Mine to Defy by Janeal Falor

Author:Janeal Falor
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Janeal Falor

Chapter 14

Lonvar’s home was small but well kept—more so than I expected from a single young man. He tried to offer me the bedroom, but I refused, plunking down on his couch instead. It would have been too weird, otherwise. I slept fitfully and not nearly long enough, before I got up and rummaged around his kitchen to make a breakfast of sorts, something I’d learned in Chardonia.

Lonvar stumbled out with dark circles under his eyes, but dressed and ready for the day. “You didn’t have to make anything.”

“I don’t get to very often, anymore, and I enjoy it.” I set a plate of eggs and scones in front of him.

“Thank you.” He dug in.

I waited until he slowed down, before asking, “Where are we going?”

“There’s an encampment south of here. Not far, actually, but enough distance from the city to not be easily stumbled upon. Finding this one took some work, but it’ll be our best bet of getting in and out quickly. It’s in the woods, but the land is flat and the trees are dense.”

“Places for us to run if needed.”

“Exactly.”

I hoped it didn’t come to that. “How many places do you know of, with imprisoned tarnished?”

“After losing the one last week—yes, the place I showed you last week cleared out—we’re down to four. We haven’t found any that are more than twenty miles from the capital.”

There was a lot of information I wanted to talk about there, but I chose to focus on— “You said we. Who is we?”

He paused with his fork halfway to his mouth. It took a moment, but he returned to eating like he had been before. “You and I, of course.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “If you’re not going to tell me the whole story, fine, but don’t lie to me.”

“Sorry.” He did have the decency to look abashed. “I shouldn’t talk about it, but you’re right. There are others.”

A pressure lifted from my chest. Not a lot, but enough to make it easier to breathe. We weren’t the only ones who believed it was wrong to treat the tarnished as less than human. “What do you think these people are doing to the tarnished? Does anyone have an idea?”

He shook his head. “We haven’t been able to get close enough to figure out what they’re doing. It has to do with some sort of machine, but that’s all we know. We’ve been focused on trying to get details about your brother—how he’s involved—and how we can get closer. In truth, we only discovered how deep the plot against the tarnished goes two weeks before I showed you. It’s been a mad scramble, to find all the encampments and figure out what’s going on.”

“Do you think it’s been happening for a while?”

“Unfortunately, yes. There have been whispers for about a year. It’s likely gone on longer.”

“A year?” I sat back in my chair. “How could it have gone on so long, without people discovering it?”

“I’m not certain, but it doesn’t bode well.

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