“You can’t win,” I explained, even though I had no idea if what I spoke was the truth. But it made sense; he was talking about defeating an army.
“We can, and we will,” Xander insisted, his metallic eyes flashing. “Sabara has spent too much of her energy fighting us in inconsequential conflicts; she never even realized we were enlisting help from outside the borders. Now it’s too late. There are many queens who’d like to see Sabara’s rule end. We’re strong, Charlie, much stronger than she knows.”
I still didn’t understand, there was so much to process, and my mind was elsewhere, consumed by worries and fears. “How could you harm your own people? How could you attack the city like that?”
Xander’s face crumpled, and I felt his guard slip. I had no idea why he was so quick to reveal his secrets to me. “We were as careful as we could be, but violence can’t always be avoided. The places we bombed, the buildings we set on fire, were strategic for the most part. They were military installations and checkpoints. We stayed as far as we could from the shelters and didn’t start striking the neighborhoods until well after the sirens should have cleared everyone out.”
“And if they didn’t? If there were still people in their homes?” I tried not to imagine my parents as I asked the questions.
His finger absently drifted over his whiskered cheek, following the pale line of his scar. “I hope that there weren’t.” It wasn’t an adequate answer, and we both knew it.
“I need to go back. I need to make sure that my family is safe. And my friend . . . I couldn’t find her at the park. . . .” I had no idea if Brooklynn had made it to a shelter, and my skin crawled with regret.
Xander didn’t respond in the way I’d expected. His defenses went back up, his guarded expression slipped back into place. “Are you talking about Brooklynn?” he asked, stealing my breath and making it hard for me to swallow.
He knew her name.
I nodded, blinking once, twice, and then again. I remembered meeting Xander, that night in the club. He’d known my name then; I shouldn’t be surprised that he knew Brook’s as well.
Xander lifted his hand, gesturing to Eden, who stood just outside the circle of our voices, watching us with her polished black eyes. I never actually saw her move, but I was certain she had somehow given a signal of her own.
From out of the shadows, a group of Xander’s soldiers marched toward us in unison, dressed in mismatched uniforms and carrying unpolished weapons. They were the antimilitary, but clearly just as formidable. They approached in measured steps, giving their disorganized-looking group a sense of order.
Then one girl stepped to the front of the militia, leading the way, a combat rifle slung over her shoulder.
It was Brooklynn.
I knocked my chair over in my rush to reach her. I gripped her shoulders, momentarily forgetting to be alarmed by her sudden appearance as I pulled her against me, whispering against her dirt-smudged cheek. “You’re okay. Thank heaven, you’re okay.”
But somehow, she felt different in my arms, like a different Brook from the one I’d known all my life. She certainly looked different.
She pulled away, and I surveyed her face. It was harder than I remembered it, tougher. Stronger.
“I was never in danger, Charlie.” Even her voice sounded unusual to my ears. That was something I knew I hadn’t imagined.
I wasn’t sure how to respond; my head ached and my heart squeezed. So much had changed in just one short day.
Xander came to stand beside me, and that was when I saw it, a flicker of the old Brooklynn—my familiar friend—behind the cool exterior she now wore. Her eyes seemed to brim with adoration as she glanced at him.
“Send your team to the surface,” Xander told Brooklynn. His voice was no-nonsense, a leader giving a command. “Tell them to check on Charlie’s parents, and to let them know that Charlie and Angelina are safe, that they’re under our protection now.” He squeezed my shoulder. His hand was strong, his words comforting. But like that, with that single gesture, the light faded from Brook’s gaze.
Xander. Brooklynn had a thing for Xander.