“Any idea where we go next?” Like the Colonel, I won’t abide the heavy silence.
He pulls back from the wall, frowning, still not looking my way. “You know that’s not how it works.”
I’ve spent two years as an officer, two more as an oathed soldier of the Guard, and a lifetime living in its shadow. Of course I know how it works, I want to spit.
No one knows more than they must. No one is told anything beyond their operation, their squadron, their immediate superiors. Information is more dangerous than any weapon we possess. We learned that early, after decades of failed uprisings, all laid low by one captured Red in the hands of a Silver whisper. Even the best-trained soldier cannot resist an assault of the mind. They are always unraveled, their secrets always discovered. So my operatives and my soldiers answer to me, their captain. I answer to the Colonel, and he answers to Command, whoever they might be. We know only what we must to move forward. It’s the only reason the Guard has lasted this long, surviving where no other underground organization has before.
But no system is perfect.
“Just because you haven’t received new orders doesn’t mean you don’t have an idea as to what they might be,” I say.
A muscle in his cheek twitches. To pull a frown or a smile, I don’t know. But I doubt it’s the latter. The Colonel doesn’t smile, not truly. Not for many years.
“I have my suspicions,” he replies after a long moment.
“And they are . . . ?”
“My own.”
I hiss through my teeth. Typical. And probably for the best, if I’m being honest with myself. I’ve had enough close shaves of my own with Silver hunting dogs to know exactly how vital the Guard’s secrecy is. My mind alone contains names, dates, operations, enough information to cripple the last two years of work in the Lakelands.
“Captain Farley.”
We don’t use our titles or names in official correspondence. I’m Lamb, according to anything that could be intercepted. Another defense. If any of our messages fall into the wrong hands, if the Silvers crack our cyphers, they’ll have a hard time tracking us down and unraveling our vast, dedicated network.
“Colonel,” I respond, and he finally looks at me.
Regret flashes in his one good eye, still a familiar shade of blue. The rest of him has changed over the years. He’s noticeably harder, a wiry mass of old muscle, coiled like a snake beneath threadbare clothes. His blond hair, lighter than mine, has begun to thin. There’s white at the temples. I can’t believe I never noticed it before. He’s getting old. But not slow. Not stupid. The Colonel is just as sharp and dangerous as ever.
I keep still under his quiet, quick observation. Everything is a test with him. When he opens his mouth, I know I’ve passed.
“What do you know about Norta?”
I grin harshly. “So they’ve finally decided to expand out.”
“I asked you a question, Little Lamb.”
The nickname is laughable. I’m almost six feet tall.
“Another monarchy like the Lakelands,” I spit out. “Reds must work or conscript. They center on the coast, their capital is Archeon. At war with the Lakelands for nearly a century. They have an alliance with Piedmont. Their king is Tiberias—Tiberias the—”
“The Sixth,” he offers. Chiding as a schoolteacher, not that I spent much time in school. His fault. “Of the House Calore.”
Stupid. They don’t even have brains enough to give their children different names.
“Burners,” I add. “They lay claim to the so-called Burning Crown. Fitting opposite to the nymph kings of the Lakelands.” A monarchy I know all too well, from a lifetime living beneath their rule. They are as unending and unyielding as the waters of their kingdom.
“Indeed. Opposite but also horribly alike.”
“Then they should be just as easy to infiltrate.”
He raises an eyebrow, gesturing to the cramped space around us. He almost looks amused. “You call this easy?”
“I haven’t been shot at today, so, yes, I’d say so,” I reply. “Besides, Norta is what, half the size of the Lakelands?”
“With comparable populations. Dense cities, a more advanced basis of infrastructure—”
“All the better for us. Crowds are easy to hide in.”
He grits his teeth, annoyed. “Do you have an answer to everything?”
“I’m good at what I do.”
Outside, the thunder rumbles again, closer than before.
“So we go to Norta next. Do what we’ve done here,” I press on. Already, my body buzzes with anticipation. This is what I’ve been waiting for. The Lakelands are only one spoke of the wheel, one nation in a continent of many. A rebellion contained to its borders would eventually fail, stamped out by the other nations of the continent. But something bigger, a wave across two kingdoms, another foundation to explode beneath the Silvers’ cursed feet—that has a chance. And a chance is all I require to do what I must.
The illegal gun at my hip has never felt so comforting.
“You must not forget, Captain.” Now he’s staring. I wish he wouldn’t. He looks so much like her. “Where our skills truly lie. What we started as, what we came from.”
Without warning, I slam my heel against the boards below us. He doesn’t flinch. My anger is not a surprise.
“How could I forget?” I sneer. I resist the urge to tug at the long blond braid over my shoulder. “My mirror reminds me every day.”
I never win arguments with the Colonel. But this feels like a draw at least.
He looks away, back to the wall. The last bit of sunlight glints through, illuminating the blood of his wounded eye. It glows red in the dying light.
His sigh is heavy with memory. “So does mine.”