Malou wasn’t sure if her jitters were from seeing Aaro’s face on the Gendarmerie’s wanted list or her confrontation with that Gendarme in the corridor. Maybe they were from learning Professor Haddou had been arrested or the tightness in her chest that was telling her that everything was going wrong.

Quite a hard feeling to ignore when everything was, in fact, going very wrong.

“We should go,” Gavriel said, his gaze shifting to her. Veins bulged above his temple. His headache must’ve been excruciating. “You first, though. I’ll follow after so it’s not too scandalous.”

She nodded and stood on shaky legs. Avoiding scandal with him was the least of her concerns when the idea of leaving him felt more wrong than anything else. Was it because he was in so much pain? Was it because the sharp and irrefutable realization that’d driven her to him in the first place still lingered in the back of her mind? If he were in any real immediate danger, though, their soulbond likely wouldn’t have even let her get up.

“Malou,” Aaro said, pulling her out of her thoughts.

She’d hesitated for too long. His brows pulled together in worry, and as genuine as it seemed, it only added to how exponentially exasperating he’d become in the little time she’d spent with him since their second reunion.

“You’ll be okay, yeah?” he asked.

She sighed. “What an insult. You’re the one they’re after, not me. You’re the one whose ass I saved from the Gendarme. Will you be okay without me?”

“Once.” Aaro held up a single finger that almost made her regret being concerned for him at all. What would he have done back at Tousieux without her? This was the second time. He still reiterated, “You helped me this once. I just wanted to check-in. Be sure and all that since I care and all. Save your wrath for your new redheaded best friend.”

Perhaps that was part of her uneasiness. Of course, she was glad he hadn’t been arrested. Of course, she’d been relieved to see him on board, relatively unscathed. That didn’t change that what he’d said—that he was here because he wanted to be and that he promised to do everything he could to help her—wasn’t that much different from what Teodora Nunziata had told Elodie.

That was all the incentive she needed to leave the compartment without looking back. What she needed was a moment to think, and she could do that on her way back to Teo’s compartment.

The fact that the Gendarme had recognized her and knew her name didn’t sit well with her. That meant it’d be easy to link her to the tickets she’d purchased with the fake silvers her grandmother had given her, which rendered them useless.

Professor Haddou having been arrested worried her as well, even though Haddou would probably be fine. She was a highly esteemed professor and would be treated with respect. But if they knew she was a member of the Blind Collective, what would stop them from handing her over to the Sea Legions? What would happen to Haddou if she were placed under the authority of Commander Fiorenza Nunziata or Senator de Klijn?

On the other hand, Haddou could use magic to escape, so maybe Malou’s worry was needless. Maybe all of her worries were needless.

“Laure,” she whispered, slowing her pace to avoid following someone leaving their compartment too closely. Only two cars separated her from Teo’s compartment. “What do you think of Teo?”

“Personally?” her secretary asked. “Or is this your way of having me use the Teir for you?”

“Either. Both. I don’t know.” Ahead of her, the other person slipped into the lavatory at the end of the car. She lowered her voice even more. “Should I trust her? Can we trust her?”

Laure clicked her tongue, which was the last thing Malou needed to hear right now. “Very indecisive lately, aren’t you? Asking the Teir is a bit pointless for this, I think, because the question is a little too broad. Nonetheless, the Teir affirms that she can be trusted.”

Malou passed through the small antechamber connecting this car to the next, quietly closing both doors behind her. Only this car separated her from Teo and Elodie. She wasn’t ready to face either of them yet. She put a hand on her forehead and pressed as if that’d push her anxious thoughts to the back of her mind.

Just because nothing had quite gone according to her plan didn’t mean everything was going wrong. Plans changed all the time. Necessarily.

“What do you think?” she asked Laure to distract herself.

“Oh, I agree with you,” Laure said. For some reason, Malou hadn’t expected that. “Her intentions may be trustworthy, but that doesn’t mean her trustworthiness isn’t being used by those who are untrustworthy."

Teo was trustworthy enough to have gotten them on the train. Aaro had been adamant that she should be left behind, and he was absolutely right to be. It was because of Teo that the Gendarme on this train recognized Malou. However, if Teo was as determined to help Elodie as Aaro was to help Malou, then she wasn’t going to let Elodie leave this train without her.

Rather than leave Teo behind, it would probably be easier to lose her in the station. Dorian may have told her that they planned to hide in Rielha, but he wouldn’t have had anything to tell her about how exactly they were getting there. Even if he’d told her that they’d take the train to Novenzia, Malou was confident that she could convince Teo that she hadn’t told him everything. If Teo doubted her, then Malou would only use that to doubt her in turn.

Once in Srionne Station, if Malou had to use a bit of magic to separate them from Teo, then she would. Whatever it took.

“Malou,” Laure called her name softly. “There’s also some news from the feed you might want to hear. Though you might not like it much.”

“What makes you think that when I never like the news you have for me?” Malou opened the door to the next car and headed toward Teo’s compartment. She flexed her fingers, readying herself before entering.

“Elodie has been reported kidnapped. While there isn’t a named subject of the kidnapping, the Libertines are acknowledged as potential subjects, as well as your grandmother. That your grandmother helped the Libertines kidnap her, that is.”

The tightness in her chest made her stop short of Teo’s compartment. Now, this? On top of Aaro being wanted by the Gendarme and Haddou having been arrested by them, now Elodie had been reported kidnapped already? All worrying as single events, let alone as a collection of them. All of it because she’d decided to bring Elodie along in the first place.

If bringing Elodie would’ve put the Teir in danger, Laure would’ve told her. But the Teir’s safety and Elodie’s safety weren’t the same things, were they? Had Malou made a terrible mistake?

No—neither the Teir nor Elodie were in danger. As long as Malou wasn’t connected to the Libertines or the so-called kidnapping, that meant she and the Teir were both safe. The worst that could happen to Elodie would be having to return to Valois Manor, but in that event, Malou would only return later to steal her away again.

Even if this didn’t work, it was worth trying for Elodie’s sake. That meant there was still something to salvage here. There was still a chance they could make it without getting caught.

“That’s not all,” Laure continued. “Premier Casals has been reported dead.”

Malou almost missed the wall when she tried to keep herself from falling forward. She waited for Laure to correct herself, to say the report was mistaken, to tell her that the premier was still very much alive.

“I’m so sorry, Malou. I know you loved her, and I know she loved you as well.”

A crushing weight fell over her. That wasn’t a correction. Premier Casals was dead just like her father and Brosch. Gone just like that. Had they killed her because they couldn’t get the information they wanted from her? Had they shot her in the chest? Or had they done something far worse, something that’d leave no body behind like they’d done to her father?

She tipped her head back and stared at the hallway ceiling because it was easier to ignore the blur at the bottom of her vision then. She was glad the curtains had been drawn over the window of every door in this car. She let her memory wander to the last few times she’d seen the premier.

There was that time before Malou had listened in on the premier and Zeynel’s conversation with Commander Nunziata. When Malou had arrived to work-study that day, she’d found Premier Casals snoring by the fireplace. The first thing out of her mouth after waking up had been asking if she’d missed the meeting.

Damn. That’s a shame, she’d said. Malou had helped her up, then she had escorted Malou to her office. Before she’d left to join Zeynel for the consultation call, she’d called Malou love and smiled.

Malou had to close her eyes and hold her breath for a moment.

“Who?” she whispered. “Did it say who killed her? Or what happened?”

“A Libertine. That a Libertine who stole the Teir left her for dead.”

How did that make any sense? While she knew the feed didn’t always report the truth, this seemed too far from it even for propaganda. How was anyone supposed to believe a report that clearly should’ve been a headlining story a week after the fact saying that the Teir had been stolen? And that the person who’d stolen it had killed Premier Casals as well?

“What about Zeynel—did it say anything about him?”

“Nothing.”

Malou sucked in a long breath and then let it rush out of her. She had to leave this grief for when she had time for it. She could save her anger for then, too. What she needed right now was her composure. She’d pretend like she knew nothing. She’d have them get off the train in Srionne.

Malou opened the door to find Teo and Elodie sharing laughs. The table had been cleared of dishes already, which meant Malou had been gone longer than she would’ve liked to have been.

“There you are,” Teo said with a childish smile. There was something effortlessly cheerful about her that would’ve won Malou over had she not been a Nunziata. “I was just talking Elodie out of getting worried. She sure loves you.”

Had it been her sister who’d shot Premier Casals? Perhaps she’d been the one who ordered it?

“Nothing to worry over,” Malou confirmed. She took her same seat in the corner near Elodie and because it was best to keep lies consistent added, “I just wanted a private moment with Gavriel. He’ll be back soon.”

Elodie shrank her shoulders but grinned fiendishly. “Oh, I see. Nothing to worry over at all. I like Gavriel.” She grinned more, enough to make Malou smile back. “I like him a lot, by the way.”

“Elodie has great taste, too,” Teo said, sharing Elodie’s bright look. “She likes me as well.”

That wasn’t reassuring at all—if it even mattered. On the contrary, Malou couldn’t stop the questions that stormed into her mind watching Teo act like she didn’t have a worry in the world. Did she know Premier Casals was dead? Did she know if her older sister had been the one who killed her? What about the feed reporting that Elodie had been kidnapped by a Libertine when she was sharing a compartment with a Legionnaire?

Then a voice came over the intercom to announce they were nearing Srionne Station, and Malou collected herself.

“We’ll be getting off here,” she said, keeping her tone light.

Teo blinked and tilted her head slowly. “Maybe that’s a good idea. They probably think we’ll take the train as far as we can because it’d be the easy way. I should probably visit the lavatory now then.” She hopped to her feet. “I’ll be quick. Much quicker than Malou.”

Malou could hear Teo chuckling down the hall until the door finally closed. The sigh that came out of her was one she couldn’t help. She placed her palm over her eyes. So much for collecting herself.

“Sorry to change the plans like that,” she said to Elodie.

“What’s wrong?” Elodie asked. She moved over to sit closer to Malou and hugged her middle. “You’re not crying, are you? Please don’t cry. I don’t mind a change of plans. I’ll do whatever you think is best. I trust you more than anyone.”

“I’m not crying,” Malou said and gave Elodie a one-armed squeeze. “Do you trust me more than Teo? Do you trust me enough to leave Teo behind and come with me alone?”

“Of course.”

Malou pulled the girl onto her lap and gave her a proper hug this time. “See? Not crying.” She forced a quick smile. “I do think Teo wants to help you, but I’m not sure she’s the right person to help. She has certain obligations as a Sea Legion that I don’t have. If she were given an order…”

Malou couldn’t finish the sentence, but Elodie didn’t seem to need her to.

“I don’t need to be convinced,” Elodie said.

Malou hugged her close as Gavriel opened the door to the compartment and stepped through. The look on his face told her he’d heard about Premier Casals’s death. He sat and took her hand. Or maybe she’d reached for his.

If they’d been alone, she might’ve let herself cry. She could be sad about the premier later when they weren’t trapped on a train with a bunch of Gendarme. Gavriel must’ve understood that because he gave her hand a little shake and then released it.

“Where’s Teo?” Gavriel asked. He massaged his frown, but the vein in his temple had almost disappeared. They’d probably been gaining elevation as they approached the station.

“Lavatory,” Elodie answered as she returned to her seat. “Malou was just telling me that we’re getting off in Srionne and then leaving Teo behind. Are we not telling that to Teo though?”

“It’d be best if she didn’t know,” Malou said. “She’ll get off with us, but we’ll lose her in the crowd. Srionne Station is busy enough that it should be easy to do with a bit of effort.”

Elodie nodded. “I’m good with secrets.”

Then a voice came over the intercom to announce their imminent arrival at Srionne Station. Unfortunately, that did nothing to ease the tightness building in Malou’s chest or the lump growing in her throat as the waiting game began. She reminded herself that this was doable. There was a good chance they’d pull off losing Teo in the station, meeting up with Aaro, and finding a better way to Rielha. She needed to do her part to make that all happen.

Teo returned quickly after that. Elodie didn’t act a single bit differently. Spending her entire childhood in a patrician household had probably taught her how to do that. When the train finally arrived at the station, they waited for their car to be called to disembark. Thankfully, they were included in the second group.

They stepped off the train into another yawning chamber of a platform with the same coffered barrel vault ceiling of white stone as Dorenheim Station—a design shared among stations in the empire. It was busier than the station in Dorenheim by an incredible margin, though. There were people dressed in clothes from all over the world. Almost everyone was toting a briefcase or piece of luggage and had a child or two, an attendant or two, or a mechanical pet or two.

While Dorenheim was the capital of Nuyere, the central-most province, Srionne was the capital of the entire empire. Patrician families vacationed here for the summer social season in multi-storied penthouse mansions or in estates near the Old Palace where the Crowned Consul lived with his family. The three branches of the government were centered here, as the Crowned Consul and the Consul’s Advisors had offices here, the Parliament of Patriciates met here to vote on legislation, and the Crowned Court convened here as well.

Gavriel took the lead, pushing and squeezing through the chaos of the platform to make a path for them toward the elevators. Malou held Elodie close and put herself between the girl and the crowd as she followed him. Although she searched the masses for a glimpse of Aaro, Senna, Cassian, or even Cassian’s wolf, all she found were better-hidden Gendarme with mechanical Dobermanns alert and ready for orders.

When they made it onto one of the elevators, Malou finally felt like she could breathe. Too close for comfort, Teo looked like some of the tension in her shoulders had eased as well.

Teo was sticking too closely to Elodie’s side to be as easy to lose as Malou had hoped. Using magic would be risky, but no one would be able to believe their eyes if someone seemed to disappear one time. It’d still be less risky if she was simply distracted.

Malou tugged at Gavriel’s jacket sleeve. Thanks to their cover story, Teo shouldn’t find them whispering to be too suspicious. He raised an eyebrow at her but leaned over just enough when she gestured for him to come closer. She only said three words: create a distraction. He smirked in response.

All that was left, then, was finding Aaro. Malou could probably trust him to find her. He had a great track record so far. Gavriel would probably catch up to her first, and Aaro would follow later with Senna and Cassian. This was the best plan she had for now.

The ground floor was a colossal chamber with a vaulted white coffered ceiling and black tile floors with a gold inlaid pattern in the same style as the platforms and elevators. There were several ticket booths just as there were in the arrival terminal the floor below, but also food stalls, public seating and waiting areas, newsstands. A large gold chandelier glimmered above the general bustle of an interregional travel hub.

Teo stayed close to Elodie’s side as they made their way through the crowd toward the closest exit. About halfway there, Gavriel turned on his heel to stare her down. Teo startled, and Malou took the opportunity to pull Elodie away from her. Not missing a beat, Malou picked Elodie up and continued toward the exit.

She’d barely gone five steps when the sharp knife of clarity sliced through her. Her heart slowed into a dull beating in her ears as her body turned back to Gavriel. He’d stiffened. His face had hardened. The passengers around him started pulling away.

Gavriel’s eyes met with hers with panic, with worry, with an apology as a white-gloved Gendarme gripped his shoulder, then forced him to his knees. Beside that Gendarme were two others. They each had a mechanical Dobermann. That gave Gavriel no chance to escape.