Page 38 of Splitting Secrets
There are two closed doors on the back wall and an open one beside the kitchen that clearly leads to a bathroom. I want to cry at the sight of the toilet.
Indoor plumbing is something I will never take for granted again.
Ava, Beatrix, and Jonah stumble in behind me and take it all in with just as much interest as I do. Raze leans against the kitchen counter at a safe distance and waits with a bored expression on his face. Each of us is clearly still weary of trusting him and we’re doing nothing to hide it from him.
“No one is going to pop out and grab you, if that’s what you’re waiting for,” he mutters.
“I doubt you would need assistance taking us out,” Jonah bites back, crossing his arms over his chest self-consciously.
Raze ignores him, pushing off the counter to trudge through the living room and open the two doors on the back wall. “You can decide your own sleeping arrangements. This one has a bunk bed, and the other has a queen. Bathroom is right here,” he explains in that same dull, detached tone he would use during his lectures. “There’s a bathtub and shower. Hot water works, but you have to keep your showers short and give it time to reheat.”
The four of us share a look. The idea of a hot shower sounds like heaven right now.
“I brought in a small box of food earlier to last you for now. I’ll grab more and bring it as soon as possible. There are some random clothes in the drawers that you’re free to change into. We’ll have to wait to gather your belongings from your dorms when no one is watching. I wouldn’t use anything with heat during the day. It’ll throw up smoke and draw attention.”
“What are we going to do?Freeze?” Beatrix whines.
“What did you do in the cells?” When she tucks her lip out in a pout that says that’s exactly what we did down there, he nods his head once. “There are blankets in the closets. You’ll survive.”
“What are you getting out of helping us?” Ava asks the question I know has been sitting on the tip of her tongue this entire time.
Raze raises his brows. “Nothing.”
“How do we know you won’t come back and repeat what they did to Matilda?” she challenges, widening her stance.
The dirt and grime staining her skin, paired with her tattered clothing, gives her a rugged appearance that even I would be afraid to stand up to. This is a woman who has experienced the hardest days of her life while he has been able to walk around a free man, and she’s still standing.
All of us are still standing. That has to count for something.
“They shouldn’t have done that,” Raze admits.
“She trusted you to protect her,” Ava retorts, and the accusation is clear in her voice.
He rolls his lips and carefully considers her. “Matilda was an asset to our movement and something like a second mother to me. I’ll miss her terribly, but she knew the risks. You all will, too.”
They stare at each other in silent challenge until Ava blinks and turns away. “Is this place even safe? It’s practically on Ravenshurst property.”
“It is on Ravenshurst property,” he corrects, and I raise my brows. “But it’s as safe as you can be while we get some things sorted out.”
“Who is ‘we’?” Jonah asks.
“You’ll find out soon enough,” is all he says before turning his attention fully toward me. “Can we talk for a moment?”
“Sure,” I mutter, feeling the weight of three stares boring into my back as he leads me into the room with a queen bed and shuts the door.
“Has anyone hurt you?” he asks the second the door clicks into place. I can tell he wants to step closer toward me, but is attempting to respect my personal space.
Wrapping my arms across my torso, I rub my palms up and down. “No.”
“That shouldn’t have happened,” he insists breathlessly. “They did that to send a message to the rebellion.”
“Which part?”
“Killing Matilda,” he answers, and I hate the lack of emotion he shows at the mention of such a brutal attack. They didn’t just kill her. Theymurderedher right before my eyes.
“They said it was a message for me,” I recall through the lump in my throat that reminds me I haven’t even begun to mentally process the trauma I’ve endured.
Raze frowns, tilting his head in that way he always does when he’s trying to figure me out. “What did they say?”
