Page 128 of Siege of Shadows

“Saul,” he said. “We’re sending reinforcements to the city. Surrender now before this goes any further.”

“Oh, Arthur, Arthur, Arthur.” Saul wagged a finger from his metal hand at the screen, like a child playing a wicked game. So Alice was in charge this time. That much I knew. “How many times do I have to say that we’re on the same side? I’m doing this for you—for the Sect.”

“Stop trying to confuse the people! The Sect has nothing to do with you,” Prince spat. His anger was convincing. Too convincing. In fact, he very well may have believed it. “Let your prisoners go!”

“My prisoners?” Saul grabbed a rifle from one of his thugs and shot a female agent in the head without missing a beat. She was on the ground dead in seconds. “Two to go.”

Terror swept through me as he swung his gun toward Rhys. I could hear Jessie laughing behind the camera, not surprisingly finding a kindred spirit in Alice, another young girl as twisted as she. Saul took his time cocking the gun, lifting it, pointing it at Rhys’s head....

“Stop!” Brendan cried.

“Stop,” Prince said at the same time—it was defeat that carried the sound from his lips. “Don’t... kill my son.”

“Oh, right, this is your son. I almost forgot.”

He nodded to Vasily, who kicked Rhys in the face so hard, his body twisted around and hit the ground on his side. But Vasily only let Rhys writhe in pain for so long before grabbing his hair again and twisting his head forward so we could all see his bruised, bloody features.Rhys...

“But then,” Saul continued, “I wonder. Maybe he does deserve to die. Maybe you shouldn’t save him. After all, he isn’t innocent.” Saul walked across the cobbled pavement and knelt next to Rhys. “He’s a murderer. Killed when he was a child. Killed as an agent. Who was the last person, Vasily?”

My lips parted in a silent cry, my hand rising as if there were something I could do from inside this room to stop the next words out of Vasily’s mouth.

“Natalya,” Vasily said simply with a shrug. “Natalya Filipova.”

My hand fell back to my side.

The room went still as a grave. No one moved. No one breathed.

“Did you hear that?” Saul shook his head, his smug smile facing the screen. “I hope the whole world heard that correctly, but I’ll repeat it for those not listening. Aidan Rhys, second son of the Sect’s North American Division’s director, murdered the legendary, heroic Natalya Filipova. And she didn’t even see it coming.” He looked at Rhys. “Do you deny it?”

When Rhys struggled to speak, Vasily responded by letting go of his hair and slapping him in the face. His forehead hit the pavement so hard I could hear thethud, but he was still conscious. Vasily grabbed his sleeve and dragged him up to his knees.

“Do you deny it?” Saul repeated patiently.

“N-no.” The word was almost indiscernible, but I’d heard it.

Saul leaned in, cocking his head toward him. “What was that?”

“No,” Rhys said more strongly despite the blood dripping from his mouth. “I don’t. I don’t deny it. I killed Natalya.”

The few agents who still had their guns pointed at us lowered them as they shifted back to the screen and stared in awe. In this room filled with dozens of people, you could hear nothing but gasps. Brendan stumbled back until he bumped into a terminal, his eyes glistening with tears. Director Prince continued to stand stoically, though his hands curled into fists that twitched against his thighs.

And behind me, someone finally stirred.

Belle.

I twisted around to meet her... her eyes. They were on me. Still hollow. Still empty. But with a flash of something else I couldn’t name. A chasm had opened in them, her face like crumbling stone, as she stared at me,throughme, without blinking. Her pupils darted to the right and left, trying and failing to grab hold of anything. She was undone.

“A suicide turns to murder in a matter of seconds. Games played by the Sect.” Saul turned his back. “And he’s not the only guilty party.”

The crowd of armed criminals made room for the young woman making her way to the front. She kept her head low, her thick, curly chestnut hair flowing down over her sandy skin. Immediately, I felt a pain in my chest, sudden, unexplainable. Something wasn’t right. Something deep inside me was screaming it.

“Don’t think that the Effigies are your friends,” Saul said.

The girl lifted her head to show her face.

Myface.

I fell to my knees. Everyone was looking at me, but I was looking at me too. At the girl who looked exactly like me from the shape of her forehead to the stub of her nose to the point of her chin. The girl who wasn’t me stared blankly at the cameras as Saul passed her a gun. And she didn’t seem to feel anything when she raised it and shot the second agent in the head, killing the woman instantly.

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