Before I knew what I was doing, I was standing back in front of the closed door with my hand hovering over the doorknob. My chest constricted with the overwhelming urge to see him again. Back in Historical Amberasta, I’d been suspicious–especially after overhearing his conversation with the APF member–but enough time had passed for me to realize that he’d saved my life with no strings attached. He desires a proper thank you, at least…

But as my fingers touched the metal, a sour taste spread over my tongue. He wouldn’t want to see me. He sent me away, and he told me to conceal my identity. I might even be a danger to him.

I began to back away, the urge to burst inside dissipating, replaced again by the need to escape. My rescuer’s voice continued to pour into the hallway. “I did not call an emergency meeting to argue over my agents’ decisions, although I will be talking with them later,” he paused. “Right after the school was bombed, I received some disturbing intel from the capitol. It’s… well, they’ve identified the bomber as Amberastan.”

I froze, and the room exploded into discussion.

“Our air force?”

“At a SCHOOL?”

“Are we sure? Students could have died-”

“It’s logical,” a woman interjected. “We’ve traced several smaller incidents to the APF already this year. Everything lines up perfectly. The news that Solokia has bombed a school will cause an uproar. But the mechanisms of the bombing itself won’t draw too much attention, since it was after hours and no students were killed.”

“I agree,” my rescuer added. “We suspect that Keon’s intelligence can detect a bomber even before it crosses the border, yet the air raid sirens only sounded a minute before the explosion. Framing Solokia might just be the King’s favorite tactic. Of course we’ll need to-”

My head began to pound. The king’s favorite tactic… he flashed before my eyes, standing at his podium with eyes that danced like embers. “They dared to rob us of our crown jewel, the Blood Dove! They sent a band of criminals into our midst!”

But it doesn’t make sense, I thought, it never did. I pictured the grand room, painted red with blood. The alarm wasn’t armed that night. And the men in grey didn’t try to hide their presence; they didn’t act like spies or thieves. They strong-armed their way right through the Fortress.

I fell to my knees, my vision blurring. No, no, no. It can’t be. I leaned over, suddenly ill. How many people have died or had their lives altered forever? Historical Amberasta’s Resistance, shot at the hands of the men in grey; the boys I’d pulled from the collapsing school; and the hundreds of thousands of Amberastans who had entered into the war to avenge Solokia’s betrayal.

I grasped at my throat–suddenly, I could hardly breathe. The room in front of me went silent, and I looked up as the door slammed open. Above me, my rescuer was framed in the light, his jaw set tightly. A black mask was fitted over the bottom half of his face, obscuring his expression, and at his side, his hand rested on a pistol.

In his midnight-black eyes, I saw a reflection of my own horror-filled gaze. My shock at what I’d discovered dampened the realization that I had been caught. Several people pushed past my rescuer and grabbed my shoulders, forcefully pushing me to the floor. I didn’t resist, keeping my gaze locked onto the man’s. He was frozen in place, looking at me as if I was a ghostly figment of the past.

My eyes pleaded with him. “It was the king all along,” I said, my voice imbued with strength that I did not feel.

“What do you mean?”

“It was King Keon. He staged the Fortress attack.”

***

A moment passed in complete stillness. Then, someone pushed their knee into the small of my back, and I flinched. The man held up a hand, and the pressure lessened. I took a deep breath.

A woman pushed herself between my rescuer and I, and I recognized her as one of the pair who had brought me underground. “I’m sorry, sir!” she exclaimed. “That’s the woman we mentioned. She’s injured, and must be disoriented!”

“She’s not disoriented.” He said firmly. To my surprise, he brushed past the woman and reached a hand down to me. I hesitated for a moment, then gripped his hand with all of the strength I could muster. His callouses chafed against my palm as he hoisted me up, and something passed between us–a silent exchange of questions and answers.

“Sir, do you know this woman?” someone asked.

He shot them a glance, and his voice regained its cool edge. “That’s none of your concern. I must handle this immediately. We’ll reconvene in an hour.” He gripped my arm gently, as if asking me to follow him. “Come on. We must talk in private.”

We walked together through the maze of underground corridors, leaving his bewildered colleagues staring after us. I tried to calm my breathing, and the pressure in my chest seemed to lessen slightly. Maybe this won’t end in complete disaster.

We ducked into another, smaller room, and closed the door. It too seemed makeshift, decorated with a pair of simple wicker chairs. We both sat, and he folded his slim fingers over each other. “Repeat what you just said, but quietly,” he ordered without preamble.

I was grateful. As always, he seemed to understand the severity of the situation at hand. I took a deep breath. To share what I’d discovered, I would need to explain my past–even the parts I had guarded closest to my heart. Undoubtedly, telling him the truth would be a risk, but at that moment, he had the potential to be my greatest ally in all of Amberasta.

“The night the Fortress was attacked, I was inside, with members of the capitol’s Resistance. I wasn’t supposed to be there at all, and I wasn’t prepared. It was a mistake, but I was trapped. From the start, I could feel that something was wrong.” I closed my eyes, picturing that night. “The security cameras were damaged, and the record room was ransacked.”

“That all sounds like a robbery.”

“No… it was something else. The security was suspiciously lax. No one was patrolling, and even the security alarm was disarmed. But most of all, the destruction was… all consuming. Books were torn, shelves were broken… even the card reader was shot off. It was all excessive, artificial.”

The man leaned closer, completely engrossed in my words. “Think about it,” I said. “I saw the invaders. They killed an entire group of officers. It’s nearly impossible to leave the Fortress, even without drawing attention to yourself. How could they have escaped unharmed without help on the inside?”

“When did you see them?”

“There was an explosion, I don’t know who set it off. I was thrown, and knocked unconscious. When I came to… e-everyone was dead,” I lied, leaving out Peter’s death and Owen’s capture. My heart thudded in my chest. “The men who killed them were wearing grey camouflage, and they were well trained. I escaped through the window, and you found me after I fell.”

I traced a finger over my knuckles. After saying it aloud, I was completely certain that the king was responsible for the robbery. In fact, I couldn’t believe that it hadn’t occurred to me sooner. After all, why would Solokia return the Blood Dove only to steal it a few months later? And what did Solokia have to gain from a war with Amberasta? By all accounts, the Solokian people are peaceful… but Keon has always hated them, and he needed a catalyst to fight.

The man’s eyes seemed to gleam. “What a vile piece of shit.”

My shoulders relaxed. He believes me.

“If it’s true,” he muttered, “it could change everything. If people knew that Keon had staged the theft, or even suspected… they wouldn’t fight anymore.”

His words settled heavily over me. He’s right. This whole war is part of Keon’s twisted plot. But without evidence, and a network with which to spread it, this means nothing.

My rescuer ran a hand through his hair. His hands shook with what seemed to be a mixture of shock and excitement. He glanced at me again, and I wondered what I looked like to him―too thin, heavily bandaged, wearing a blood and plaster-stained jumpsuit.

“What will you do now?” I asked.

He looked at me closely. “I need to pass this along. There are still people who oppose the king. They’ll know what to do.”

My eyes widened. His words hinted at a vaster resistance, one that was organized enough to make sense of my realization. I nodded, and we sat in silence for a moment. As the adrenaline wore off, my limbs grew heavy again. I had the odd sensation that after revealing my story, I’d served my purpose and was now completely out of place.

I realized that the man was speaking. “Where do you live?” he asked, “I’ll have someone take you home. You’re injured, and you need to recover. I won’t let this development threaten your new life here.”

I considered it for a moment―my apartment, bleak and cold, with my few possessions sitting on the windowsill like sentries of loneliness. My hands balled into fists. In Karakul, I had nothing: no relationships, a job I hated, and only enough money to keep me alive. And every day, my paranoia grew.

Besides, how can I wait out the war, keeping my head down, knowing that Amberastans are dying for Keon’s sick dream?

“I don’t want to go back.”

The man’s dark eyes turned pensive. “Oh?”

I tried to speak firmly. “I can tell you’re the leader here. I’m not sure what you’re doing exactly, but I want to be useful.”

“Most of those people were born and raised in this city. They’re spies, and they risk everything to come underground. That job isn’t a match for you, you’re suspicious already.”

I frowned. “You’re not a spy, and when you mentioned people who oppose Keon, it didn’t seem like you were talking about your informants here in Karakul.”

He inclined his head. “I wasn’t.”

I pushed forward. “I may be close to being discovered. There was a DNA registration not long ago, and I fudged the sample.”

He seemed to consider it. His voice dropped into a whisper, so low that it was difficult to hear from just a foot away. “There is a place far away from here. But traveling there is very dangerous.”

I leaned closer. “I promise, staying here is just as dangerous.”

His eyes held a sliver of protest, but he finally nodded. “Okay. You can travel with me.”