Page 111 of Down Comes the Night

Wren only turned her face toward the window and lifted one noncommittal shoulder in response. From here, she could see the glittering, black band of the River Muri as it snaked through the city. It felt as if those murky, frigid waters were filling the space between them. She’d never felt so cold, so distant, as if she were seeing Una waver from thirty feet below.

Una sat on the stair beside Wren. “We need to talk.”

Wren had no energy to talk, but she had no energy to tell her to leave, either.

“Fine.I’lltalk. You listen.” In profile, Una’s eye was washed golden in the late sunlight, her shadow cast long and jagged down the stairway. “Back at Colwick Hall, I was angry. Ever since you deserted, I’ve been so angry and confused.”

She trailed off. Even now, it seemed Una could not help skirting around the raw, impossible admission:You hurt me.But Wren could hear it plain, and the barest slither of guilt coiled around her heart.

“I was ready to forgive you. But when you told me about Lowry, I couldn’t let myself believe you. I couldn’t let myself believe the queen would ally herself with a monster.” Wren waited for the apology. None came. “What was I supposed to do?”

“You were supposed to trust me! You were supposed to help me. If you’d believed me, none of this would be happening.”

“If you’d sabotaged that alliance like you sabotaged everything else, the queenwouldexecute you.” Una’s anger rose to meet hers. “I was trying to protect you!”

“Protect me?” Wren snarled. “Is that what you did back in Cernos, when you called me weak? Or when you yelled at me when our prisoner attacked me?”

“I didn’t yell at you. Are you still angry about that kid?” Una asked impatiently. “You could have gotten yourself killed.”

“I was suffocating, Una.” An unwelcome, shameful heat burned behind her eyes. She refused to cry in front of her again. “Sometimes I think I’ve been slowly dying for years. I healed that boy because I was following my gut. Myheart.I don’t understand how kindness can be so wrong.”

The muffled noise of the crowd filled the silence between them.

“You know,” Wren said slowly, “now I’m beginning to doubt that my feelings are actually what’s gotten me in trouble. Maybe it’s because I was too busy second-guessing myself and criticizing myself. Hating myself. Maybe that’s what made me weak.”

Una’s steely expression fractured into a thousand pieces. “I didn’t want you to get hurt, Wren. You were always so easily hurt.”

I was trying to protect you.When had love become a weapon with which to destroy each other? She hugged her knees and squeezed tight. If she didn’t hold herself together, she would fly apart. She just knew it.

After an eternity, Una said, “I’m sorry.”

Wren flinched in surprise. “What?”

“Don’t make me repeat myself.” Then, she sighed, a defeated, anxious sound. “I should have listened to you. I should have trusted you. And I shouldn’t have said all those awful things to you at the ball. I was wrong, and I’m sorry.”

Wren watched the dust swirl through thick bars of sunlight. She pressed her hands into the cold stone beneath her. These were real things, solid things. What she was hearing… She had to be imagining it. In all the years they’d known each other, she could count on both hands the number of times Una had ever apologized to her. She was too stunned to answer immediately. But Una was waiting, and in the uncertain slant of her eyebrows was something unfamiliar. Vulnerability.

“You were following the queen’s orders,” Wren said. “I understand why you did what you did.”

“Following orders. I’ve spent my whole life following orders.I thought that was the best way I could serve Danu. What’s a country but the strength of its queen?” Bitterness crept into her voice. “But it’s clear to me now that I’ve kept my eyes half shut. What the queen wants for Danu isn’t what’s bestorwhat’s right. If she executes Cavendish, bloodshed is unavoidable. I won’t sit idly by while that snake Lowry encourages her to needlessly sacrifice lives. Not when those lives are in my hands.”

“Why are you telling me all this?” Wren’s voice wavered with uncertainty, with stubborn hope.

“I know you’ve got some kind of scheme,” Una said. “I want in.”

Wren could only stare at her. This wasUna Dryden,the queen’s most loyal servant. Unwavering in her pursuit of order and justice. A future general. The Una Wren knew did not choose Hal Cavendish as the lesser of two evils. And she certainly did not encourage any of Wren’s harebrained schemes.

“Why should I trust you now, after everything we’ve done to each other?”

Una crossed her arms. “I don’t blame you if you don’t trust me, but frankly, it’d be wasted effort to sabotage your plan from within. It’s you and Cavendish against the entire country. The odds aren’t good.”

“Thanks,” Wren muttered sourly. At least she could always count on Una’s honesty. More tentatively, she said, “You joining us doesn’t exactly improve our odds much, you know. Why would you throw away everything you’ve worked for?”

“I don’t want success if innocent lives are the price. Besides, what kind of commanding officer…” Una shook her head, drawing in a deep breath. “What kind of friend would I be if I let you do this alone?”

Wren squeezed her eyes shut, desperate to hold back tears. “I don’t know, Una. They have him under constant surveillance of the Guard in the Tower, and it’s not like we can just waltz in there.…”

Or can we?