s okay?”
“She’s fine. Extraordinary, actually. What Cait did for you was selfless and brave. I don’t know how you dared to lose what you had. If someone risked everything for me like that, I’d—” I stopped and felt a blush color my cheeks. Hadn’t Graham saved the water for me? I couldn’t finish my sentence without becoming the world’s biggest hypocrite.
His smile fell, the lines of his mouth revealing his grief. “I know. Don’t you think I regret it every day? I was trying to benoble, to do the right thing. But it turned out to be the biggest mistake of my life.”
“She thinks you’re still in the city. How’d you get banished?”
“After Cait turned herself in, I tried to take the blame. I told them she was innocent, that I’d bribed her to cheat for me. So they decided we were both guilty.” He shook his head. “I couldn’t let them banish me without trying to see her one more time, so I fought the guards to get to her. I was inside the prison doors when they shot me. Next thing I knew, I was in a boat with a bullet wound in my shoulder.”
“She has no idea,” I said.
He dropped his head. “I wish she knew. Even if I never see her again, I wish she could know I tried.”
I nodded but stayed quiet. In the fire’s glow, the gleam of his eyes became a mirror, and all I could see was myself. I mulled over what he’d said.
Trying to be noble.
Biggest mistake of my life.
* * *
All the villagershad returned to their cottages when night came, and a crescent moon floated in the east. In only four more days, the moon would be in complete shadow and the islanders would launch.
I sat huddled on the bench, feeling strangely cold, even with the fire glowing near. My heart was stretched two ways, filling me with fear over what my next action would be. Whatever I chose, at least one half of my heart would feel the pain.
