Leading Aegis

Chapter 26

Ophelia sat on the stairs to quarterdeck, enjoying the heat of the sun on her face while she read a book that she’d borrowed from Carolina. She paused reading to stare out at the empty blue sky and visualize the scene she’d just read, and as she did, a knock came from somewhere on her right.

It sounded like it was coming from her own cabin door, so she called, “If you’re looking for me, I’m over here.”

Carolina rounded the corner a moment later, and then stopped and folded her arms across her chest as she leaned against the railing at the start of the stairs. She stood there silently, smiling up at Ophelia in such an unintentionally raptured way that it made Ophelia feel ten times warmer than the sun did. Carolina wasn’t just failing. She was failing badly. She’d been failing several times a day for the last week and Ophelia didn’t know what to do or say or think. Not when the things it made her feel and think were so conflicting. Not when her heart fluttered and sank at the same time.

“Can I help you?” she asked, pressing the lower half of her face into the book to try and hide the tint in her cheeks.

“Enjoying the novel?” Carolina asked. She nodded, and Carolina stared for several more moments before clearing her throat and unfolding her arms to shove her hands into her pockets. “I’m going to the post if you feel like stretching your legs.”

“That sounds wonderful,” she said, and closed the book as she stood. “Give me just a moment.”

She hurried down the stairs, stopping at Carolina’s side just long enough for Carolina to nod and for them not to be able to resist smiling at each other, and then she paced into the infirmary. She dropped the book off on her bed, took a deep breath, and headed back out. Together, they went down the ramp and into town, strolling along in silence for the first few minutes they walked together.

It was how every interaction between them had been for the last week. Ophelia knew that Carolina was trying not to pressure her and was trying to give her space to figure out what she wanted from their relationship going forward, even if it was just to be friends. But, in a way, it almost added more pressure. Because they did this dance constantly until one of them broke the silence and they could finally fall into normal conversation, and Ophelia wished it could always be easy.

But it wasn’t all Carolina’s fault, and she knew that. She was half the problem, because if only she knew what she wanted and could say it out loud, they’d know how to proceed. They’d know what they could and couldn’t say to each other, and how they should and shouldn’t act. Only, she couldn’t make up her mind. Because while one part of her wanted nothing more than to lean into the warmth of Carolina walking along at her side, another part of her was terrified of reliving the heartbreak she’d endured. While one part of her trusted Carolina with her life, the other part of her didn’t know if it could trust Carolina with her heart.

So, while she struggled with that conflict, they ambled along in silence. Side by side. So close that the back of Carolina’s hand brushed her knuckles twice and made her breathing stop, and after the second time, Carolina tucked her hands back into her pockets. And the worst part of it was that Ophelia didn’t know whether or not she appreciated that, and she was suffering for it.

“I’m excited for you to see the archives,” Carolina said.

It was such a relief to be at the part of the tension where conversation finally came that Ophelia smiled, happily and genuinely. “I am too,” she said. “Though, I also suspect I may be outraged at the sight of it.”

Carolina chuckled, nodding. “Probably so. I’m surprised you never heard about it.”

She shrugged. “I’ve known about Freedom in Shadows, but, before Remigan, I only ever sought them out to have my Sovereign mark removed and for my transition spell.”

“I wonder if knowledge of the archives goes all the way to Izaak.”

“I’m sure it does,” she said. “But I wonder why he’s never sought out Ascension if he has access to them. ”

Carolina gave something of a skeptical hum. “You didn’t think it was real when I first told you about it.”

“I’m still not entirely convinced,” she murmured.

“ And ,” Carolina emphasized in protest, “all documents about it were returned to Vivienne Wright’s descendants. We only know that because we specifically went looking for it. Unless Izaak was seeking it out to begin with, I don’t think he’d ever come across it.”

“I guess that makes sense,” Ophelia agreed as they reached the doors of the post office. “Hopefully your archivist friend has written back.”

They walked into the office and spoke to the postmaster to retrieve their mail. Carolina had two letters waiting for her, and Ophelia retrieved her response from Lia Kane on behalf of Izaak. They then stepped aside so they could review their letters, and Ophelia read hers while Carolina opened the one from her friend John.

“John is excited to see us,” Carolina said, folding the letter back up and tucking it into her pocket. “Good news from the rebellion?”

Ophelia nodded as she stored her own letter. “Izaak thanks us for the connection with the collectors, and asks for further assistance if we can meet him as soon as possible.”

Carolina hummed, unfolding the letter from Kala as she said, “Soon, but not quite yet,” and then fell quiet to read.

Carolina skimmed the letter, a growing crease between her brows as she finished and continued to stare at the writing.

“What is it?” Ophelia asked. “What’s wrong?”

“If she found out who our intruder was, she won’t say,” Carolina answered, still staring at the parchment. “She’s asking us to come back to Trayward.”

“But she knows the governor tried to detain us…” she said. Carolina hummed, stared at the page for several more moments, and then looked up at her. “Is it a trap?”

“It’s not a trap if it’s obvious,” Carolina mumbled.

“Is she in danger? Is it her writing?”

Carolina’s lips pursed as she scanned the letter again. “It’s her writing. But I don’t think she’s in danger.” She paused for a few seconds and then sighed heavily.

“Why do you look so stressed, then?” Ophelia asked.

“Because,” Carolina said, dropping her hands to her sides, “if Kala was forced to sell us out, then they know where we are. ”

Carolina paced out of the alley, leaving Ophelia to catch up. “Maybe it’s not as bad as it seems,” Ophelia suggested. “Maybe it’s something reasonable.”

“If it was reasonable,” Carolina said, shoving Kala’s letter into her pocket as they hurried up the street, “then the governor would’ve met us to make her reasonable request personally. She’s not getting my ship.”

“Right. Carolina, where are we going?”

Carolina stopped pacing up the road and made a sharp turn into another nearby alley. “We need to find the crew and leave this island.” She made a quick glance toward the exit of the alley. “I need you to summon something — a whippon. Send it back to the ship and have it bring the red flag to the watch crew.”

“What’s the red flag for?” she asked.

“It’ll signal any disembarked crew who see it to get back to the ship immediately.”

Ophelia breathed into her hands, and as she gestured the breath outward to summon a small whippon, asked, “Where’s the flag?”

“Box in the crow’s nest.”

Ophelia nodded, and though she didn’t need to say it out loud, she told her charcoal whippon, “Go on, get the flag,” and it flew off. “Carolina… what if it’s not about Omen?”

Carolina’s brow furrowed. “What else would it be-” She stopped, her eyebrows raising with surprise. “You think someone else knows we’re after Ascension?”

Ophelia shrugged, but her mind was on the deliverance of her warrant letter. She couldn’t fathom a way the two were connected, but she was finding less reasons to keep that information from Carolina.

“It doesn’t matter,” Carolina said before she could say anything else. “If someone else knows and is after it, that’s more reason not to delay. We have to stay ahead of them.”

She nodded, once more following Carolina as she hurried out of the alley and marched up the street. They stopped first at a bar not far from the post, where Carolina had to have known Berkeley would be, because he was sat at a table eating lunch when they arrived. He looked surprised to see them, but his joy at their arrival quickly faded when Carolina told him about Kala’s letter.

“Do we need to rescue her?” he asked .

Carolina shook her head. “She made no indications of distress in her letter.”

“She sold us out?” he sighed, slumping in his seat.

“Head toward north district,” Carolina told him. “Gather everyone you can find. Do you know where anyone else is?”

“Frona and Sly headed to market to find a blacksmith,” he answered, “but that was hours ago. If they aren’t back at the ship yet, then they may’ve stopped for food.”

“We’ll swing by and look for them,” Carolina said. “We’re leaving as soon as everyone’s accounted for.”

He nodded as he stood, and then grabbed his cup and gulped down the rest of his drink before following them out of the bar. They separated outside, and Ophelia trailed Carolina as they rushed toward the market. It was easy to find the blacksmith’s stall, but Frona and Sly weren’t there, and so they went to the closest restaurant to peek inside. No luck.

They hurried to another one nearby, stopping just inside the door to scan the tables and bar for any familiar faces. Ophelia searched too, and as she scanned the people sitting at the bar, she found a familiar face. She almost missed it. She was looking for Omen crew, and so she first passed over the man without a second thought. But then her mind caught up, and she did a double take as her hand shot over to grab Carolina’s shoulder.

“What?” Carolina asked.

She didn’t answer, but Carolina must’ve followed her gaze, and she seemed to find the three young men at the same time as he recognized her. It wasn’t all three of the bounty hunters, but the youngest one, Piers, was there with two other men that she didn’t recognize. His mouth formed the words ‘oh shit’, but instead of jumping up to chase after her and Carolina like she would’ve expected, he swiveled to bury his face in the bar top like he didn’t know what to do.

That confused her even more. She assumed the other two men with him were part of their crew. So, why wasn’t he coming after her? It wasn’t just because they were on a pirate island, was it?

“Let’s get out of here,” Carolina said urgently.

“Why isn’t he coming after me?” she asked.

“It doesn’t matter,” Carolina answered. “We’ll deal with it later. We need to go.”

“No…” She couldn’t just walk away. There were too many coincidences for all of this to be chance. “Something isn’t right. ”

She met Carolina’s eyes, and Carolina began to plead, “Ophelia, don’t-” But she had already started toward the bar, and Carolina called after her, “ Ophelia. ”

But Piers glanced over as she started toward them, and after muttering something to his companions, all three of them took off running for the back door of the establishment. She gave chase instantly, tearing after them as Carolina came crashing through the door behind her. The three men turned for the main road and burst out of the alley ahead of her, where she couldn’t rely on her magic to close the distance without giving herself away to every bystander on the street, and so she ran as fast as she could after them.

Carolina had longer legs and caught up to her quickly, asking, “What’s the plan when we catch them, huh?”

“I didn’t think that far ahead,” she admitted through gasps for air.

“So you didn’t think,” Carolina said, pausing to pant, “that this could be a trap?”

That almost gave her pause, but even if it was a trap, she couldn’t stop chasing them. They had to find out how the bounty hunters even knew where they were in the first place, and why it was them doing the chasing instead.

Luckily, the men decided to leave the road and turned down another alley, and the moment she and Carolina were out of sight of the street, she put a gust of wind at their backs. It was enough to catch up. Or, it would have been, except that as the men were passing by a cross alley, someone stepped out from around the corner. Their arm came out stiffly, clotheslining the man in front and knocking him flat onto his back as the other two skidded to a halt.

She and Carolina also slid to a stop as several new men came out of the alley on either side of them. She almost thought that Carolina was right about it being a trap, and was preparing herself to fight back, but then she recognized the new group of men as pirates, and they fanned out and surrounded them. All of them, bounty hunters included.

“Carolina Trace,” one of the pirates said as he drew his pistol with a wicked smirk.

Carolina sighed an impatient huff and said, “Vinson Penny.”

Oh , Ophelia thought. Oh shit .

The man who’d been clotheslined by one of Vinson Penny’s men staggered to his feet as he coughed, “ Will people stop doing that to me?” And he inhaled deeply to settle himself and then tried to sidestep Penny as he choked, “We’re not with them, so we’ll just be going…”

But Penny lifted his pistol and pressed it against the man’s forehead. “Get back in the middle, you sniveling bug.”

The man stepped backward just like the other two did as they maneuvered into a defensive position, working around until their backs were pressed against hers and Carolina’s to guard against the present enemy that had surrounded them.

“What do we do, Wyatt?” Piers whispered.

Wyatt? Wait… Ophelia knew-

“You’re going to shut up and let me handle this,” Carolina muttered before Wyatt could answer.

Penny stepped into the circle created by his men as he sneered at Carolina and wandered around, until he was standing in front of Ophelia. “Is this her?” he growled. “The Alter who wrecked my ship?” He scowled at her, tapping his pistol against his thigh as if he was debating just shooting her with it instead of talking more.

“It was my idea, Penny,” Carolina told him. “So why don’t we settle this like adults? You and me.”

He turned a hard glare on Carolina while Ophelia began to look for some way out of this — they were outnumbered eight to five, and that seemed hardly fair for Penny’s crew, but she still needed a plan. She spotted a loose brick in the wall behind Penny, so she tucked one arm behind her back to hide the movement of her hand as she began to work it free from the mortar.

“What’d you get out of it?” Penny demanded. “Hm? Why?”

“It’s your fault, really, for not rune-protecting your heartroom,” Carolina told him. He growled at her. “Fine,” she said, “we did it because you’re a sorry excuse for a pirate and it was fun.”

Penny snarled and sent his fist flying into her stomach. She buckled over, coughing for several seconds before she straightened up and gave a strained laugh.

“You hit like a nursling,” she snickered, clutching her stomach.

He hit her again, this time in the mouth, reopening the tender spot on her lip from the tavern fight a few days earlier. She ran her tongue over the wound and spat the blood at his feet.

“I stand corrected,” she praised, “you hit like a toddler.”

He bared his teeth with fury as he leaned into her face and pushed the barrel of his pistol against her temple .

Piers murmured, “What are you doing, Trace?”

“What does it look like I’m doing?” Carolina asked, looking unfazed by Penny occupying her space. “I’m calling him out because he knows he’s a fraud. How’d you even get here without a ship, Penny? Did you have to beg a merchant for passage?”

“I will kill you where you stand!” Penny yelled.

“Ophelia?” Carolina prompted, and Ophelia hummed. “Now!”

Carolina ducked away from Penny’s pistol the very moment she gave the command, and Ophelia pulled the brick from the wall and sent it hurtling into the back of his head. It knocked him to the ground as the three bounty hunters at their backs all drew their swords at the same time, and Penny bellowed into the dirt, “Kill them!”

Penny’s crew rushed forward, steel meeting steel as Carolina drew her daggers and the fight began. The first man that rushed at Ophelia met with the same brick to the side of the head and fell unconscious. Penny regained his feet and ran at Carolina, but Ophelia didn’t get to assist as another man came at her. She assumed that they wanted Penny to keep thinking she was only an Alter, and so she shifted the ground beneath the man’s feet to knock him down, and then kicked him just hard enough in the stomach to make sure he didn’t get up quickly.

She turned to see who needed help, but Wyatt had already laid out another of Penny’s men and was fighting a second, and Piers and the other man were battling their own. But then Carolina punched Penny in the jaw and knocked him down, and his hand landed directly next to where his pistol had fallen when she’d hit him with the brick.

Before he could grab it and recover enough to whirl around and point it at Carolina, Ophelia used her magic to send that same brick flying at the weapon to knock it away. And before he could recover from that and try to swing the rope dart he drew with his other hand at Carolina, Carolina shoved her boot down on his wrist, locking his arm down in the dirt.

It was the same moment that the three bounty hunters finished their own fights. Piers and Wyatt had given their opponents enough of a beating that the pirates were writhing in the dirt, but the third hunter had just ended his part of the fight by sending his sword through his opponent’s chest.

“ Carter ,” Wyatt hissed as he kicked his own opponent’s sword away.

Carter looked around at them and the dying fight with wide eyes, grimacing as he let his mortally wounded opponent fall to the ground. “ They were trying to kill us!” he protested. “No one said we weren’t killing them!”

Carolina rolled her eyes as she pressed down on Penny’s wrist with her boot until he lost his grip on his weapon. Then she kicked the rope and blade away and grabbed him by the collar to haul him to his feet, throwing him back against the nearest wall to hold him there with her dagger against his throat.

“Listen here, you miserable cad,” she snarled. “This is the last time I show mercy on you. If you ever, ever pick a fight with me again, I’ll kill you. And if I ever hear of you thieving supplies from the impoverished or indentured again, I’ll make that death slow. Do you hear me?” Penny gritted his teeth but nodded anyway. Carolina shoved away from him and gestured around at the recovering pirates. “Get out of here,” she commanded, “all of you.” The pirates slunk away, and the bounty hunters tried to do the same until Carolina said, “ Not you three . ”

“Look,” Carter said, “we just helped you win that fight. Why don’t we call it a day and do this another time?”

“We didn’t need you to win that fight,” Carolina told him.

“Right,” Carter laughed, “sure.”

Wyatt said, “Don’t engage, let’s just go,” and turned for the closest exit.

“Wyatt?” Ophelia called. “Wyatt Kim?”

Wyatt sighed as he faced her again, giving the smallest of waves.

“You know him?” Carolina asked.

“Sort of,” Ophelia answered, “our fathers worked together. You’re on a bounty hunting crew now? Finally got out from under your father’s thumb, huh?”

“Um,” Wyatt mumbled, glancing at the other two, “something like that. You look good, by the way.”

“Thanks,” she chuckled, but then her brow furrowed and her amusement faded. “Of all people, why are you after me?” But that wasn’t what she really cared about. She hadn’t seen Wyatt since they were children, and she turned her scowl on Piers. “Why aren’t you trying to arrest me?”

“We were in a tavern full of people,” Piers shrugged, trying his best to appear unbothered even though his eyes were wide with anxiety. “And then we were ambushed by pirates.”

She shook her head. “Your father held a child at gunpoint on Breezeport to get to me. I want the truth. ”

“You’re a criminal,” Carter said, “he doesn’t have to tell you anything.”

“Carter, shut up ,” Wyatt whispered.

“I am not a criminal,” she insisted. “Why are you here? How did you find me?”

“Right place, right time,” Piers answered.

“Bullshit,” she barked.

“Ophelia,” Carolina whispered, “remember our present dilemma? We can deal with them later.”

Ophelia didn’t budge. She stood there, staring boldly at Piers while he stared back at her, refusing to give her any information. Something was wrong, she knew something was wrong, and maybe whatever was preventing Piers from trying to arrest her didn’t just mean that he wouldn’t. Maybe he couldn’t .

“You can’t arrest me,” she said, and the further widening of his eyes confirmed her suspicion. “Why?”

He pursed his lips defiantly.

“How’s your father’s gut healing?” Carolina asked him, stepping forward with her dagger raised, and he glared at her. “Answer her question, or I’ll send you back to him with a matching injury.”

His jaw clenched, working back and forth for a moment before he tapped the back of his hand to Carter’s shoulder and said, “Come on.”

They all paced past her and Carolina for a different exit, but she protested and grabbed Wyatt’s arm. In the blink of an eye, Wyatt grabbed her wrist to break her grip, ducking behind her to pull her arm behind her back, but Carolina reacted just as quickly. The moment he was behind Ophelia, Carolina kicked the back of his leg hard enough to make him drop, and as he fell to his knees, she grabbed his hair and pulled back to expose his neck, pressing the point of her dagger to his jugular.

It all happened so fast, and as Wyatt muttered, “ Sorry, sorry, I’m sorry ,” Piers begged, “Please don’t hurt him.”

“Don’t tell them anything,” Carter whispered.

“I can’t tell them anything because I don’t know anything,” Piers insisted.

“Why aren’t you arresting me?” Ophelia asked.

“We have orders to wait,” Piers said, “that’s all I know.”

“Orders?” Ophelia asked. “From who?” Was it her father? Why would he tell them to wait? Did the bounty hunters even know it was her father who’d sent them? “Why? ”

“I don’t know,” Piers said.

“What are you waiting for?” she asked.

“ I don’t know.”

“How did you find us then?”

He sighed heavily, gesturing his arms in exasperation as he said, “I’m sure you can figure that out.”

Ophelia’s head cocked in her confusion at that, because it sounded like he was implying someone on Omen crew was actively working against them, and that was worse than she’d thought. Worse than someone simply taking a bribe to slip a harmless warrant under her door.

Carolina bristled at the information, and snarled, “Who was it?”

“That’s above my paygrade,” Piers said. When Carolina’s grip tightened on Wyatt’s hair and she pressed the edge of her blade harder against his throat, he stammered, “Seriously. I don’t know. I swear. My dads are the hunters, I just tag along.”

There was a long, tense silence while they processed it all, and then, after almost a minute, Ophelia nodded toward Carolina and said, “You can let him go.”

Carolina removed her dagger and shoved Wyatt in the back as he stood, so that he staggered forward into Carter.

“I want you to give your father a message for me,” Ophelia said, “because I’m going to do you a favor.”

“What?” Piers asked.

“He’s a dedicated man, and I know he’s capable of empathy,” she told him. “So listen to me when I tell you with utmost sincerity that you’re all dedicated to the wrong thing."

“Is that right?” he asked skeptically.

“Yes,” she answered. “Wyatt, please, you know me. If you don’t believe that arresting me would lead to my unfair death, then at least look into the emperor’s curse and see if you don’t question everything you’ve been told.”

“The emperor has the best Casters in the world at his beck and call,” Piers said. “And even if he was cursed, that’s none of our business.”

“Even if he was going to massacre tens of thousands of his own people just to keep his throne?”

His brow furrowed, and he glanced over at his two companions and said, “If that was true, we’d have heard about it. ”

“Oh?” she asked. “You don’t know why you can’t arrest me, or who sent you here, or what you’re waiting for, but you know Sovereign would tell you if it was killing its own people?”

Piers said nothing, and neither did Wyatt or Carter, and another tense silence passed before Ophelia said, “Start with Remigan,” and the men all looked at each other again as if that sparked something. “See what you learn.”

And then Ophelia turned, touching Carolina on the arm to indicate she should follow, and she did. She led the way out of the alley, but the moment they got onto the street, Carolina passed her to storm away, stomping her heel with each step.

“Carolina,” Ophelia called after her.

She didn’t listen. Not until Ophelia caught up and grabbed her arm, and then she whipped around and barked, “Someone on my crew betrayed me!”

“I know,” Ophelia said.

Carolina paced in place, turning around in one circle before focusing her furious look on Ophelia. “Why do you say that like you’ve known ?”

“I didn’t know ,” she answered, pursing her lips in plea before admitting, “but someone slipped a copy of my warrant under my door last week. Carolina… my father sent the bounty hunters. He’s looking for me.” She inhaled sharply and said to herself, “Maybe that’s why Wyatt is with them. To protect me.”

But Carolina huffed, and though she curbed whatever her immediate reaction was, she turned her back for a few moments so Ophelia couldn’t see her face. She took another deep breath, and then turned around slowly as she calmly asked, “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“At first it was because I didn’t want you to be afraid that I’d run,” she said. “And then I just…” She paused, thought about it for a few moments, and sighed. “I don’t know. We’d just started repairing things, and I guess I didn’t want you to feel like I was holding it over your head the same way you’d been holding Ascension over mine.”

“My crew , Ophelia,” Carolina emphasized.

“I know, and I’m sorry,” she said, reaching out to take Carolina’s hand in plea for forgiveness. “I didn’t think it was this serious. I thought someone had simply been paid to slip it under my door, and figured it was harmless enough if I never acted on it. I would’ve told you. I didn’t know the bounty hunters were still following us.” Carolina’s shoulders and chin dropped. “Carolina, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. ”

Carolina nodded, stood there silently for several more seconds, and then caressed her thumb over Ophelia’s hand. “I’m not angry with you,” she said. She was quiet for a few moments before shaking her head. “First Kala, now this.”

“Is there anyone on Omen that you trust?” Ophelia asked. “Beyond a doubt?”

“Berkeley,” she answered, pulling her hand back and beginning to pace again, “and Rue.”

“Right then,” Ophelia said with a nod, “we’ll treat everyone else with caution.”

“I don’t want you to go anywhere alone with anyone else either,” Carolina told her. “In case they try to take you and turn you in.”

Ophelia nodded, but her face fell as a thought that’d been forming finally materialized. “Carolina?” she prompted, hesitating another moment to say it aloud. “Should I turn myself in?” Carolina stopped pacing to stare at her, wide-eyed. “I’ll be safe with my parents — I believe that whole-heartedly — and maybe it would get the bounty hunters off your back until you’re free…”

Carolina was hurt by that. It was clear in the downturned corner of her mouth no matter how she tried to hide it. “Is that what you want?”

“No,” she said, “of course not. It would put my parents in danger to be around me again.” She sighed and shrugged. “But they clearly don’t care if they’re searching for me anyway, and I’d do it, if it helped you be free.”

Carolina shook her head, heartily and for several long seconds like she was trying to come up with a good reason for her not to turn herself in. In the end, all she could say was, “I don’t want you to go.”

She nodded, accidentally glanced at Carolina’s lips, and nodded again as she admitted, “I don’t want to leave either.” Then Carolina looked at her lips, and they stood there in silence for half a minute more, staring at each other longingly until Ophelia asked, “So, what do we do now?”

“I don’t know what else to do other than stay the course,” Carolina answered, “and stay ahead of anyone who’s after us, whoever else that may be.”

“The intruder.”

“The intruder,” Carolina confirmed. “If they’re working for the governor and want Omen, or if they somehow know we’re after Ascension, then all we can do for now is keep running. I mean no offense, but I don’t think you’re in shape yet to square off against that Caster alone.”

“None taken,” Ophelia agreed.

“And we should stay out of the bounty hunters’ reach also.” She pursed her lips as she looked at Ophelia, and then said, “Unless we stand and fight.”

“Fight?” Ophelia asked.

“They can’t follow us if they’re dead.”

“Carolina,” she scolded.

“How many people do you think they’ve gotten killed by turning them in?” Carolina asked.

“And how many have you killed?” she countered.

“They’re Sovereign,” Carolina argued.

“So was I,” she said, “so was-” She caught herself before finishing. “You used to believe that wasn’t a marker of whether someone deserved to live or die.”

“I still do,” Carolina conceded with a sigh. “But I have always defended myself and the people I love. To the death.”

“Give them a chance,” she said. “Gerald freed me during your rescue, knowing I could turn on them, because he thought you’d kill me. There’s good in him.” Carolina blew a hard breath through pursed lips. “I know it’s a risk, and I know in the end you’ll do what you must. But I’m a doctor, Carolina. I left Sovereign to save people, and I cannot condone killing where it’s unnecessary.”

“Then we keep moving,” Carolina said. “Until we untangle this web we’ve found ourselves in or until we’re forced to fight back.”

Ophelia nodded, staring Carolina resolutely in the eyes. “Deal.”