Page 52 of In Her Own Rite

I look at Quinn. She’s lean and lightly muscular, almost as tall as Seb and with the same tawny skin and dark hair, though the bottom half of her short bob is bleached. Usually sporting adon’t fuck with meattitude, today even she looks shaken, her face gray.

“What happened?” I ask.

“I was there when they came in,” she says. “They were looking for Gabe for sure. One of the older ones saw him across the room and sicced the others on him. The one who got there first was large. Female. She pounced on him and just tore into his chest.”

“Uikbaane,” Kieran says.

“Come on,” I say, making my voice sound stronger than I feel. “We should get you guys settled in. I made dinner, if anyone’s hungry. Did you guys bring bags?”

Maren nods.

Seb and Kieran go down the hill to get them, and I bring Gabe, Maren, and Quinn into the den. We prop Gabe’s leg up, and I make them all a plate of food and then watch as they pick at it wordlessly, no one having the energy or desire to eat. Once Seb and Kieran are back, they come into the den, too. The mood is like a funeral service.

“Why does the council think they went after you?” Kieran asks.

“I don’t know. Maybe because of my mom,” Gabe says. His expression is grave, and his voice, usually light and jovial, sounds tired.

“They think it might be a warning shot to the rest of the island,” Seb says. “Since Saga’s thereijna, and such a big figure in the community. That they’re trying to cause unrest.”

“I’m so sorry, Gabe,” I say, putting my hand on his arm. “I can’t believe this.”

“Did they say anything? Anything to indicate why they’d do this?” Kier asks.

Seb nods. “They came in wolf form, but one of them flipped back to shout something as they left.”

“What did he say?”

“Hayyala fast.”

I shake my head. “It doesn’t make sense. We haven’t heardanythingabout the Remnant since the nineties. How old were these people? Your parents’ age?”

“No, younger,” Quinn says. “The one who attacked Gabe was young, our age. There were maybe one or two elders.”

“Not—” says Kieran.

Seb shakes his head. “No one we’d know.”

“So what now?” I ask. “What are they gonna do?”

“There’s a search party trying to find the rebels, since they need a boat to leave the island,” Seb says. “Saga, Isolde, and your aunt and uncle are staying on Saroe. They’ve left thefikarig, just in case, and they’re staying with anotherfikawhere they’ll be protected now that we’re gone.”

“Why stay?” Kieran asks. “Why not just come here?”

“Because now that it seems targeted, if my mom leaves the island, people will panic,” Gabe says. “And that’s what they want.”

“It’s the wrong call,” Seb says. “We should all have left.”

“They had a huge fight,” Maren mutters as an aside to me. “Not just about that, but the whole thing with the asylum seekers.”

“What? Why?” Kier asks. “Who cares about that right now?”

“Wedo,” Seb says, gesturing to Gabe and himself.

“This is even more proof we need to let them in,” Gabe says.

“You can’t be serious,” Kieran says. “They slaughtered Anja’s farm. They destroyed the harbor. They brutalized you,on purpose.”

“But the people doing this aren’t the same ones asking for asylum,” Gabe says. “And if this is the kind of violence they’re facing in the southern isles…”

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