Sky Without Stars by Jessica Brody & Joanne Rendell

Author:Jessica Brody & Joanne Rendell [Brody, Jessica & Rendell, Joanne]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781534410633
Google: 3eGKDwAAQBAJ
Amazon: B07GNS5P2K
Goodreads: 34513785
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Published: 2019-03-26T00:00:00+00:00

- CHAPTER 39 -

MARCELLUS

THE ENTIRE WAY BACK TO Ledôme, Marcellus had managed to keep his mind off Mabelle and the strange encounter he’d had with her in Montfer. But the moment he walked into the Palais, it was as though all those thoughts he’d been successfully holding back flooded in, finally breaking through the dam he’d built around them in his mind.

Suddenly, everywhere he looked, Mabelle was there. Objects and locations around the Palais that had been safe for years—that Marcellus had worked so hard to make safe—became minefields again.

She was tapping her fingernail against the screen of her Skin, reminding him it was time to go to bed. She was bounding up the imperial staircase, chasing him while his five-year-old self ran and shrieked with glee. She was scooping him off the ground, lifting up the bottom of his shirt so she could blow bubbles on his bare stomach while he laughed so hard it hurt.

Had that all been a lie?

An eleven-year deception?

Had it all been an act so she could gather intel on the Regime?

Thankfully the Palais was quiet as Marcellus climbed the imperial staircase and headed into the south wing that he shared with his grandfather. It was late. The moon hung low in the TéléSky outside the vast Palais windows. Everyone had retired. He was grateful for the calm.

The last few days had been such a whirlwind with the assassination of the Premier Enfant, the cancellation of the Ascension, the riots breaking out in the Frets, his father’s death, Mabelle summoning him to Montfer, telling him that the Vangarde’s numbers were rising every day.

It’s happening, isn’t it? Marcellus thought as he walked the long corridor to his rooms. Everything my grandfather and the Patriarche have feared for years is coming to pass. The Vangarde is resurfacing. A new rebellion is beginning.

The thought made him shiver. Marcellus had listened to people in the Ministère talk about the failed Rebellion of 488 for his entire life. He’d heard so many horror stories about the death toll—on both sides: the innocent lives lost, the gruesome scene of mangled, torn-apart bodies lining the streets. He used to have nightmares about that rebellion. He’d been less than a year old when it had happened, and it still haunted his dreams.

Now just the thought of it starting all over again—of Marcellus having to witness it, fight it—made him sick to his stomach.

But, of course, he would fight. He would stand up for the Regime. He would protect his planet as he’d been raised and trained to do. He didn’t care how many people the Vangarde were able to recruit, the Ministère was still stronger. The Ministère would always be stronger. They would find these terrorists. They would root them out before they had a chance to do any more harm.

“The Vangarde doesn’t endorse acts of unnecessary violence and murder.”

Marcellus felt his hands clench at his sides as he walked the long corridor to his rooms.

Lies, he reminded himself. That’s what Mabelle did. She lied.

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