AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“She saw you kissing him in the garden,” Pryana reminds me.
“I didn’t mean that. Lots has happened since that night…” My thoughts trail away to memories of dancing in a moonlit courtyard and stolen kisses on the rocky shores of Alcatraz. I’m lost thinking of him, and I don’t realize I’ve said too much.
Pryana takes a step back and studies me, then laughs. “You’re in love with him.”
“I…” But I don’t know what to say, because if I lie, she’ll know. I try to fight off the blush stealing over my face.
“The rumor was that you ran away for Jost.” Pryana looks impressed.
“It’s complicated.”
“It usually is when you’re in illicit relationships,” Pryana says, but she’s smiling all the way up to her eyes. “You do have good taste. His hair—he hasn’t cut it?”
I allow myself a small grin and shake my head. Even though the thought of them both, Erik and Jost, of not knowing what’s happening to them, whether they’re safe—it’s almost too much to bear.
“I’m not being nice to Amie for revenge,” Pryana says, circling back to the question that sparked the conversation. “I like Amie. She reminds me of my sister.”
“Pryana.” I pause, unsure how to say this now. It’s much too late for an apology. “I’ve made a lot of excuses for what happened that day, but I’m genuinely sorry about your sister.”
“Me too, and … it’s not your fault.”
This morning I would never have thought she’d admit this to me.
“There are things that no one in Arras knows about,” I say, feeling compelled to share something with her now. “Horrible things. If Amie knew—”
“Knew what?” Pryana presses me.
“Our mother isn’t dead,” I tell her. It’s a relief to confess this to someone. No one on Earth really understood how difficult it was to find out what my mother had become. Even Dante forced himself to believe my mother was worth saving when he let her go, believing that a part of her was still in there. I wasn’t so sure. “She’s a—”
“Remnant?” Pryana guesses, and my mouth falls open. “I told you things have changed around here.”
“You’ve always had the good gossip, but how in Arras do you know about Remnants?”
Pryana raises an eyebrow and then gestures that we should leave. As she turns to go, she flips her silky curls over her left shoulder to reveal the nape of her neck and the faint hourglass mark printed there. “Does this answer your question?”
I lunge for her, grabbing hold of her arm and whispering furiously, “You’re Agenda?”
Pryana’s pace remains steady and controlled, not wavering in the slightest at my accusation. “Shhh! Things have changed.”
We continue toward the tower an
d as the shock wears off, a smile sweeps over my face. “I have questions for you,” I tell her. “There’s a lot I need to know.”
“Not right now,” she says, parting ways with me at the elevator.
“When?” I clutch her arm, but the elevator doors begin to slide shut and I jump away as she mouths one word.
Soon.
TWELVE
WHEN PRYANA APPEARS IN MY DOORWAY THE following day, I remember what Albert told me—that people would follow me as the Whorl. This is my chance to see if that’s true.
Pryana slides a thin bracelet over my wrist and yanks me into the hallway. “It’s a mask,” she explains. “It disrupts surveillance. Temporarily.”
“For how long?” I ask.
“Thirty minutes. Where do you want to go?”
