Page 74 of The Tree of Spirits
“And Kato? Does Kato understand?” I asked him.
“Of course not.” Conner scowled at the ground. “Why do you think I’ve been avoiding him? We’re best friends. Practically brothers. He didn’t handle it well when I left.”
I stopped myself as I was about to give his shoulder a comforting pat. Conner wasreallygood at getting people to empathize with him. I had to be careful. He’d already burned me once before, whether or not he’d meant to.
“Conner…” I sighed. “I trusted you. I even liked you.”
The frown faded instantly from his face. He flashed me a charming grin. “You really shouldn’t go around liking and trusting every good-looking guy that you meet.”
The flash of teeth I gave him in return was more of a snarl than a smile. “Why do you always do that?”
“Why do I always dowhat?”
“Make jokes when you should be serious.”
“To take the pressure off? I don’t know. You tell me.” He brushed a few loose rope threads off my sleeve. “You do the same thing.”
“Not all of the time.”
He snorted. “Well, I guess you’re a lot tougher than I am. You can handle the pressure without the jokes.”
“I won’t argue with that.”
His lips buzzed with laughter. “That’s what I like about you, Red. You always speak your mind. So, with that in mind, can you do one thing for me?”
“That depends.”
His smile faded a little. “I guess that’s fair, all things considered.”
“So what is thisone thing?”
He leaned his back against the wall. “I was hoping you would at leasttryto forgive me.”
I cleared my throat. “I don’t know, Conner. But I think if you want me to trust you, then you also need to trust me.”
“I do,” he said immediately.
“Do you?” I folded my arms across my chest. “If that’s true—if you truly trust me—then you can tell me why you left the Knights.”
He stared at me for so long, and all the while, I was sure he wouldn’t agree. But he did.
“Ok,” he finally said. “Actually, I guess you need to know this anyway, if we’re going to work together to rescue the Apprentices.”
I frowned, confused. “What do those things have to do with one another?”
“Don’t worry. I’ll explain everything.” He grabbed my hand, pulling me over to the sofa. And when we were sitting there, side by side, looking at each other, he said, “First of all, I wanted to assure you of something, especially after what my friends did to you.”
“Ok?”
“The Rebels were not the people in those techno suits yesterday. We did not attack the conference center. And we did not kidnap the Apprentices.”
“Yeah, I kind of figured that out already.”
“And the General didn’t change your mind?” He waited, watching me for my response.
“Of course not. The General is just looking for a scapegoat. And while I did not particularly enjoy being kidnapped by your friends—and I definitely think that Cedar especially needs some serious personality lessons—I don’t believe that any of them are jewel thieves.”
“No, the Rebels have far greater aspirations than collecting bling.” His smile was short-lived. “And so do the Templars.”
