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Emana grimaced.
“Zes?” she said. “He’s like an uncle to me!”
“That didn’t stop him from falling in love with you,” I said.
Emana turned pale.
“In love?” she said.
She shook her head in disbelief.
“Impossible,” she said. “I’ve known him… known him my whole life… Since I was a little girl…”
“And you’ve ignored his affections the whole time,” I said.
“I didn’t know about them!” Emana said. “He always protected my brothers, my father…”
“And you,” I said.
That gave her pause for thought as she revisited a thousand memories from across the years. Small instances when she might have unknowingly turned him down or insulted him.
“What will they do with Kal?” I said. “After he does his ‘performance’?”
The ragged man fixed me with his blazing eyes.
“Think of the most terrible thing you can imagine,” he said. “Then double it. That is what the Changelings will do.”
The sand serpent. They were going to feed him to it.
It made my heartache at the thought of him having to go through something so torturous.
“Emana, you must light the beacon,” the ragged man said. “It must be a Taw. And you, Sirena, you must make him realize he cannot throw his life away on the wrong decision. His life, your lives, and the life of every Titan everywhere depend on it.”
No pressure.
We turned to leave but Emana paused and turned back. She struck at the corner of the cage with her heel once, twice, three times. The corner snapped off. The ragged man couldn’t fit through it but he could work some of the bars loose and get through.
“You don’t deserve to be locked away like this,” Emana said. “Escape and enjoy your freedom.”
“You always were the kind one,” the ragged man said.
He tapped his forehead with his fingertips. The gesture made Emana pause for a moment longer.
“Come on!” I said, grabbing her by the arm and dragging her back down the tunnel.
9
KAL
The Changeling guards shoved me into the cell. I tripped on my own feet and hit the floor hard. The guards smirked as they slammed the door shut and turned the key in the lock.
I didn’t care. I barely even noticed. I was still in shock.
The girl of my dreams had slipped through my defenses and torn me apart from the inside.
And not just me.
By condemning me, she’d shot down the Titans’ chances of living in freedom. I hadn’t seen it coming. I trusted her wholly, completely, and she ripped my heart out.
