ashen city (Black Tiger Series Book 2)

by Sara Baysinger

  “Not anymore. Not since you got locked up. Believe it or not, there are some people in Ky who are wondering where you disappeared off to after you made that bold proclamation at the parade. They’re wondering if you maybe are the real Ember Carter. But if you leave them hanging, they’ll eventually forget you—the real you—and carry on in their miserable lives like there never was an ember of hope flickering in the ashes.”

  Way to use my name to be persuasive, Rain. But his words hit their mark. Because I am selfish. But is it worth being heroic if I lose my life in the process?

  “Think of your friends in the Community Garden,” Rain presses.

  “I don’t have any friends there. Leaf is…gone. And I sure don’t have any friends in Frankfort.”

  “What about Forest?”

  The thought of Forest makes my gut twist. Is he still alive? Is he in prison? Has Titus magically forgiven him for helping me escape? Or did he shoot Forest in the head himself? Has he been dead this whole time or is he waiting for us to return? There’s no way of knowing. Because we can’t get news this far out of Frankfort. Rain ditched his phoneband when we ran away to keep the Defenders from tracking us.

  “If Forest is still alive and back in his position,” I say, “he’ll have the option to leave Ky with me.”

  “You think it’s that easy?” Rain laughs too loudly. “Forest has inside information that the Tribes would pay gold to get. You think Titus would just let him leave? If anything, Forest is more trapped than you ever were.” His voice lowers. “If you, um, love him, you’ll go back to be with him.”

  So that’s what it comes down to. Freedom or Forest. Do I love Forest? Do I even like him enough to live with him in Frankfort, and eventually—possibly—marry him? And if I did, would that mean seeing Titus every day? That thought alone makes me want to puke.

  “What are you thinking, Rainbow Eyes?”

  I peek up at Rain. No way I’m confiding my feelings about Forest to Rain, of all people. I tear my gaze away and look into the dark abyss surrounding us. “Just thinking about Titus.”

  He jerks his head back. “Titus?”

  “I don’t think I could ever face him again.” I release a shuddering sigh. “He’s always one step ahead, Rain. Always. Already he’s expecting us. Who knows what sort of traps he has set out. That’s why I can’t go back. It’s a battle that we will never win.”

  “Seriously? Holy Crawford, Ember.” He straightens and drags his hands down the length of his face. “This is exactly what Titus wanted. He wanted to scare you, to terrify you into never wanting to threaten him again. He killed your friend, burned down your field, drew you back to the capitol so he could traumatize you. You’ve fallen into his trap already.” He gives a half-hearted laugh and shakes his head. “You’ve already been fooled. You’re proving to be the naïve little coward he hopes you are.”

  I bite my tongue. There it is. The foul remark. The words that drip with sarcasm and arrogance that immediately make Rain a bit less likable. The truth, coming from Rain, really, really hurts. Lingering in his presence was a complete mistake. Standing, I pick up my lantern.

  “Thanks for the sweet music and kind words, Rain. And that song—you’re quite the lyricist.” I bow dramatically, very Patrician like. “But I’ve got matters to attend to. And they don’t include sitting here taking guilt from you.”

  I spin on my heel and start down the first corridor I see.

  “You’re going the wrong way,” Rain says, the mockery in his voice setting my nerves on edge. “I mean, unless you’re wanting to get lost and starve to death, the camp is that way.”

  Pressing my lips firmly together, I slowly turn around and follow the direction of his finger. These caverns are so big, so spread out. Giant pillars are the only walls around here. There’s no way to tell which way you’re going unless you’ve lived here a long time. Which makes me wonder how Rain knows his way around so well. How long exactly has he been a part of the Resurgence?

  I remember when I first met him. It was after my first night in the prison cell. He took us prisoners to Frankfort and watched mercilessly from the balcony overlooking the arena. A few of these prisoners were a part of the Resurgence. Prisoners who were scheduled to die that week. Did the prisoners from the Resurgence recognize Rain? Did they look at him in the balcony, surrounded by girls, with disdain? Did they curse him for not helping them? Or did they nod their acknowledgement, understanding that if Rain helped them, he would be putting his own life at risk and not be a help to the Resurgence? Because after all Rain’s done, playing the role of a snotty, spoiled Patrician, he’s here, in these caverns, working with the very people who want to take the Patrician culture down.

  And these people love him.

  But then, Mcallister did say he helped Resurgencies escape at opportune moments. And Rain did help us all escape from prison that night. Not that many of us escaped the black tigers. Just me and Ash. Judah, the man Rain probably wanted to survive most, didn’t make it because I slowed him down.

  Just another reason for Rain to hate me.

  I take another turn around a pillar, following the distant voices in the camp. Hoots and hollers can be heard, even from this distance. Something is going on. I pick up my pace, but not before Rain shoves past me, practically knocking me over. He pauses just long enough to help me regain my balance.

  “What’s going on?” I ask.

  “Isaac and Digory,” he says. “They’re back!”

  Isaac and Digory. The two boys who were missing from the Fearless Five when I returned. The ones who were still in Frankfort, though I have no idea why. I race behind Rain back to the camp. Rain pushes his way through the crowd and greets the two boys in the middle of the group with embraces.

  “Where the shoddy inferno have you been, Rain?” Digory asks. “Everyone in Frankfort has been asking about you.”

  “Well, all the girls at least,” Isaac says with a roll of his eyes.

  Rain smirks. “We’ve got Ember.” Their brows shoot up in obvious surprise, and Rain grabs my arm and shoves me into the circle.

  “How did you get here so fast?” Isaac asks.

  “What do you mean?” I ask.

  “I mean, just last night, we saw you at the party Titus hosted.”

  “You did?”

  “What you saw, boys, was her look-alike,” Rain says. “Titus hired someone who looks like Ember so that the Patricians wouldn’t be angry if he killed her.”

  “Oh,” Digory says. “That makes so much more sense now. The girl playing your part isn’t a bit like you. I mean, the way she worked the crowd isn’t your style.”

  Oh, thanks. Thank you so much, Digory, for actually knowing me more than, well, anybody. But then I wonder how Digory seems to know me so well, how he knows what my style is, and then I remember he’s a spy and trained to note the littlest details. How long has the Resurgence been watching me, anyway?

  “So…you just got back from Frankfort?” I ask, and the one question burning hottest in the back of my mind escapes my lips. “How’s Forest? Is he still alive? Is he…well?”

  “Are you kidding?” Isaac asks. “Nothin’ changed with him.”

  “Wait,” I say. “Really?”

  “He’s still second in command, as always,” Digory says with a roll of his eyes.

  “Well,” Rain says. “See, Rainbow Eyes? What’d I tell you? Forest can look out for himself.”

  “Wait,” I say. “So did he get in trouble? For helping me escape?”

  “That’s the thing,” Isaac says. “No one knows you’re gone. That little actress who looks like you has them all fooled. The Patricians all think she’s you. Whatever went down with Forest never made headlines of any sort. No one even knows Rain has left the populated part of Ky.”

  “Ouch,” Rain says.

  “I mean. They think you’re doing your usual thing, exploring Ky with your buddies, I guess,” Isaac says.

  “Oh. Right.” Rain smirks. “Partying
it up in the city.”

  “Is that what you usually tell them when you come back to the Resurgence?” I ask.

  He shrugs. “All Frankfort knows is that I like to party and I like to travel. They just assume I’m traveling in the rest of Ky when I disappear. I’ve done it so often now, few question it.”

  “That’s…weird that no one would get suspicious of you disappearing like that so often.”

  “I’m too drunk to be noticed, remember?” Rain pulls his flask out of his pocket and gives it a little jiggle. “Image, I tell you. The less people think of you, the easier it is to stay beneath the radar.”

  So, so true. Titus is completely blinded by Rain’s image that he laughed in my face when I told him Rain wanted to assassinate him.

  “So, Forest,” I say, looking back at Digory. “He’s okay. No bruises? No sign of…torture?”

  “Forest is exactly how he was when you lived there.” Digory shrugs. “He’s even still dating…your dopplegänger.”

  And this news is like a punch in the stomach. “Wait,” I say. “Wait. So, like, you’re saying that he’s dating the fake me?”

  Isaac and Digory exchange glances, then look at me, their expressions completely clueless.

  “Yeah,” Digory says. “I guess so.”

  I blink several times. The others resume talking. Digory and Isaac bring Walker up to speed on their latest discoveries of Frankfort, but I shrink out of the crowd. Numb. Confused. Because this. This is too much. I mean, I’m so happy Forest is alive and fine and exactly where he was when we left, but he’s dating the fake me? I mean, he knows that’s not really me, right? Surely he knows. Or has this been his plan all along?

  Ugh…I’m so confused.

  “Hey.” Rain jogs to catch up to me. “Great news, huh?”

  “Yeah,” I snap without slowing down. “Wonderful.”

  “Hey, no need to sound bitter.” He walks beside me. “I thought you’d be thrilled.”

  “I am. But…he’s dating the fake me!” I turn to look at him. His eyes are shining in the soft glow of the lanterns. He looks happier than I’ve seen him all week. But why wouldn’t he be? He just found out his brother is alive. Though I rarely saw any affection between the two during my time in Frankfort, I see it now—the bond that can only be shared between brothers. Of course Rain is excited.

  “What did you expect?” Rain asks.

  “Oh, I don’t know. After he proclaimed his undying love for me, I guess I expected him to wait for me. I mean, it’s been—what—two weeks, Rain, and he’s already moved on. Not to just anyone, but to a prettier version of myself!”

  Rain snorts. Then chuckles. And that one little chortle is enough to set my blood aflame like sparks to gasoline.

  “Shod. Off,” I say as I begin walking again.

  “You know he had to do it,” Rain says.

  I stop. “Do what?”

  “Most likely,” Rain says, shoving his arms behind his back and walking up beside me. “Titus forgave him, but only did so if Forest took on the task of making Fake Ember Carter look real. I mean, it would look pretty bad in Patrician City if your orchard burned down, a mere farmer proclaimed to be Ember Carter, and then Forest broke up with the new and revised Ember Carter the next day, yes? People would begin asking questions. And Titus doesn’t like questions. I have no doubt in my mind that Titus tasked Forest with dating Fake Ember in order to keep up her façade, and in return, Titus offered his forgiveness.”

  I chew my lip for a moment. It makes sense. It’s definitely Titus’s way of playing. And for my sanity’s sake, I hope Rain’s right. Because it’s the only excuse I can accept without cursing Forest’s name.

  “Okay,” I say. “Okay. I hope you’re right. Because if I ever go back to Frankfort, it will be for Forest, and Forest alone. And if he’s really dating this fake version of me, then, well, let’s just say, you don’t want to see me angry.”

  Rain chuckles, shakes his head, and begins walking back toward the crowd, and I think I hear him mutter under his breath, “No, I don’t.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  What are you doing?

  I look up. I’m staring into a mirror. A girl looks back at me. Dark hair, olive skin, eyes that appear to be “always smiling,” as Forest once said. Rainbow eyes, like mine. The girl in the mirror is every bit my reflection. Except her eyes are green. Like Titus’s. Like Jonah Walker’s.

  Like Mom’s.

  In fact, she looks every bit a younger version of Mom, that I realize it is Mom.

  “What are you doing?” she asks again. “Why aren’t you preparing the way?”

  She looks sad, not angry. And she keeps staring at me like that, asking that same question. “Why aren’t you helping my people?”

  “I have to get out,” I finally say. “I have to get out of Ky.”

  “Don’t you understand?” she says. “If you leave, you’ll be free. But if you leave, you’ll regret your decision forever.”

  I jerk upright. I’m in my tent in the caverns. It must still be night, because I don’t hear voices.

  But I’m. Wide. Awake.

  Because that dream. It rocks me to my core. It tugs at some deep place that I don’t understand and don’t wish to question. And for the first time, something is pulling me back to Ky. Whether it’s fate or God or just the thousands of people counting on me, I feel the desperate urge to return, though I know it’s a suicide mission.

  I need to talk to someone. I don’t want to wake up Ash or Kate who are sleeping soundly beside me, and I don’t want to hear Dad’s lecture on putting others’ needs above my own and freedom and all that shoddy stuff. I don’t want to hear Walker’s expectations about saving Ky.

  I need to talk to Rain.

  I light my lamp, stand, and shove the flap to our tent open. Only one fire is lit, and it is just a pile of embers. I march past the fire until I reach the tent at the edge of the clearing. Shoving the flap open, I step inside. Rain lays in the middle of the floor, his blanket twisted around his waist. He doesn’t wear a shirt, and I find myself staring at his tattoo. A Celtic cross, as he called it. I remember the night he rescued me from prison. I had no idea it was him. But he’d risked his life for me and the other Resurgencies.

  My gaze travels up his waist, and I find myself marveling at how muscular he is. Beneath his shirt and vest, I always imagined Rain as wiry and lanky. But he’s actually really buff. His chest rises and sinks slowly with each breath he takes. I tear my gaze from his waist and look at him. His face. Which is calm and peaceful in sleep. His brows are relaxed, his mouth straight, not forced into his usual smirk. He looks so different when he’s sleeping. Almost…innocent. I kneel beside him and tap his shoulder, surprised at the muscular firmness.

  His eyes blink open. “Son of a jackal.” He immediately sits up and pushes away from me. I realize how terrifying I must appear, a mere shadow holding a bright lamp in his tent.

  “Hey, it’s just me. Ember.”

  “Oh. Holy Crawford.” He blinks several times, then drags his hand down the length of his face. “You trying to give me a heart attack?” His voice is laced with irritation. “Next time wait till I’m awake, will ya?”

  “This can’t wait.”

  “What’s the problem, Carter?”

  Wow. Rain is definitely not a morning person. He leans back on his hands, the blanket still tangled too low around his waist, and looks at me expectantly.

  I tear my gaze from his stomach and look at his mocking gaze. “I need you to show me…something,” I say.

  A wolfish grins spreads across his face. “C’mon, Ember. If you wanted to see it, all you had to do was ask.”

  My gaze flits to his hips still concealed beneath the blanket, and something strange and foreign tugs in the pit of my stomach. I quickly look away, my cheek burning. “Not that.”

  He sighs and shakes his head, then untangles himself from the blanket. I stumble back, begin to turn to leave, but then realize he’s wearing pa
nts.

  “All right,” he says. “What do you want me to show you?” He grabs a T-shirt and pulls it over his head.

  “I want to see the bridge.”

  “The bridge?” He looks sharply at me. “You’re not leaving, are you?”

  “No.” I sigh heavily. “I’m staying, I guess.”

  “Ah. News of Forest dating your dopplegänger got ya all fired up and ready to fight, eh?”

  I grit my teeth.

  “So if you’re not leaving,” Rain says. “Why do you want to go to the bridge?”

  “I just need to see it with my own eyes. I want to know if it’s real. I want to see the one gate that will lead to freedom. And I need to know how to get there in case this all…fails.”

  “You really couldn’t wait until morning, could you?”

  “Nope.”

  “You know we’re not supposed to leave the cavern, yes?”

  “Don’t care.”

  “It’s a good twelve-mile walk.” He pins me with his gray eyes. “It’ll take, like, four hours just to get there. And that’s walking fast.”

  “So what’s the problem?” I cross my arms and arch a brow. “Too far for Rain?”

  His lifts his hands in mock defense. “Just don’t want you begging me to give you a piggy-back ride on the way home.”

  “I’m up for the trip.”

  “We might be gone until, like, noon tomorrow.”

  “And your point is…”

  “Nothing.” He grins. “Let’s get going.” He opens the flap and gestures for me to go out. “Ladies first.”

  I step outside his tent, half-expecting him to shut the flap behind me and go back to sleep. But he follows me out. We pull on our heavy coats and boots, which the Resurgence provided, then fill our canteens with water. Rain stuffs a small white gun into his belt, pulls on his newsboy cap, then leads the way through the cavern to outside. A freezing wind blasts into my face.

  Heavy snow falls from the sky. In the constant fifty-eight degrees of the cavern, I almost forgot that it was the dead of winter out here.