Page 19 of Powerful

My eyes skim over the scraps of loose fabric beside the uniform she’s still assembling. ‘Is that not what you’re doing now?’

She ponders this for a moment. ‘I suppose it is.’

‘I’ll be truly impressed when you have me looking like an Imperial in two days.’

‘I know, I know,’ she huffs. ‘Only two more days until our fun little mission to the castle.’

I shake my head. ‘Don’t call it that.’

‘I am so excited to see Pae,’ she practically squeals, content to ignore me. ‘All that’s left to do is line the suit to mimic the padding that the Imperials have. Oh, and cut the leather for your mask.’

‘Great.’ I take a deep breath, relieved. ‘And you remember the plan, correct?’ Despite her incessantnodding, I figure it’s best to remind her. ‘We’ll leave early in the evening, giving us over an hour to make it to the Arena. There, we will—’

‘Sneak up the path to the east wing of the castle before phasing through the walls and past the guards.’ She smiles smugly. ‘See, I told you I remembered.’

‘Incredibly impressive,’ I counter dryly. ‘Now, we will stick together and phase into rooms when necessary—’

‘Wait, what am I wearing on our little mission?’

I pinch the bridge of my nose, feeling a headache beginning to pound. ‘Please. Don’t call it a—’

‘I could dress up like a maid!’ She taps a finger against her lips in thought. ‘Though I’m not entirely sure what it is they wear…’

‘Just tie an apron round your waist,’ I say dismissively. ‘It will be dark anyway. It’s unlikely anyone will see you.’

‘Perfect.’ Then she nods to the pathetic piece of shit she’s forced me to work on. ‘Now, go on. You’ve got more stitches to do.’

‘You can’t be serious.’

She laughs lightly. ‘You should have seen my stitches when Mama first tried to teach me. It was a disaster.’Her voice softens before trailing off at the mention of a life I know nothing about.

‘You don’t talk about her,’ I say quietly. ‘In fact, you don’t talk about anyone who isn’t Pae.’

She shrugs as though the past that brought her to this present is of little importance. ‘There’s not much to say. Besides –’ she glances up at me with those wide, hazel eyes – ‘you never talk about Hera.’

‘There’s not much to say,’ I counter.

‘That’s odd.’ Her voice is nonchalant, but her piercing gaze is anything but. ‘I figured she was pretty important for you to go through all this trouble to see her one last time.’

Right. I’m supposed to be seeing her one last time. Not attempting anything treasonous.

I let out an exasperated sound. ‘Your curiosity is exhausting, honey.’

‘Speaking of,’ she says enthusiastically while wearing a frown, ‘I’m afraid I don’t know much about you. Apart from your measurements – which I now have memorized, by the way.’

‘I hope you know that I find that slightly unnerving—’

‘Well, if you won’t tell me about Hera,’ she cutsin, looking slightly ruffled by my withholding of information, ‘tell me something else.’

‘I just did.’ A pause. ‘Your curiosity exhausts me.’

Rolling those hazel eyes, she pushes on valiantly. ‘What about your family?’

I almost muster a laugh. ‘Oh, just the friendliest bunch. You would love them.’

Apparently, she doesn’t sense the added sarcasm I’ve slipped into the syllables of each word. ‘Oh, how wonderful! I would love to meet them one day.’ Her face flushes suddenly before she’s adding, ‘I mean, if we still see each other after all of this.’

And there it is, that pang of guilt. Guilt at the thought of leaving her, of giving her hope of something that will inevitably fail. But I feel it nonetheless, the denial of my slow demise into Adena. Because caring for Hera was the only weakness I allowed, and this girl is dangerously even more so.

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