Page 47 of The Endless War

The smaller shadow scuttled away in that strange skipping stride.

“Recruiting monsters to your cause?” she asked, trying to think of a way out of the situation and coming up empty.

“Flay and his like see things in the woods that we miss, and it’s better if they think you’re more valuable alive than dead, though you’re not Flay’s type,” he answered. “We’ve been trying to get you alone to talk.”

“Why is that?” she asked. “Who am I to you beyond the niece of the woman who condemned you? Why risk anything to help me?”

“Because you’re my ticket out of here.”

Zarrah paused in her sawing of the last rope, the answer unexpected. “How so? Who have you been bargaining with?”

“The rebels on the outside. They want you mighty bad, it appears.”

“Why would they deal with you when there is a whole camp of their comrades on this island?”

“Isn’t the answer obvious?”

She glared at him even though he couldn’t see her face, for it was most definitelynotobvious.

Kian gave a low chuckle. “You don’t know, do you?”

“This is getting tiresome, Kian.” She sawed harder, wanting to be on her feet for this conversation, not strung up like game. “What don’t I know?”

“What they eat.”

Gooseflesh crawled its way up her arms, her nerves jangling. “What are you talking about?”

“Your little rebel friends are not the paragons you want to believe,” Kian answered. “And it seems their friends on the outside don’t want anything to do with those who have turned cannibal.”

AFTER BERMIN WASgone, Keris pulled the stupid hat from his head and then removed his blindfold, wiping blood from his eye. When he lowered his hand, it was to find Lara glaring at him. “You should’ve kept your mouth shut,” she snarled at him, the bones and skulls of her headdress bouncing against her cheeks. “He wouldn’t have attacked me.”

“Because you’re a woman?” Keris huffed out an amused breath, then pressed a hand to his stomach as pain lanced outward. “Bermin Anaphora doesn’t hesitate to murderchildren, Lara. With my own eyes, I watched him light a house on fire so that the family hiding inside would burn. If you think he wouldn’t have put a boot in your stomach, it’s because you don’t know him like I do.”

“I’ve been kicked before.” She crossed her arms, headdress askew. “But this is a waste of breath. Bermin has confirmed our biggest uncertainty but also our greatest fear. Zarrah is alive, but very much in jeopardy. Bermin wouldn’t have reacted like that if he were confident she’s safe.”

They moved into the captain’s quarters, one of Aren’s crew passing around hot drinks to ease the cold. Keris sat on one of the chairs, waving away the mulled wine.

The cannibals won’t eat her—they only eat their enemies.

Except Zarrah was an Anaphora, which made her the enemy of everyone on that island. He needed his wits now more than ever, which meant not a drop of anything but water.

The others at the table began to suggest options, but Keris barely heard a word as his mind drifted into itself. She was so close. Sofuckingclose, and yet he couldn’t get to her.

You should have brought an army.

You should have started a war.

You should have set the world on fire.

Shut up,he screamed at the voice. Shoving his chair back, Keris rose and went to the window.

Another chair scraped backward, and then his sister was at his elbow, headdress discarded on the table. “I remember what it felt like to wonder if it is hopeless.”

“I know it’s not hopeless,” he answered. “What I wonder is how high a cost I’ll have to pay.”

“Is there a limit?”

He hesitated. “If there is, I haven’t reached it yet.”

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