11. The Gateway Prophet
THE GATEWAY PROPHET
TALIA
The most dangerous man on the frontier is not the outlaw or the enforcer. It is the preacher. He does not need to lie. He pushes on the broken promises that hurt most, the ones you feel but can’t quite name. It’s a wonder anyone resists.
Dawn just grinned when Talia asked for the introduction. She said it’d taken her long enough, as if Talia was always going to come around. They arranged to meet at the Flux it could change everything. But joining Lore would make Holloway right. Would he feel vindicated by that? Or would some part of him—the boy who’d believed in her—be disappointed?
She had two weeks to decide. Stay with the Consortium, safe in a basement with her work buried next to her. Or associate herself with the rebellion. Either way, she was running out of time.
If she joined Lore, she risked everything. If she stayed, she might never make it into the field. If she ran—where could she go? She already knew how Holloway felt. Little chance her grandmother would be more charitable.
Every option branched into more options. So she did what she always did when a choice truly mattered. She pushed it down and kept walking.