An Ember in the Ashes(69)

The girls will have a hell of time making it across. And it will be doubly miraculous if they make it back. I start after them, thinking to tell them that the risk isn’t worth it, not even for the legendary Moon Festival.
But then the air shifts and freezes me in my tracks. I smell grass and snow.
“So,” Helene says from behind me. “That’s who Laia is. A slave.” She shakes her head. “I thought you were better than the others, Elias. I never imagined you would take a slave to your bed.”
“It’s not like that.” I wince at how I sound: like a typical bumbling male, denying wrongdoing to his woman. Except Helene’s not my woman.
“Laia’s not—”
“Do you think I’m stupid? Or blind?” There is something dangerous in Helene’s eyes. “I saw how you looked at her. That day when she brought us to the Commandant’s house before the Trial of Courage. Like she was water and you were just dying of thirst.” Hel collects herself. “Doesn’t matter. I’m reporting her and her friend to the Commandant right now.”
“For what?” I’m astounded at Helene, at the depths of her anger.
“For sneaking out of Blackcliff.” Helene’s practically gnashing her teeth.
“For defying their master, attempting to attend an illegal festival—”
“They’re just girls, Hel.”
“They’re slaves, Elias. Their only concern is pleasing their master, and in this case, I assure you, their master would not be pleased.”
“Calm down.” I look around, worried someone will hear us. “Laia’s a person, Helene. Someone’s daughter or sister. If you or I had been born to different parents, we might be in her shoes instead of our own.”
“What are you saying? That I should feel sorry for the Scholars? That I should think of them as equals? We conquered them. We rule them now. It’s the way of the world.”
“Not all conquered people are turned into slaves. In the South, the Lake People conquered the Fens and brought them into the fold—”
“What is wrong with you?” Helene stares at me as if I’ve sprouted another head. “The Empire has rightfully annexed this land. It’s our land. We fought for it, died for it, and now we’re tasked with keeping it. If doing so means we have to keep the Scholars enslaved, so be it. Have a care, Elias. If anyone heard you spouting this trash, the Black Guard would toss you into Kauf without a thought.”
“What happened to you wanting to change things?” Her righteousness is getting damn irritating. I thought she was better than this. “That night after graduation, you said you’d improve things for the Scholars—”
“I meant better living conditions! Not setting them free! Elias, look at what the bastards have been doing. Raiding caravans, killing innocent Illustrians in their beds—”
“You’re not actually referring to Daemon Cassius as innocent. He’s a Mask—”
“The girl’s a slave,” Helene snaps. “And the Commandant deserves to know what her slaves are doing. Not telling her is tantamount to aiding and abetting the enemy. I’m turning them in.”
“No,” I say. “You’re not.” My mother’s already made her mark on Laia.
She’s already gouged out Izzi’s eye. I know what she’ll do if she learns they snuck out. There won’t be enough left to feed the scavengers.
Helene crosses her arms in front of her. “How do you plan to stop me?”
“That healing power of yours,” I say, hating myself for blackmailing her but knowing it’s the only thing that will get her to back down. “The Commandant would be mighty interested in that, don’t you think?”
Helene goes still. In the light of the full moon, the shock and hurt on her masked face hit me like a blow to the chest. She backs away, as if worried that I’ll spread my sedition. As if it’s a plague.
“You’re unbelievable,” she says. “After—after everything.” She sputters, she’s so angry, but then she draws herself up, pulling out the Mask that lives at her core. Her voice goes flat, her face expressionless.
“I want nothing to do with you,” she says. “If you want to be a traitor, you’re on your own. You stay away from me. In training. At watch. In the Trials. Just stay away.”
Damn it, Elias. I needed to make up with Helene tonight, not antagonize her further.
“Hel, come on.” I reach for her arm, but she wants none of it. She throws off my hand and stalks off into the night.
I gaze after her, poleaxed. She doesn’t mean it, I tell myself. She just needs to cool down. By tomorrow, she’ll be rational—I can explain why I didn’t want to turn the girls in. And apologize for blackmailing her with knowledge she trusted me to keep secret. I grimace. Yes, I’ll definitely wait until tomorrow. If I approach her now, she’ll probably try to geld me.
But that still leaves Laia and Izzi.
I stand in the dark, considering. Mind your own business, Elias, part of me says. Leave the girls to their fate. Go to Leander’s party. Get drunk.
Idiot, a second voice says. Follow the girls and talk them out of this lunacy before they get caught and killed. Go. Now.
I listen to the second voice. I follow.
XXVII: Laia
Izzi and I sneak across the courtyard, our eyes flicking nervously to the windows of the Commandant’s rooms. They’re dark, which I hope means that for once, she’s asleep.

“Tell me,” Izzi whispers. “You ever climbed a tree?”