Jennie’s gaze went to Mia, who smiled hopefully. When Mia made a friend, it meant she was in it forever—and that she had come to trust the person. Jennie didn’t know what had happened to allow that trust to grow between Mia and Kerry, but she did know this: Mia trusted Jennie, and trust had to go two ways.
“All right,” she said. “I’m in.”
Chapter Forty. Las Anclas.
Yuki
While Jennie and Kerry were having their face-off, Yuki glanced up at the stars shining through the glass ceiling. If he ever managed to set out as a prospector, they would be the last thing he saw every night. He wondered if, after years and years of sleeping under the stars, he’d get to hate sleeping under a solid roof, too.
A clink of Kerry’s manacles brought Yuki’s attention back to Kerry, whose face was sharp with anger and pain—the same expression Yuki had been seeing in Paco. The resemblance was unnerving. Except for Kerry’s eyes, which were like Mia’s, and the feminine cast to her features, she and Paco could almost be twins. Though he knew it wasn’t rational, it made Yuki want to help her.
But he was certain that if he gave Kerry his rat, he’d never see Kogatana again. He’d had her since he was thirteen, and she was an orphaned pup he’d fed with a dropper.
When he’d washed ashore, he couldn’t understand any of the languages spoken in Las Anclas. But he hadn’t needed speech to communicate with Kogatana. He’d lost his entire world, but at least he had her. He’d clung to her, and she to him.
Five years later, she never left his side unless he ordered her to. The thought of never seeing her again made him feel desperate and lost, like he was drowning in dark waters.
Kogatana nuzzled him, sensing his tension. Her pink tongue flicked out to comfortingly lick his hand.
“I’m in,” Jennie said.
Yuki let out his breath. “I want to talk to her alone.”
Mia and Jennie glanced at each other, then went out.
“I swear I won’t hurt Kogatana,” Kerry said, as the door closed. “I love animals.”
“I know,” Yuki replied. “I watched you with the horses. I’m not worried that you’d hurt her. I’m worried that you won’t give her back.”
“I would never steal someone else’s pet.” Kerry sounded horrified at the very idea.
Honesty? Or good acting? Yuki had no idea. He’d never been particularly good at sifting truth from lies, and he suspected that Kerry was very, very good at lying.
She went on, “I don’t know what I can say to convince you I’m sincere . . .”
Yuki held up his hand. “Don’t bother. Either you are, or you aren’t. I wanted to ask you something else. Assuming you do mean to keep your word . . . Could you let Ross go?”
Kerry seemed surprised by the question. “I’m the crown princess. I can do anything I want. You know how that works—Mia told me you were a prince yourself.”
“That’s why I asked. I couldn’t do anything I wanted. My first mother used to say, ’Being a ruler means having less freedom and more responsibility than you give to your people.’”
“Less freedom?” Kerry echoed incredulously.
Yuki couldn’t believe that Kerry, a princess herself, was unfamiliar with the most basic tenet of rule. “The welfare of every single one of your people is your responsibility. If anything goes wrong, the fault can always be traced back to you. You have much less free time than your subjects, because you have so many more duties. And, of course, you can’t do what you want to do—you have to do what’s best for your kingdom.”
Kerry stared at him in disbelief. “Wow. Well, that explains something I’ve been wondering about.”
“What’s that?”
“Why you don’t have a position of power in Las Anclas. I’d assumed you were deliberately kept down. But that’s not it, is it? You think having power means being trapped.”
Yuki felt off-balance. “It was my duty. It was what I was born for. That’s not a trap!”
Kerry raised her eyebrows. “Would a king have been allowed to prospect?”
“We prospected all the time!”
Kogatana squeaked in protest. He hastily loosened his fingers that had unconsciously tightened around her.
Memories of the Taka drifted back into his mind, tugging at his emotions like strands of seaweed wrapping around a swimmer’s limbs. It was true that the Taka had often stopped to send divers into caves and reefs, hunting for artifacts. But his mother had rarely gone diving with him. She’d been too busy in her throne room, reading reports and giving orders. And every year that had passed had given him less and less time to dive and explore, and more and more spent in the throne room, learning to rule.
“Sorry,” Kerry said. “It’s none of my business. Anyway, things are different in Gold Point. If I want to free Ross, I can.”
Yuki believed that much, at least: that in Gold Point, power meant freedom, and royal heirs were taught to be selfish, not selfless. If he had been raised in Gold Point and then come to Las Anclas, would he have immediately sought out power? Was Kerry right that he saw it as a trap?
What would Paco have been like, if he’d grown up as the crown prince of Gold Point? What would Kerry have been like, if she’d been Sera’s daughter?
He studied that half-familiar, half-alien countenance. Yuki didn’t believe that Paco had inherited anything from Voske but the bones of his face. How could he be so certain, then, that Kerry was as ruthless as her father?
“What’s your mother like?” Yuki asked.
“My mother?” Kerry echoed blankly. “She has a unique Change power . . .”
“I know about that. I meant, as a person.”
“She likes roses and art and history and proper manners and old traditions. We don’t get along very well, to be honest. Someone like Felicité or Sujata would have suited her better.” Kerry scratched her head, her manacles clinking. “Did that answer your question?”
That was no help. Knowing that Kerry didn’t take after her mother didn’t prove that she took after her father. None of the conversation had been helpful. Yuki had intended to get answers, but he’d been left with more questions than ever—not only about Kerry, but about himself.
All he knew for sure was that Paco had intended to kill King Voske before he’d learned the man was his father. If anything, finding out the truth had intensified his resolve. He’d been furious when Kerry had tried to bribe him with a crown. He was far too angry to speak up for his sister’s life, but Yuki knew Paco was not a ruthless person. If Paco stood by while Kerry was executed, one day he’d get over his anger, and then he’d never forgive himself.
Yuki had to get Kerry out of Las Anclas before Paco did something he could never take back.
He opened the door. “You can come back in now.”
He sat back down across from Kerry. Everyone was watching him, Jennie curious, Mia and Kerry anxious. Yuki took Kerry’s hand, and brought their linked fingers up to Kogatana’s twitching pink nose.
He had to unclench his jaw to speak. He could hardly bring himself to do it. “Kogatana. Obey Kerry. Obey Kerry. Obey Kerry.”
He released his own hand, and left Kerry’s there. Kogatana glanced at Yuki, her nose wrinkling with what he couldn’t help seeing as hurt and betrayal. Doing the right thing felt exactly like making a horrible, irrevocable mistake.
“Thank you,” Kerry breathed. She patted her shoulder. “Kogatana, sit.”
Kogatana swarmed to her shoulder. Kerry’s elated grin was so like Paco’s that Yuki had to look away. Paco hadn’t smiled like that for months.
He gave her what he hoped was an intimidating glare. “I hope you’re going to send Kogatana back with Ross. But if you decide to go back on freeing him, at least order her to go home. She can make her own way back if she has to. If you try to keep her for yourself, I swear I will come fetch her.”
Kerry sighed. “I told you I wouldn’t do that.”
“Hang on,” Jennie said. “Yuki, if you don�
�t think she’ll let Ross go, why are you helping her?”
“I hope she will,” Yuki replied. “But I’m mostly doing it because of Paco.”
Jennie’s lips parted. “Oh. All right.”
Kerry’s sharp gaze flicked between them. “Is anyone going to explain what this has to do with my half-brother?”
Nobody replied.
Yuki was thinking rapidly. “I can arrange for horses. But not getting her outside.”
“Leave that to me,” Jennie said.
“We need to make it look like she escaped on her own,” Mia said. “If we get caught, we could be exiled.”
“Exiled, at best,” said Jennie. “We could end up in front of a firing squad.”
Yuki thought, If we get caught, Paco will never forgive me.
Chapter Forty-One. Las Anclas.
Kerry
Kerry couldn’t quite believe that Mia would go through with the plan.
Even after Mia let her out of her cell the next morning, Kerry waited for a trap to spring. Tense and wary, she followed Mia to her cottage.
The first sign that maybe the plan was real—that this wasn’t an elaborate test, like Father might devise—was the huge breakfast waiting in the cottage.
“Eat up,” Mia said. “You’ve got a long trip ahead of you. Oh, and make sure you can cut the manacles. If you can’t, I’ll loan you this.” She rummaged among her tools, then brandished a saw.
Kerry created her own saw, set the edge against her manacle, and pulled. There was a loud grating noise. Mia jumped.
“Keep yours.” Kerry’s heart lifted with hope. Her whole body felt light. In less than a week, she’d be sleeping in her own bed, with Santiago pillowed on her shoulder . . .
If he was still alive.
If he was dead, she’d kill Ross herself.
Kerry dug into the breakfast. “Thanks for thinking of this.”
Mia fidgeted with every tool within reach, barely touching her own eggs and burrito. She didn’t look like she was expecting to be sleeping with her boyfriend in two weeks.
A wave of bitterness corroded Kerry, killing her appetite. “You don’t trust me.”
“I don’t trust . . .” Mia flapped her hands. “Myself? That we won’t get caught? Yesterday Felicité Wolfe dropped by my cottage right after our meeting, and I was sure she’d somehow figured out what we were doing. But her dad puts her in charge of stuff for our—” She stopped, her eyes wild.
“Your military drills, one of which is today. They aren’t exactly covert.”
Mia flapped her hands again. “You see? I don’t trust myself, because everything and everyone looks suspicious.” She sighed. “I just don’t want anybody killed.” She straightened up, jammed her glasses firmly on her nose, and said, “You remember what to do, right?”
Kerry nodded. “We carry the raccoon traps to the Vardams’ orchard. I cut off the manacles, and I tie you up and lock you in a fruit shed. Do you want me to hit you over the head? It’d be more realistic.”
Mia shook her head. “Dad would notice if it wasn’t hard enough to knock me out. I won’t make him lie for me. Anyway, everyone knows I’m no good at fighting.”
“I count how long it takes the sentries to reach the far point before they turn around. I get over the wall in that time, and sneak through the seed corn to the corral where Yuki’s waiting with the horses he’s supposed to be training. Then I tie him up, take the horses, and go.”
Mia’s face contorted with a flurry of expressions, too fast for Kerry to read. “You really will let Ross go, right?”
“How many times do I have to tell you that I keep my promises?” Kerry struggled not to show her annoyance.
“In case something goes wrong.” Mia’s voice was high with strain. “In case you have to break Ross out—”
“I won’t have to break him out,” Kerry said, relenting. “We went over this. I’m the crown princess. If I say a prisoner should be released, he’ll be released.”
If Mia was caught, she wouldn’t get a flogging or a day-long date on the execution platform. But for someone like her, exile would be almost as bad. Maybe worse, because it lasts longer. Where would she go? Kerry couldn’t imagine her surviving long in Gold Point, the way she blurted out . . . The truth.
Kerry shied away from examining that.
“We went over this,” Kerry said. “I’ll tell Father, and only Father, that I made a deal and Ross is to be set free. As far as anyone else knows, I escaped all by myself. Father can say he threw Ross out for being useless, or because I requested it, or whatever he likes. Father saves face, you get Ross back, no one ever learns that anyone helped me escape, and I get home.”
“Yeah, I know. But in case something goes wrong. I want to make sure Ross knows to trust you.”
As Mia started babbling about the first time she met Ross and how exciting that had been, Kerry ran her fingers over the saw she had created. Of course Father would allow her to set Ross free. She was his daughter. Ross was only a prisoner—a valuable prisoner, but not the crown princess of Gold Point. Kerry smiled to herself.
Mia clutched at her sleeve. “Kerry, you have to listen. The first time I met Ross, I asked him to use his left hand to pick up a wrench. His left hand! The one he can’t use. Remind him of that. It’s something only the two of us know about, so if you tell him, he’ll at least know that I trusted you.”
A now-familiar sense of vague guilt seized Kerry by the throat. There was no reason for it. Kerry had only agreed to let Ross go if Santiago was safe, and she’d keep that promise. It was the way that Mia looked at her . . . and the way Mia talked about Ross. The two of them seemed to trust each other so deeply. Like Kerry and Santiago trusted each other. That must be it. It brought back Kerry’s worries about Santiago.
“Wrench in the left hand,” she repeated. “Got it.”
Mia grabbed the raccoon traps. “Let’s go.”
All the way across the town square, Kerry’s heart thumped against her ribs, her mind racing with a thrilling mix of happiness and anticipation. But she’d had too many tests to let any hint of her elation escape.
The Vardams weren’t even at home. Everybody was somewhere else, getting ready for their big drill. Even the sentries seemed preoccupied, Kerry noticed, talking and pointing to the west. It was the perfect time for a solitary figure to get over the wall.
Kerry silently saluted Jennie for being a master planner as she and Mia put down the traps in the empty orchard. Mia wrapped a cloth around Kerry’s manacles to muffle the sound. Kerry sawed.
Mia picked up the manacles. “The fruit shed is—”
She froze, and the manacles clattered to the ground. Jennie and Yuki came charging into the orchard, waving frantically. They’d changed their minds!
No time to look for the sentries. Kerry bolted for the wall.
Mia exclaimed in horror, “Felicité?”
Kerry skidded to a stop and spun around.
Felicité Wolfe stood facing Mia, arms crossed in righteous indignation.
“I knew it!” Felicité exclaimed. “You’re all traitors!” And she drew in a breath for a scream.
Jennie took Felicité down in two lightning-fast moves, clamping her hand over Felicité’s mouth. Yuki dove in the other direction, thrust his hands under a bush, and yanked out a struggling golden rat.
Jennie said in a low voice, “Mia, get the rope.”
Mia reached into her satchel. Kerry stared. What she’d taken as sweat were tears running silently down Mia’s face.
Yuki looked up at Kerry, pale and grim. “Run.”
Kerry didn’t stop until she reached the last of the trees before the wall. Using it as shelter, she waited for the sentries to stroll away, still watching whatever was going on at the armory. She vaulted over the wall in two heartbeats, and dropped down on the other side. As Mia had promised, the backpack was waiting for her in by a water spigot, hidden, like Kerry, by the tall stalks of corn.
No alarm was raised
. She couldn’t believe it. Felicité had somehow discovered the plan, but rather than covering for themselves by turning on Kerry, Yuki, Jennie, and Mia had covered for her. They’d let her go even though their careful plans to hide their actions were all for nothing. The only way they could get away with it now would be to kill Felicité and blame her death on Kerry.
I’d kill her, Kerry thought as she ran. But Mia would never kill anyone in cold blood. That thought nearly ruined her sense of triumph.
But it didn’t stop her from running. At the corral, she found two horses already saddled, and Kogatana perched on her little riding seat. Everything had gone as planned—except that Las Anclas would know that Mia, Jennie, and Yuki had betrayed their own town to rescue an enemy.
Kerry mounted behind Kogatana, hoping that her lessons in desert survival had been more realistic than her prisoner-of-war training had been.
Time to find out. She took the reins of the remount and rode up the arroyo toward the desert, thinking of Mia’s silent tears.
If Santiago is alive, I’ll give you Ross back, she vowed.
She hoped he’d follow Mia into exile.
Chapter Forty-Two. Las Anclas.
Yuki
They decided to surrender to the sheriff at sundown. Yuki was the first one there. Jennie was still with the Ranger candidates, and Mia had returned to the fruit shed to free Felicité, who’d been tied up there all day.
When Yuki confessed to Sheriff Crow, all she said was, “Take the cell at the end. Leave the door open for the other two.”
The bench in the cell wasn’t big enough for three. Yuki sat on the cot and left the bench to the girls. Mia drooped, but Jennie sat with her arms crossed. She looked as angry as Yuki felt.
Jennie unwrapped a dusty bandage from her left hand, and examined a set of bloody bite wounds.
“Was that from Wu Zetian?” Mia asked, eyes wide.
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