Page 100 of Silver Elite

“Move, Anson,” I growl.

“—is that eventually you slip up, too. Like the idiot at my father’s dinner party. Thinks he’s smarter than everyone, all the while broadcasting his identity to the group.” Roe’s cold chuckle chills my back. “It just takes a little while longer with you ’fects. Gotta be patient. Wait for the mistake. But you can’t hide for very long. You never do.”

I need togo.

My gaze shifts from Anson to Roe. Another wave of panic swells over me, threatening to drown out all rational thought. I’m seconds from lunging at Roe and batting the gun out of his hand. Or charging Anson and risking a bullet to the back of my head. Because standing here at either of their mercy is not an option. I ease forward an inch, my mind racing as I try to concoct a plan.

“Wren,” Betima warns, as if she knows I’m about to do something reckless. She gives a shake of the head and I stop.

“Smart girl.” Roe nods his approval. “But not so smart earlier, were you? You slipped up.”

I blink. I don’t know what he’s talking about. I don’t know what I did.

“I saw your veins when you touched him.”

My veins?

Clarity strikes at the same time Roe’s arm snaps out, and I watch in horror as he presses the gun barrel to Betima’s forehead.

She freezes, all the color draining from her face.

And I suddenly hear her words buzz through my head.

I didn’t realize how awful it was to feel someone die.

Tofeelsomeone die.

“Empath,” Roe says, voicing my thoughts. “That’s my guess.”

Before I can process the stunning implications, I notice his finger tightening on the trigger.

“You’re crazy,” Betima says, her voice shaking.

“No. I saw your veins. And I saw your face. You felt what he was feeling. Youfeltit when Cotter died. That’s why you got sick.”

“No, I was sick because I watched one of our fellows get impaled by—”

“Would you just shut the fuck up already?”

The world shatters around me as Roe pulls the trigger.

Chapter 23

Time slows to a crawl. The gunshot echoes through the dark night. Betima falls to the ground, her blood staining the gravel like spilled ink.

I stand there, frozen in shock.

Betima had been hiding in plain sight. Raising her hand during class, playing dumb about Mods.Can they plant images in my mind?She had me completely fooled.

I don’t wait to find out what Roe plans to do with me next. I shove Anson aside and throw open the door, then race down the stairs. My footfalls blast through the stairwell. I can’t breathe. My heart feels like it’s going to explode out of my chest.

I burst out at the bottom floor and hear the shouts in the corridor. Soldiers come running. I throw myself to the side, but someone grabs me. It’s Hadley.

“What did you do?” he demands.

“Nothing.”

“What did you do!”

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