“No one’s immortal. Not me, not you, not Daxton—no one.” I ran my fingers through my hair, frustrated. She didn’t get it, and I didn’t know how to make her understand. “It doesn’t matter if killing me would be stupid. He’s long past the point of being rational. If that’s what he wants to do, then you know he’s damn well going to do it.”
“It’d be worth it to get out of this hellhole.” Lila shoved over a vase containing fresh roses. It crashed to the ground, shattering into a hundred pieces and spilling water and roses everywhere. I quickly hobbled out of the way.
“You think this is hell? You have a warm bed to sleep in, food to eat, clothes to wear, you don’t have to handle human hearts every single day—”
“Will you just shut up already?” She whirled around to face me, and I fell silent, stunned to see tears in her eyes. “So I didn’t spend a few weeks in Elsewhere. Sorry I’m not as stupid as you are, but that sure as hell doesn’t make this place any easier to bear. Do you have any idea how long it’s been since I’ve had even the illusion of freedom? Yet here you are, with a golden ticket out of here, and you look like you’re heading to your own funeral. I would give anything to get out of this place, but you can’t even bother to appreciate the fact that because of Greyson and me, you might actually have a future now.”
“Of course I appreciate it,” I said, gingerly picking my way around the vase shards. “That doesn’t make this any safer for me, though. And if you wanted to go so badly, then you shouldn’t have tried to make that deal in the first place. Daxton might’ve let you go if you hadn’t—”
“It was Greyson’s idea, not mine. Believe me, I would have been more than happy to take the first ride out of here and never look back.” We reached my bedroom door, and Lila yanked it open for me. “When you get back, do me a favor, all right?”
“What?” I said cautiously, pausing in front of her.
“Don’t waste it. Tell everyone what happened with Minister Creed and Minister Ferras. Tell them we’re being held hostage and used against each other. Tell them what kind of monster Victor Mercer is, and don’t pull any punches.If I can’t rally them, then you have to. And whatever you do—” She leveled her gaze at me. “Don’t you dare let Knox get in front of a camera again.”
We stared at one another, and I took a shaky breath. “If I survive long enough, I will.”
I limped through the doorway, collapsing on the chaise longue at the foot of the bed. Lila rolled her eyes at me. “Would you stop acting like he’s going to kill you? He won’t. You’re his favorite toy.”
“And he doesn’t want to let anyone else play with me,” I muttered.
Lila shut the door and locked it. “Fine. You know what? If you don’t want to go, then I will.”
I winced and slowly unwrapped my bad foot. “What the hell are you talking about?”
She sniffed and went to the freezer, wordlessly tossing me an ice pack. “You heard me. If you’re too chicken to go, then I will.”
“But—” I stared at her for so long that my palm began to grow numb, and I hastily pressed the ice pack against my foot instead. “Daxton will know we’ve switched. He’ll use it as an excuse to kill both of us.”
“Not if we’re careful. And besides, we only have to fake it long enough to get me on the helicopter.” Her blue eyes were bright with excitement, and she studied me closely. “We’re still exact matches, and all it would take is five minutes at the most—that’s all we’d have to pretend to be each other.”
“You’d have to pretend to be me for five minutes,” I corrected. “I would have to be you for the rest of the war, otherwise you know Daxton will take it out on Greyson.”
She knelt beside the chaise, taking my cold hand in hers. “Then pretend to be me. Please, Kitty. We can do this—I know we can. You fooled my own mother once. There’s no way you won’t be able to fool that megalomaniac, too.”
My heart pounded, and my mouth went dry. “I can’t do that. You know I can’t do that. What if something happens to you? What if he drops you off in the middle of nowhere? What if it really is a trap?”
“Then at least I won’t be here,” she said fiercely. “And that’s worth the risk to me, Kitty. Maybe it isn’t to you, but to me—I would do anything to get out of here.”
I blinked rapidly, a million thoughts running through my mind. Half of them were reasons why this couldn’t possibly work, but the other half were reasons why it could. And reasons why it should. Everything she wanted me to tell the world—it would mean infinitely more coming from her. If the real Lila Hart were on live television, telling the truth about what had happened, then even the staunchest Daxton supporters would have no choice but to question everything. Or at least enough to break through to them, one by one, bit by bit. That was all we really needed. That extra push that could turn the tables on Daxton and give the Blackcoats the power they needed.