Page 106 of In Her Own Rite

“Ah, the man I maimed.” There’s a sarcastic edge in her voice. “They’ve brought you here to fill me with regret, have they?”

“No. I came because there wasn’t an easy way for Kieran to see you otherwise.”

“Ah. Well.” She shakes her head. “Iamsorry, for what it’s worth. I hear I cost you the chance to do your elder rite. And I imagine you’re in quite some pain.”

Gabe nods wordlessly, then looks up at me. Right.

“You’ve been asking to talk to me again?” I ask.

She nods. “Please tell me you came to a decision.”

“I’m sorry. Still nothing.”

She mutters some curse I don’t know, shaking her head. “How hard can it be? Haven’t you read the petitions? Haven’t you seen what we’re trying to escape?”

“I have. But the council—”

“Ah. Well at this rate, I imagine I’ll spend seven years in this basement if we leave it to your council.”

“You can’t blame them,” I say, crossing my arms. “You put yourself in a bad position, Thalia. You’re the only one of the group who’s hurt an islander. You didn’t want to share information, which made them question your motives. And honestly, I don’t know that whatever information you have is going to sway the council. Now that we’ve caught the last of you—”

“What?” she asks, wrinkling her forehead.

“The last one of your group, Laurent, lit a fire on the west shore last week and fled. Fishermen from Keist were able to catch him before he left.”

She hesitates, eyeing me.

“He’s being held on Keist, now, away from the rest of you.”

“You still want to talk to me,” she says.

“Yeah, so you say, but you haven’t managed to convince anyone,” I say. “I don’t think this is working the way you want it to. The council doesn’t trust you. Some people want to hear you out, but you lording this information over us isn’t going to bring you closer to what you want. Maybe if youtellus what you know first, it’ll be easier for the council to agree to a deal—”

“Oh, so you cannot trust me, but you expect me to trust you?” she snaps. “The people who keep me chained in a basement? How do I know I won’t tell you and you’llstillbetray me, hm? And then I’ve sold out my fellow citizens and you send me back to our shores together, where they can rip me into shreds?”

“I—” I shake my head. When she puts it that way… “I can’t do this by myself, Thalia. I can’t make a deal for you. You have to play ball.”

“I’m trying, aren’t I?” she spits. “I’m here in this god-forsaken office, trying to plead for my life and my sister’s freedom with a man who doesn’t spare me a second thought. Why even come here, if you’re just going to toy with me? Please.” Her voice gets low, her eyes pained. “It’s so brutal there. Please push the council to come to a decision. And if you decide not to let us here, then at least put us on the ferry to the mainland. Don’t send us back to the southern isles.”

Gabe’s brow furrows. “You’d rather be undocumented on the mainland than sent back to your home?”

“It’s not my home,” she says bitterly. “Not anymore.”

He nods, looking at her. Something’s happening behind his eyes, but I don’t know what.

“Can I ask you something?” he asks.

Thalia purses her lips, leaning back in her chair.

“Do you know an Ilse? She’s from the southern isles, too.”

I expect her to shut him down, but she waves her hand dismissively. “The islands are big. There’s many people I do and don’t know. A name is nothing.”

“I don’t know her last name.” He swallows, nervous. What is he talking about? I’ve never heard of this.

“Her dad was a delegate,” he continues. “She came here with him for the peace treaty that broke down, after the last attacks.”

Thalia looks up, her brows knit. “Ilse Tanayyu?”

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