“Can we get cleaned up first?” I say, motioning to Tawni. When I look at her, I realize she’s perfectly clean and tidy and looks ready to go. It’s me who’s a mess. A nervous laugh escapes my throat. “I mean, can I get cleaned up first? Oh, and you’ll probably want to change, too,” I add, trying not to look at Brody’s blood all over Trevor’s clothes.
“Of course. I’ll take you to your mother’s personal quarters for all that.”
“What about…the body?” I say, looking away so Brody’s dead corpse is out of even my peripheral vision.
“Don’t worry about that—I’ll take care of it.” Trevor’s voice is so firm, so calm, I wonder how I never saw this side of him before, how I never trusted him. But then again, after what happened with Brody, I may never trust anyone again.
* * *
It’s one of the best showers I’ve ever had. Not only am I scrubbing away the dried blood, my own filthy bile, and sweat, but I’m exfoliating away Brody’s lies and treachery. Although I’m shaken up, I’m alive, and I feel like it’s a new beginning for me. A chance to stick with the people I know and trust. My family, Tawni, Tristan, and now Trevor. A lot of T’s in the bunch, which is fine by me.
After toweling dry, I leave my dirty tunic in a pile in the corner of the bathroom, where my mom told me to. She said we’ll probably never be coming back to this place anyway. My new tunic feels wonderful against my clean skin. When I move back into her bedroom, she and Tawni are waiting for me.
“Tawni told me everything while you were getting ready,” she says.
“Mom, I’m sorry I didn’t trust your judgment. You too, Tawni,” I say, looking at the floor. I’m ashamed of myself.
“It’s okay. I am completely shocked it was Brody, too,” Mom says.
“Yeah, even though I didn’t think it was Trevor, I was surprised it was Brody,” Tawni agrees.
“You are?” I say, looking up.
Mom answers for both of them. “Yes, I never would have guessed him, which is probably why Trevor and I couldn’t figure it out.”
“About Trevor…” I say.
“That’s okay, too. You’d only just met him, and it was perfectly normal for you to be skeptical of him, especially because I know he can be quite…grating sometimes.”
“Someone must be talking about me, because my nose is itching something fierce,” Trevor says, pushing through the half-open door. He’s smirking in that way that I used to find so irritating, but now seems somewhat endearing. It’s amazing how much difference a change in perspective can make to how you view someone.
“Trevor, I just want to say again that I’m so—”
“No more apologies,” he says. “I know how much you hate that word, so I won’t make you say it again.”
“Thanks,” I say, thoroughly humbled. He’s being so nice to me. Why didn’t I see this side of him before?
“I’m just glad you’re all okay,” Mom interjects. “Trevor, I already owe you so much, but now…” I’m surprised when I see tears shimmering in her eyes. My mother the general. Still the same compassionate woman I remember. She blinks them away. “Let’s just say there will always be room for you at our table.”
“I might just take you up on that,” Trevor says. He maintains his smirk, as if everything is no big deal, but I can tell from the lightness in his eyes that he’s touched. He claps his hands together. “Okay, the generals have agreed to meet. They seem very interested in ‘the new developments’ that I told them we want to share.”
“Good. Let’s go,” Mom says, rising, no trace of the weakness that had clouded her eyes only moments earlier.
“Me too?” Tawni asks.
“Of course. You’re all a part of this now and you all have valuable information.”
For some reason I hesitate. “What if the generals are all working for the Sun Realm, too?”
My mom looks at me seriously. “I’ve considered that possibility. But don’t let one person’s lies affect your ability to trust anyone. While one or more of the generals may be against us, I don’t believe they all are. We just have to trust that there are still good people in this world, Adele.”
I don’t know if I can do that, not after what Brody tried to do—what he did do—but I don’t say anything, just nod. I ignored my mom’s judgment once.
I won’t do it again.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Tristan
I’m still feeling a rush of energy through my chest when Ben walks in. It’s been over an hour since I saw Adele, but the effect is lingering. It’s like there’s a bubble inside me, leaving me airy and light. I expect I feel kind of like Ben felt when he saw his wife again.
The only thing that was weird was when she told me about this Brody guy. He seems like a real creep to me, trying to kiss Adele when they should be preparing for a war. Although I can’t really blame him—I might’ve done the same thing if I was in his position.
I realize Ben is standing over me and I look up, surprised. I expected he was coming in to spend some quality time with Elsey, who’s across the room reading a book with Roc, while I sit and daydream about Adele, bask in the few minutes of uninterrupted conversation I had with her.
“Something’s happened,” Ben says. He’s wearing a frown, which concerns me because I haven’t seen it much from him.
Adele’s hurt—I just know it. Evidently my inner concerns make it to my face because he says quickly, “No one’s hurt, thank god.” I take a sharp breath out that I’ve been holding in.
“Then what?”
“A sergeant in the star dweller army was working for the sun dwellers. He tried to kill Adele and Tawni.”
I suck in a short breath. “What? How? Why?”
“Unfortunately, I don’t have all the details. I’ve only just received an encrypted message from Anna. Evidently my wife’s second-in-command rescued the girls from their attacker. Shot the guy—killed him.”
A thought flashes into my head. “Brody?” I ask.
Ben’s head jerks slightly. “How did you know that?”
So Brody is Adele’s mom’s right-hand man. “Uh, Adele mentioned his name.”
“What? In what context?”
I stare at Ben, wondering why he’s so interested in the guy who saved Adele’s life. I’m certainly not going to say he tried to kiss Adele. “I dunno. Just that she met him during training.”
Ben shrugs, as if he was never really that interested anyway. So Brody saved Adele and Tawni, but—
“Who was the attacker?” I ask.
Ben stares at me strangely. “The guy you just said. Brody.”
I put a hand on my head, run it through my hair. So Brody saved them from Brody? Are there two Brodys? “Wait…what? I thought you just confirmed it was Brody who saved them?” I’m getting more confused by the minute, as if Ben and I are running around in circles chasing each other, fake tails stuck to our butts.
“No, no. Brody was the attacker. Anna’s second-in-command rescued them.”
My mind is whirling. “But I thought Brody was her second-in-command.”
“No, that’s Trevor.”
Trevor? Who the hell’s Trevor? Some other guy I don’t know about apparently. Some guy who didn’t try to kiss Adele apparently. Soooo…
The guy who tried to kiss Adele tried to kill Adele? My jaw drops when I finally understand. Funny how changing two little letters in kiss transforms it into the deadly opposite: kill. Just thinking that word and Adele in the same sentence sends shivers down my spine. If he was working for my father, clearly he was trying to get close to her for information. I’m glad she didn’t fall for that crap.