Siege of Shadows (Effigies #2)(113)

“But you killed Natalya.”

Silence fell. The kind of silence that held the secrets of a thousand years. The symphony of cicadas receded into the recesses of my consciousness, insignificant. I thought Rhys’s eyes would grow wide, but they remained steady. I thought he’d stumble back or turn to escape the judgment barely concealed in my stare. But he remained still.

“Even so,” he said, “I’d never hurt you.”

I didn’t have the energy for any of the emotions I’d thought would stir in me once this moment came. I was tired. I kept my back against the rough bark as I shook my head and searched him. “Why did you do it?”

Rhys fitted his cap back onto his head and looked up at the sky, his broad shoulders limp. “Does Belle know?”

“I haven’t told her.”

“She’s going to kill me.”

“That’s why I haven’t told her.”

He shifted a little, surprised. “You’re protecting me from her.”

“I’m protecting both of you from her. But maybe I should have told her.” The anger rose in my chest, corroding me from the inside as the words formed on my tongue. “Do you know how awful it’s been, not saying anything to anyone? How much this hurts me?”

Rhys lowered his head. “I’m sorry. You didn’t deserve that . . . and I don’t deserve your protection.”

“You don’t!” I agreed, stepping closer, my hands shaking at my sides. “Why did you do it? What happened?”

Rhys was quiet for too long before finally letting a sigh escape his lips. “I got my orders through an encrypted line. Scrambled voice, so I didn’t know who the order had come from. But these kinds of orders come from very high up. They’re orders from the Council. They said Natalya was becoming a danger to the Sect and that I had to watch her.”

“A danger to the Sect . . .”

“Someone like Natalya could do a lot of damage if she ever went rogue. She could easily kill a lot of people. It’s happened before. In the fifties, Mary Lou Russell went from training at a Sect facility to trying to start a genocide in an effort to ‘purify her race.’ And she was taken out the same way. These kinds of orders don’t come every day and they don’t come lightly. But when you get them . . .”

“Why did they ask you?”

“Because we were friends.” Rhys choked up at the word and swallowed quickly, keeping his face turned from me. “I didn’t want to. I ignored the order for as long as I could, but they called again, telling me lives were at stake, reminding me what happened to traitors. The Sect would never kill their greatest asset if they didn’t have a good reason. I had to do it. No one else would have been able to get close enough to manage it. Natalya was a powerful warrior. One of the greatest Effigies to ever live. How else do you stop her?”

“By betraying her? Rhys . . .”

Tears filled our eyes at the same time, though only his fell. Neither of us could speak.

“Are you our Informer?” I asked quietly.

He shook his head. “I’m here because I genuinely want to help. This is not for the Sect. For once, it’s not. It’s for me. My life isn’t . . . just another chip for them to play. That’s what I decided, but . . .”

“If that’s the case, then you need to know what’s happening in the Sect,” I said. “And what Natalya died for. Why they asked you to kill her.” I paused, watching his eyebrows furrow slowly in confusion. “You really don’t know, do you?”

He couldn’t hide it; the horror of the unknown was stripped bare and staring me in the face. “What’s happening?”

I told him what I could. About the mysterious Project X19, the second phase of which had transformed his friends into monsters. The mind control. The unidentified assailants who’d attacked Naomi just as she’d told us about the book she and Baldric had sent Natalya to get all those months ago.

“Wait,” he interrupted me. “Mom? Mom’s a member of the Council?”

He looked genuinely shocked. I searched his face. “You didn’t know?”

“No . . .” He fell silent for a moment, staring into the distance as he considered it. “The identity of all the Council members is a secret to all outside the Council, though I’m sure Dad would have known about Mom even if Brendan and I didn’t. I can’t imagine she wouldn’t tell him—or that he wouldn’t notice.”

“Naomi’s the one who sent us here. We are all just trying to figure out who Saul is,” I said. “Who the phantoms are. Who we are. Where we come from. If we do, we can get ahead of Saul. Find a way to stop him. Obviously, there’s someone who doesn’t want that. That’s why your mother was shot. That’s why you were told to kill Natalya.”

Rhys took a few steps away from me, his feet coming to a rest against an arched root that blocked his path.

“I mean, you said those orders come from high up. Was it someone else in the Council? Or maybe one of the directors? Even your—”

I caught myself, but Rhys had already crouched down to the ground.

“Sorry,” I said quickly. “I didn’t mean to suggest—”

“But you’re right,” Rhys said. “Dad could be involved. How can I know for sure he wouldn’t do something like that to his own family? He’s not above it, what with the way he fed me to that place.”