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wanted? Was that what I wanted?
    I’d never found being a member of the Thorns oppressive. But now that our struggles here were of a different sort, perhaps it was time for me to withdraw myself. However, I still believed in their cause. I still wanted to be a part of it. I shook my head.
    “I still want to help.”
    Adam didn’t smile, but the muscles around his eyes and mouth relaxed. He’d been worried? Did he think I would part from the Thorns so easily?
    “What about you?” I asked.
    His eyes darkened into some emotion I couldn’t read. “I cannot untangle myself so easily. Nor do I wish to. I have other objectives yet to be achieved.”
    “So you’re going to leave.” As I spoke the words, a hard lump formed in the pit of my stomach. I felt sick.
    “Yes.” He looked away, at the fire, and his eyelashes flickered. I couldn’t tell what he thought about it.
    “How can the Trio expect you to integrate into Aeralian society if you go to Astralux to aid the rebellion there?” I demanded. “Where will you stay? You have no money, no connections. What do the Thorns want from you? Magic? This is madness.”
    “The Thorns have operatives in Astralux,” he said quietly after a while. “I am not without connections. And there are Korr and Gabe.”
    My heart jumped at the mention of Gabe. “I’m not sure how useful those two will be.”
    “I think we could come to an arrangement if necessary.”
    An arrangement.
    “Do you trust them?”
    He shrugged gracefully. He wore an unreadable expression.
    “What kind of arrangement?” I asked.
    “I’ve been thinking,” he said. “We’ve already had at least one of our operatives spend some time in Astralux.”
    “You?”
    He smiled faintly. “Yes, but an intimate knowledge of the walls of a prison cell is hardly useful in this instance. No, I was thinking of another operative who could accompany me and help me integrate into Aeralian society.”
    “ Ann ?”
    He nodded.
    Indignation rushed over me in a hot wave. “I don’t...How could you ask her to...?” I stopped, overwhelmed by my objections. My friend had already gone through so much. She’d spent months in captivity there. And now he wanted her to return?
    “Think about it,” Adam said. “She has all the connections. She knows the city somewhat, she and Korr have an understanding of sorts, and she and her father were recently expelled from Iceliss.”
    “An understanding,” I repeated. Is that what we would call it?
    He tipped his head to one side, that maddening gesture that meant everything and nothing.
    “And you? What are you supposed to be to her? Her brother? Her betrothed? Her servant?”
    “Perhaps,” he said. “We haven’t arranged a story yet for me.”
    We sat in silence a moment. He was contemplative; I was seething. I didn’t want to send Ann back into the sneering clutches of Korr.
    I took a deep breath and released it slowly.
    “What does Ann think?”
     
    ~
     
    I’d expected her to refuse instantly when Adam told her his plan, or at least I’d expected her to rant at the injustice of being forced to endure Korr’s presence again, but she said nothing for a long time. She sat with her hands in her lap and her head down. Her shoulders rose and fell as she breathed, and then she raised her head and looked at Adam. Her eyes gleamed like stars, hard and bright. “I’ll go,” she said.
    “What?” I demanded.
    “I’ll go.”
    Adam nodded, relief evident in the way he flicked his eyes to mine and the way his mouth curled ever so slightly at the corners. “I will speak with the Trio.”
    “Perhaps you should take some time to consider—” I sputtered after he left.
    “No,” she said. “I’m sure.”
    “Ann,” I said. “They can’t make you do this. You’ve paid your debt to the Thorns. You can withdraw from the organization if you wish, and it’s safe enough for you to do so and simply stay here. Adam told me about it last night. Any of us could, if we