Page 100 of Spark of the Everflame

A patient—of course. He must have been a patient at the center at some point. Perhaps I didn’t remember because I hadn’t treated him directly.

I tried to shove the question away now that I had a rational answer, but something about it still tugged at my sleeve, demanding my attention.

“So you ran all over the palace, and they just let you go?” Brant asked.

“They threatened my life,” I shot back defensively. “I’m not sure they’re ever going to let me back in.”

“They didn’t search you and find the map?”

“They searched my bag, but I hid the map in my clothing.”

“They didn’t arrest you? They didn’t beat you? They didn’t do anything at all to you? They just let you leave?”

My temper snapped. “I got my throat sliced open and nearly had my arm broken. Is that good enough for you, or shall I go back and ask them to whip me as well?”

“That’s enough,” Vance cut in, raising a hand to Brant. “Let’s be grateful it ended as well as it did. We’re all well aware of the palace’s trusting relationship with the healers, it shouldn’t surprise us they didn’t assume the worst of her.”

My stomach churned a bit.

“Where were you cut?” This time it was Francis who inquired. His voice was gentle, but he was staring at my neck with a frown.

My hand flew to my throat. I’d sanitized the cut and cleaned the dried blood away at the healers’ center, but I’d been in too sullen a mood to allow any of the trainees to bandage the wound. My fingers brushed along my neck in futile search for the scab.

I glanced down at the dark brown bloodstains on the collar of my tunic. Maybe in the struggle to subdue me, the guard had nicked himself. Maybe the blood was his, not mine.

But I remembered it so clearly—the cold bite of the blade as it pierced my skin. I could still feel the phantom pain where he’d cut me, but when I ran my hand across it, there was only a patch of smooth skin. Almost as if it had just...

Long-buried suspicions bubbled to the surface, sending my heartbeat galloping.No, I shouted to myself over the roar of my own thoughts.It was a mistake. A hallucination, maybe. Nothing more. Itcan’tbe more.

“Brothers,” Vance interrupted, “this is not how we treat Guardians who risk their lives for our cause. We are grateful for the risk SisterBellatortook today, are we not?”

He shot a hard look at his two comrades, who nodded despite their frowns.

Vance leaned forward and took my hands, cupping them in his. “You were very brave today, Sister. We’ll need that in the days to come. We need Guardians who aren’t afraid to do whatever it takes to end the Descended’s rule once and for all.”

I’m not sure what it was that caused the following words to rush out of my mouth—the gentle pity on his face, the unworthiness I felt under his men’s skeptical stares, or simply my own feelings of failure eating me away from the inside out.

“I can try again. I... I know a secret entrance into the palace.”

All three men sat straighter.

“What entrance?” Vance asked.

“A hole in the wall of the palace gardens.”

The second I said it, regret sank in my chest like a stone.

There were children in that palace—and based on my first task, I wasn’t confident these men were above hurting children to get their way.

Vance whispered something to Brant, who disappeared from the room for a few seconds before returning with a large map of the royal grounds.

“Can you show us where it is, Sister?” Vance smoothed out the crinkled paper in front of me, his face bright with excitement. Even Brant and Francis were now watching me with blatant interest, their suspicion temporarily appeased.

For a second, I hoped I wouldn’t be able to locate the spot, and I would be forced to tell them I honestly didn’t know. They would still want me to take them there, but at least I could buy some time to decide just how far I was willing to go.

My eyes betrayed me. The moment I looked, I found it in an instant, just north of a bend in the road I couldn’t forget.

This is what you wanted, I reminded myself.You signed up to help the Guardians take down the Crown and everyone who supports it.

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