Page 85 of Silver Elite

When the topic of the Silverblood Purge comes up, I’m surprised to hear Lyddie of all people questioning the General’s tactics.

“I don’t know if they all needed to bekilled.There had to be another solution. Especially what happened in Valterra Ridge. There were so many children there.”

“Well, what about now?” Betima asks her. “Do you still think killing them is wrong?”

She bites her lip. “Maybe? I don’t know.”

Lash responds with the vehement shake of his head. “We continue to neutralize them because we refuse to go back to the way it was before the Coup. When Severnism was running rampant through the wards. When Primes were second-class citizens.”

I roll my eyes at him. “You weren’t even alive when President Severn was in power.”

“No, but my parents were. My father is a surgeon, did you know that?”

“I didn’t.”

“He didn’t start his training until I was born. And you know how old he was when I was born, Darlington? Thirty. From the ages of sixteen to thirty he cleaned sewers. He was the smartest kid in his class, and those Aberrant quats assigned him to Sanitation. Why?” Lash sneers. “Because he was a lowly piss-vein. His blood wasn’t elite. He couldn’t heal using some toxic fucking energy coursing inside him. He needed to use his brain for that. But Severn and his cabinet wouldn’t let him.”

“I’m not saying Severn’s reign was a good one,” I say, backpedaling, and we go back to memorizing codes.

—

It haunts me. The seething, disgusted expression on Lash’s face. I can’t get it out of my mind all night. I like Lash. He’s levelheaded. Bright. Yet evenhecan’t see we’re not bad people.

I don’t want to be here anymore.

Panic tickles my stomach as the thought pushes its way to the forefront of my brain.

I have to get off this base. I still don’t know how, but Ihaveto.

Lash isn’t wrong. The Continent’s former Mod leader treated the Primes abominably. I can acknowledge that, but Severn doesn’t represent all Mods. His actions are not my actions. There are good people on the Continent whose only objective is to live their lives in peace. They don’t want to oppress anyone. They don’t want to feel superior. They just want tolive.

Lyddie and the others are in the common room for another film screening, but I’m not feeling social tonight. Alone in the lavatory, I change out of my uniform and into my sleep clothes. I don’t store anything in my bunk locker anymore. My meager belongings are all here in my lav locker, including the knife I lifted after our first op.

It’s been a few days since I had a real conversation with Tana, so I reach out to her, desperation filling my throat the moment we link.

“I can’t be here anymore, Tan.”

“There’s really no way for you to escape?”

“No. Cameras everywhere, alarms everywhere, and the captain is watching me like a hawk. I’ve fooled everyone into believing I’m a Prime, but he still doesn’t trust me. He thinks I knew Jim was Modified. Probably thinks I’m helping the Uprising, too.”I almost laugh in derision, unable to control my sarcasm.“I would love to help those assholes. But they won’t let me help them! They don’t care about me.”

“Polly’s not responding to me anymore, and I don’t know who else to contact, babe. The network isn’t running any operations through Hamlett because the village is being watched so closely. The Command thinks Jim had help here.”

“Do they suspect you or your dad?”

“I don’t know. But I just have a bad feeling. I feel like I’m always being watched.”

I’m a bad friend.

I’ve barely asked howshe’sdoing since I blew up our lives on Liberty Day. I’ve been so focused on my own predicament, my own imprisonment, that I didn’t even consider what Jim’s death meant to the people who knew him. Griff has been aiding the Uprising for almost eight years, from the moment Tana began manifesting her gifts at the age of twelve.

“Are you safe?”I ask her, worried now.

“As safe as I can be considering what runs through my veins.”

“Fair point.”

“I have to go. My dad needs me to help restock the bar. I’ll touch base tomorrow, keen?”

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