He glances at the door I exited. We both hear muffled commotion coming from the kitchens.

The king will be coming for me soon.

General Kline returns his gaze to mine. “You need to leave South America—tonight if possible.”

It’s all I can do to bite back a “yes, sir.” Old habits die hard.

“What’ve you heard?” I ask instead.

The general looks to my stomach. “Is it true?”

“Is what true?”

He opens his mouth, but he can’t get the words out.

I furrow my brows. I’ve never known the general to be short of words. Not even when he delivered the news of my impending marriage to the king.

“What?”

The general grunts, squinting past me. He shakes his head. “The Resistance hears a lot of things—some true, some nothing more than rumors.”

I already know this.

“Estes isn’t planning on letting either of you leave here alive,” he says.

I raise my brows.

“There are those in the Resistance that support him and his efforts, and I’ve heard whispers that they’re just waiting for his call to take you out. That could be any day now.”

Montes and I are scheduled to be here for another five days. If what the general says is true, then the attack will happen by the week’s end.

If being the key word here.

“Where and how?” I ask.

“The men are getting the location when they get Estes’s call. It’s going to be messy, from what I hear. They won’t just bomb you—they want proof of the kills.”

They want our bodies, he means. It’s easy to convince the world someone’s dead when you show them evidence of it.

I rub the trigger of my lowered weapon. “Why are you telling me this?”

He slides his hands into his pockets. “You’re the world’s best chance at survival.”

“If you really believe that, then why join the Resistance?” The king had let him keep his position as general.

“I’m not a betting man.”

And I was a dying girl. Once I died, he’d need a backup plan.

The two of us have a strange relationship. I blame him for the ring on my finger and he blames me for his son in a casket. And yet here we are, working together.

“Now that really doesn’t explain why you’re telling me this—or why you’re in South America for that matter.”

“I’m a top operative for the Resistance, Serenity. I’m never far from you or the king.”

Operative is a nice euphemism for an assassin. I’m sure the Resistance is also using the general for strategy as well, but in the Resistance’s ranks, operatives are the ones that take out important figures.

“Why haven’t you killed me?” I open my arms; I’m still holding the gun in one of them, but it’s no longer pointed at the general. “You have your chance—but you better make it quick.”

I can hear the king’s men in the kitchen.

“You stupid girl,” he says taking me by the shoulders and pulling me into a tight hug. “I love you. That’s why I’m telling you this, that’s why I’m not shooting you.” He backs away as the soldiers’ footsteps begin moving towards the door. “You were always the daughter I never had. Now do me and your father proud and right the king’s wrongs.”

My throat closes. How can just a few words undo me?

His hands slip away and he turns from me. I watch his form fade into the darkness.

He’s almost disappeared entirely when I remember.

“Wait!”

I can barely make him out. He’s already blended back into the shadows, but I think he pauses.

“Will’s dead.” I say quietly, but the night carries my words to him.

I’m not sure whether I’m relieved that I can’t see the general’s expression, or desperate for it.

“He captured me in the hospital where I was being treated for my cancer,” I continue. “His men shot me, patched me up, then proceeded to interrogate me.” It’s hauntingly similar to my experience with the general. I suppose this is how the Resistance does things.

“The king ransacked the warehouse we were in and took Will.” This last part’s still hard. “The king had him tortured.”

General Kline’s quiet, but I hear a thousand things in that silence. We’re talking about Kline’s beloved son, the man set to take over the general’s job.

War takes many things from people, but unfortunately, pain is not one of them. In some quiet, dark corner, when no one’s around, General Kline will break down.

“I stopped the torture,” I say. “That’s why they killed Will.”

The general steps back into the light, and his eyes meet mine one last time. He nods, and for that instant, we understand each other completely. The two of us have lived through a nightmare; we’ve both seen our worst fears realized, and we’ve been forced to make decisions no human should have to. We’ve lived more, done more, and stained our souls more.

The general disappears into the night, and the last of my past walks away with him. It’s both liberating and crushing, being freed of your last ties. Once more I am the lonely girl that has everything and nothing.

CHAPTER 22

Serenity

THE KING AND his men descend on me not a minute later.

“Serenity, what the hell are you doing out here?” the king says, jogging up to me.