I jerked away from her, confusion rocking me. Staring at her, I searched for the telltale soft pink glow that would indicate the use of Spirit on her words and actions. I wanted to believe Cassava was behind this, so much easier than thinking my twisted up emotions were my own. But there was no glow of soft pink, no use of Spirit. Belladonna spoke from her own beliefs, and my emotions were all my own.

Jaw tight, I stepped back. “Go to supper, I’m going to get us something to eat.”

“No, I’m coming with you. We can’t be separated.” She met my gaze and arched an eyebrow. “You can’t say it isn’t safe. I know you’re going to the kitchens.”

I threw my hands into the air. “Fine. But you’re carrying some of the food back then.”

Silently, we made our way to the kitchens, the only sound that of her silk dress sliding across bare skin.

We stopped in front of the kitchen doors. They were barred with a thick beam of wood and a heavier lock had been placed on it, a lock I was sure even my thin knife wouldn’t do any good against.

“So much for getting food that way,” I muttered.

Belladonna slid her hands over the door. “He’s trying to starve us out. The same way he’s starving his people.”

I glanced at her. “What else are we missing?”

She snorted softly. “I wish I knew.”

As long as she was talking, I didn’t have to think about what happened. The way Ash’s eyes had stared into mine, the understanding in them that he’d been betrayed. I clenched my jaw tightly, but Belladonna didn’t notice my continued internal upheaval.

“He has some sort of hold on the people, something that makes them very afraid of him. I can’t put my finger on it.”

I knew what it was, but telling Belladonna meant I trusted her completely. And while we’d come a long way in a short time, trusting people hadn’t gone so well for me lately.

But the mother goddess had told me that operating in fear was not the path. Now was the time to take a chance on my sister.

“I know why they are afraid of him, why they bow down to him.”

“You do?”

We were out of the main building, the winding, twisting hallways of the palace gave way to the open-air courtyards that led to the water’s edge and brilliant white sand beach.

I drew close to Belladonna, putting my mouth near her ear. “He’s a half-breed.”

She burst out laughing. “That would make him weak.”

I grabbed her upper arm and squeezed it tightly, barely managing to keep my voice low. “Not him. He controls two powers with equal force.”

Her eyes widened and the color slipped from her face. “The other?”

“Air.”

Closing her eyes, she swayed. “That makes sense. The scene above the dinner table that first night. It wasn’t the Sylph Ambassador, it was Requiem.”

“Yes.”

Belladonna slipped her arm around my waist and we walked like that toward the water. “We have to escape, Lark. Sooner rather than later.”

“What about Ash? We can’t leave him here, and Barkley if he’s still alive . . .”

Before I could finish my sentence she was shaking her head. “They don’t matter. We have to get out of here while we still can. You may be a bastard, but we are both of royal blood. Our lives matter.”

I pulled away from her. “They matter, too. Even if Ash was going to betray us, and I say even because I still have my doubts, he is one of us. He is of our family. We don’t leave family behind.”

We were at the water’s edge with the false beach and pure white sand under our bare feet. The heat soaked through my soles. “We need a plan. Weapons first. I can’t protect either of us with nothing more than a miniscule knife.”

Nodding, she said nothing.

“The Enders’ barracks would be the best place.” I put my hands on my hips and looked back the way we’d come. Belladonna had taken a tour of the place, I had been too busy trying to find the cells. “Do you know where they are?” While I’d been searching the interior of the palace for the cells, Belladonna had been touring around the entire Deep.

“Yes, the boy Urchin took me and Ash on a mind-numbingly boring tour.” Striding out, she led the way.

I jogged to catch up to my sister, wondering if this friendship we had would last once we returned home to the Rim. It was something for my mind to play with other than the guilt and fear we’d made a mistake by sending Ash to the cells.

“Mother goddess, help us,” I whispered the plea.

There was no answer, not that I really expected one. There would be no rescue from on high. If we were going to survive this, it was on me to get us out. And whether Belladonna liked it or not, I would get Ash out too. I had to get into the cells in order to find Barkley regardless of Ash. I just had to find a way in.

The Enders’ barracks should house the tools and weapons I needed for my rescue mission. At least, that was what I was hoping for. Belladonna stopped on the far eastern side of the Deep and pointed across the water. Separated from the rest of the palace by a narrow rope bridge that hung low over the water, the barracks rested on a tiny island by itself. Made up of white sandstone, the building seemed to glitter in the sunlight. Four stories high and perfectly square, it was a fortress despite how pretty its exterior was. Thin slits for windows, and only one set of doors that, at the moment, were propped open. I frowned. That seemed sloppy. At home, in the Rim, we never left the barrack’s doors open.