“There's one thing I don’t understand,” I say to Daniel as we walk to the farm. “Over the years, Eve and I have encountered countless Trackers. None of them have been able to discuss the Sunblade’s affairs with us. But you and Gregor seem to be able to speak freely without dying.”
“The Sunblade tattoo. It prevents Trackers from disclosing anything about the Sunblade without the consent of their superiors. It also makes them obedient when given orders.”
“So the tattoos aren’t the same?” I ask.
“Yes. My uncle, Gregor, and I—and probably Ashin—have simple tattoos that give us more freedom. From what I know of Gregor, he was second-in-command to the Head Tracker in Rakoshan. And Maxwell wants me to be in charge of the Belveer division once he retires.”
“How do you feel about that?” I ask. “Taking charge of the Sunblade?”
“It’s a possibility.”
Startled, I glance at him and find him smiling at me. “Very funny,” I say, more relieved than amused.
“Before last night,” he says, smile fading, “I was willing to believe all Twice Born are evil. But now that I know there are innocent ones in Belveer, hiding in fear of the Sunblade, the thought of leading the Trackers who hunt them holds little appeal.”
A thought enters my mind. It’s dangerous, but it could change many things about the future, for Trackers and Twice Born alike. “If you become the leader of the Belveer division, you might have the power to make a difference.”
Daniel looks at me like I’m insane. Which I most likely am. “Think about it,” I add. “Instead of hunting Twice Born indiscriminately, you might be able to command the Trackers to target only those who cause trouble. And maybe you’ll find a way to create new Trackers without killing the Twice Born, too.
He shakes his head. “There’s no point considering it. My uncle isn’t going anywhere for now. It’ll be a long time before I take over, which means I have to follow his orders until then.”
“You’ll have no choice but to continue hunting these innocents.”
“Exactly.”
I don’t want to encourage Daniel to hurt people like me. Nor do I want to ask too much of him and put him in a situation he can’t handle. So I let it go.
When we reach the fork in the dirt road in the Farming District, Daniel stops me. “I’ll search for the Scarlet Blade alone. If there are Trackers still at the farm, I’ll have a better chance of blending in.”
“I know where I dropped it. You might not be able to find it without me.” Sighing, I add, “I’ll drive myself crazy waiting here. Don’t ask me to do so.”
He looks down the long road before us. “At least let me make sure it’s safe. Wait here?”
I nod and watch him leave. It’s not long before he becomes a small shape in the distance. I glance up at the sun. It’s just past midday, and the sun shines brighter than ever. I’ve never dreaded Eve’s emergence as much as I do now. Because I know what awaits me. Her anger when she finds out I broke my promise.
I’m equally angry at her for trying to drive a wedge between Daniel and me. How can she respect what he and I have while trying to destroy it at the same time? Seeing her memories hasn’t helped me understand her. She’s still the same old Eve: unpredictable and unapologetic.
I release a sharp breath. Every moment of harmony between us is quickly followed by discord and strife. Eve and I are too unalike to inhabit this body together for much longer. We’re rushing toward something catastrophic and it’s clearer with each passing day that only one of us will make it out alive.
Almost an hour later, Daniel appears down the road. I meet him halfway. “Trackers?”
He shakes his head. “None that I saw.”
“Good.” I glanced up at the sky. Plenty of time to find the dagger. “Let’s go.”
“Why do you keep looking at the sky?” Daniel asks me as we head toward the grove. “This is about the fifth time I’ve seen you do so today.”
“Eve’s going to be here once the sun sets.”
“I take it you’re not looking forward to her appearance.”
“We haven’t been on the best of terms. Especially not since we came to Belveer and she met Tristan and others like her.” I’ve forgotten what it’s like to confide in Daniel. How liberating, comforting. I tell him everything. About my parents’ deaths, how Eve came into my life, her growing unrest and desire to be free. Our fights.
“So the other day when you came home with that cut on your forehead—that was because of her? She hurt you?” Daniel looks furious. “There must be some way to stop her.”
“She’s a shadow. Just like all of the other Freed. If I attempt to fight her now, I will lose. All I can do is bide my time, learn about her faults and use them against her.”
Like that crack in her mental block. There must be a similar crack in her being, one that will cause her to shatter completely.
Daniel reads my sudden unease. “Do you want her gone?”
“I might be forced to defend myself if she won’t stop attacking me.”
An indirect, cowardly way of saying I’ll fight her if I must. I don’t even want to think about doing more. The thought of killing her creates a whirlpool of emotions inside me. I’m not ready to sort through them yet.
“When I met her last night, she looked and sounded like you,” Daniel says. “And yet everything about her was different. The way she moved and spoke, the hardness in her eyes. It was disconcerting.”
“I’m guessing you two didn’t hit it off.”
Daniel gives a short laugh. “Once I realized she wasn’t you, I lost my temper. I thought she did something to you. Tristan jumped to her defense. I think we would’ve killed each other if she didn’t pull us apart.”
“I have a hard time imagining you attacking Eve, even with words.” Tristan is a whole different story. He has a way of provoking people to violence.
“She wasn’t too happy about it.”
That explains why she lied to me about last night’s events. “Thank you for defending me,” I say.
“You’re not used to having people do things for you, are you?”
“What do you mean?”
“You’ve been thanking me for every little thing since we met. Like you don’t experience a lot of kindness in your life.” Daniel reaches out and clasps my hand in his. “I don’t want you to be uncertain that I care about you. I’d rather you take me for granted than live with the worry that this will all disappear someday.”
His grip is firm yet gentle. “I never thought I’d ever say this, but I’ll try to learn to take you for granted.”
He grins crookedly. “Good.”
Being with him is so different from dealing with Eve or Tristan. And not just because of my attraction to him. With him by my side, I don’t feel any of those old feelings that often plague me. Not the loneliness or worry or self-doubt. Like my nerves have been steadied.
I hold onto him tighter.
We reach the orange grove a while later. In daylight, I see the oranges on the trees, dangling heavily from branches. I can almost taste the citrus in the air. This would be the perfect place to explore, but I don’t slow down. We have work to do. And I doubt the owner would appreciate our presence very much.
“How do you know the way?” Daniel asks, holding onto my hand as we zigzag between trees. Neither of us seems to want to break contact.
“I just do.”
We reach the middle of the farm, and I come to a sudden stop. Releasing Daniel’s hand, I crouch on the ground and look around. “This is where it fell out of my waist.”
For the next half an hour, we search for the Scarlet Blade, starting in a close circle that grows wider as our efforts yield nothing. The sun’s heat makes my coat unbearable, so I take it off and lay it on the ground before resuming my search.
Daniel is better dressed for the heat—a deep blue cotton shirt that stretches tightly across his broad chest—but sweat lines his collar and sticks his brown hair to his nape and forehead.
As grateful as I am for his ceaseless support, I know this is a waste. The dagger isn’t here. “Someone must have found it,” I say, kneeling in the dirt.
And only one kind of person has been through here since last night.
Daniel straightens up and wipes his brow with the back of his arm. “Gregor has been evading capture for a long time. Any Tracker who gets his hands on his dagger will be a hero. They’ll use it to torture Gregor.”
It’s my fault. I’ve brought this on him and his wife. “I have to get that dagger back.”
Even as I say this, I know how foolish it sounds. I’ve spent nine years searching for Henry; what makes me think I’ll have better luck locating a prized weapon? “Do you have any idea where it might be?” I ask Daniel.
“Maxwell promised to share everything with me eventually. But this isn’t something we’ve discussed yet.”
“Gregor would know.” He knew where it was long ago when he stole it from the Sunblade and escaped with it. “We have to go to his house.”
“This is the same place your other half nearly killed his wife, right? I don’t know about this, Bree. What if she’s holding a grudge? Eve did almost kill her.”
I have no doubt she does. But it’s no reason to turn my back on her and her husband. “I gave my word. Besides, having Gregor on our side might help. He knows more about the Sunblade than we do.”
“He seems like a dangerous guy, from what you’ve told me.”
“I’m not saying he’s easy to deal with. I’m saying we’re better off having him for an ally than an enemy.”
Daniel stares down the dirt path between the trees. His damp hair and the pink tinge to his skin make him even more attractive. “I suppose an ally or two wouldn’t hurt.”
“This way.” I turn away before I get caught up in staring at him. “Gregor’s home is a long walk from here, so we have to hurry.”
By the time we reach the house, the sun has moved across the sky. It peeks out from behind clusters of clouds resembling shredded cotton. I hasten my pace up the short slope. I can’t let Eve emerge before I finish what I need to do.
Between losing Gregor’s dagger, wondering how I’ll reach the other islands to search for Henry, and fearing what Ashin might do next, my mind’s being tugged in too many directions. Eve has a way of knocking everything out of balance. The day isn’t long enough for me to deal with every new batch of problems she brings.
The door of Gregor’s cottage flings open. Celine appears before us, her hair unkempt and her face marred by angry lines. “You have some nerve showing up here again.”
I stop walking. I didn’t expect a welcoming smile, but I hoped for some understanding. “I’m sorry for what Eve did to you. She had no right to hurt—”
“I’m not referring to what your shadow did. You promised me Gregor’s Scarlet Blade, and instead you gave it to the Sunblade Trackers.”
“What makes you think the Sunblade has it?”
Pain shows through the cracks in her anger. “Only they would be able to hurt my Gregor like this.” She pulls herself together and marches toward me. “You made a mistake crossing me, girl. No one does so and gets away with it.”
Daniel steps in front of me, warding her off with a hand. “Stay back. You need to hear Bree out before you make accusations.”
“Who are you?” Her eyes move down to his arm. I know it’s an unconscious move, searching for the Sunblade tattoo. When she finds it, she sucks in a breath. “You brought one of them to my home?”
A tremor jolts the ground beneath our feet. Startled, I hurry past Daniel. “Celine—Celine, please listen to me! Daniel is like Gregor. He’s a good man—he wants to help us both.”
“Did you give him the Scarlet Blade? Is that how it ended up in the Sunblade’s hands?”
“I didn’t give the dagger to anyone. We—they found it when I lost it.” The ground shudders again, and I nearly lose my balance. “I swear it’s the truth!”
“Celine!”
We turn to the man standing at the doorway, leaning against the frame. Gregor looks terrible. His hair hangs limply around his face, skin sagging as if he’s aged decades since I last saw him. Even from the distance, I can see the faint trembling in his limbs.
“What are you doing out of bed?” Celine asks.
Gregor sighs wearily. His voice is hoarse when he says, “Let the girl be.”
“You can’t be serious.”
“I might not have much time to live, sweetheart. I’m past the mood to make light of things.” He looks past her at me. “Follow me, children.”
Daniel and I trail after the couple as Celine helps her husband inside. They walk through the short hallway to the bedroom. Grunting, he collapses on the unmade bed. Celine fusses over him; she draws the blanket over his body, slips several pillows beneath his head, and asks if he needs anything—food, water, herbs, tea, sleep.
Each time, Gregor shakes his head. My stomach squeezes when a spasm of pain seizes his facial muscles. When it passes, he clears his throat. “You’ll have to excuse my wife. She insists on taking care of me as though I’m a senile old man.”
“Don’t pretend to be stronger than you are, Gregor,” she snaps.
“What happened to you?” I ask him.
“The Scarlet Blade.” He gasps and arches his back off the bed. It’s so awful to watch that I fall back a step. Daniel places a hand on my shoulder.
“They’re punishing me,” Gregor pants.
“Are they using your dagger on someone?” I ask.
He shakes his head, eyes bleary and face drenched with sweat. “No. It’s much worse.”
“They’re destroying the blade,” Celine explains. “Forged in fire, it is also destroyed by fire. The blood link will destroy him, too, if the pain doesn’t drive him insane first. Though I think that’s already happened.”
Gregor lets out a chuckle. “It’s not insane of me to ask you to have mercy on me.”
She kneels by his bed and grips his hand. “I will never give in to your mad desire for a quick death,” she says harshly. “What sort of woman do you take me for, Gregor, that I would agree to kill my own husband?”
“A compassionate one.”
Tears fill her eyes. “Never. I will find a way to save you. We’ve been through far worse together. Don’t give up on us now, my darling.”
I’m affected by Gregor’s suffering and the love between them. There must be something I can do for them. I can’t let another person die because of me—even if it puts me in danger.
“Gregor, where would the Trackers take your Scarlet Blade?”
“Who knows?” he answers me. “This is a big island. It could be anywhere. I’ll be dead before the night is done.”
“Have you given up already?” Daniel asks.
Gregor’s throat moves as he swallows. “Do you know how long it took me to locate the weapon when I first stole it from the Sunblade?”
“How long?” I ask.
“Nine months. They had it hidden in a vault deep underground somewhere in Rakoshan. They don’t tell Trackers where their own blades are, not even the Head Trackers.” He groans softly. “You won’t be able to find it in one night.”
My stomach churns at what I’m about to suggest. But first, I need to make sure it’ll be worth it. “If we found your dagger and returned it to you, would you help Daniel make Belveer safer for Twice Born? Would you support him when he needs to lead the Belvian Trackers?”
“Why are you asking me this, girl?”
Daniel looks at me with a questioning look. “What are you saying?”
“Please,” I say. “Just answer me.”
Gregor is silent for a long moment. “If you succeeded in returning my blade, I would be indebted to you. I’m a man of honor. I always pay my debts.”
That’s what I needed to hear. “I think I can get your Scarlet Blade back, Gregor.”
“How?” Celine asks, impatience and hope clashing in her voice.
“By offering myself in exchange.”