“Lila’s—what?” stammered Knox, sounding as if all the air had left his lungs.
“Daxton thinks it’s me,” I said quietly. “He was—he said he was going to let me go, but Lila and I switched places. He blew up the helicopter. He thinks I was the one inside.”
“But—it was—”
“Lila. Yeah,” said Greyson. I hadn’t seen him cry in days, but his voice tightened.
Knox was silent for so long that I thought we’d been disconnected. But at last he cleared his throat and said gruffly, “I’m sorry. If you would rather I not broadcast it—”
“No. Not yet,” said Greyson, looking at me. “Kitty has to pretend to be Lila. If Daxton finds out we outsmarted him— He’s coming undone as it is. I’ve never seen anyone grow more unraveled over such a short period of time. I don’t know how long we have before he loses it completely.”
“Where are you?” said Knox. “The Stronghold?”
“Yeah,” I said. “He has all the Ministers of the Union here. He forced them to sign the amendment giving him absolute power.”
“I figured as much,” he grumbled, and then, as I remembered the cramped meeting room full of Ministers who were now as much prisoners as Greyson and I were, something awful occurred to me.
Knox had no idea his father was dead.
“Knox...” I trailed off and looked at Greyson, but he’d already done the hardest part. I couldn’t make him say this, too. “Your father tried to stop him. He led the movement to have Daxton removed as Prime Minister, but beforehecould... Daxton—Victor—he killed your father.”
Silence. I could hear Knox breathing on the other end, in and out, in and out, in and out. At last, in a voice hardened into steel, he said, “Good. One less Minister to get in our way.”
I said nothing. As someone who had grown up without real parents, it seemed unfathomable to me that anyone could be so heartless about losing their own. But after what Minister Creed had done to Knox’s brother—and Knox, and Knox’s mother—I couldn’t really blame him for it. Blood didn’t always make a family.
“I’m going dark now,” said Knox. “I have a meeting in the morning, and you two need to get some rest. Do whatever you have to do to stay safe, all right? Don’t take any unnecessary risks, and for God’s sake, Kitty, behave.”
I shook my head, knowing full well he couldn’t see me. The one time I hadn’t followed the rules in this place, I had gotten Lila killed. I wasn’t playing that game anymore. “Tell Benjy I love him.”
“You can tell him yourself when we get you out of there. Good night. And Greyson—” He paused. “I’m sorry.”
The cuff cut to static again, and the other end went dead. I sighed and collapsed back down on my pillows. Hearing Knox’s voice hadn’t solved all my problems, but it had made me feel a little better, knowing he was out there. Knowing I could talk to him now, if I needed to.
Greyson fiddled with something in his ear, and at last he said, “I’m going to take mine off.”
“What?” I squinted at him. “Why?”
“I don’t want to know what the Blackcoats are doing,” he said. “I’ll put it back on if you have to do a speech—I can feed you lines if we need to, so Daxton doesn’t figure out you can’t read—but otherwise, the less I know, thebetter.”
I blinked. Lila and I hadn’t even considered the possibility that I would have to make another speech as her. “But—”
“I’m not a Blackcoat,” he said. “And while I admire and support you, I don’t want to be one, and I have no business listening to you and Knox discuss your plans. I’m right here with you every day anyway,” he added. “If Knox really wants to talk to me, you can let me know.”
“All right,” I finally said, hugging my pillow. “But you’re an important part of this, okay? Maybe you aren’t on the front lines of the war, but you’ll be on the front lines of rebuilding the country once it’s over, and they’re going to need you. We’re all going to need you.”
He pressed his lips together. He’d said over and over again that he had no interest in being Prime Minister, but now I didn’t see how he had much of a choice. We would need him. A Hart who was an ally of the Blackcoats, even if he wasn’t actually a rebel. I couldn’t run the country, after all. It would have to be him.
“Okay,” he said at last. “When the time comes, I’ll be there. Just—in the meantime... I’m not a soldier, and I’m not a battle strategist.”
“Then come up with a way for us to rebuild,” I said, remembering the task Knox had given me after my speech. It was far more suited to someone like Greyson, who had knowledge and experience to draw from. “Figure out how we’re going to transition the country. You’re smart, and you’re inventive—if anyone can do it, it’s you.”