Within the Walls

Chapter 37

When we were small, Isabelle and I believed the Forest belonged to us. We never saw another person when we were with our father. It was just us and the trees. But as we grew older, we learned it did not just belong to us. It was home to the silent deer, the hidden hares, and the singing birds. But it was always our home, too. I learned to wield a sword in the forest, while Isabelle perched on the branch of a tree and read. After Sneya banished my mother and father from the Floodgates, Isabelle refused to return to the Forest, the memories too painful to bear. I did not go for a while. It was a year before I returned, broken, hollow, and numb. I did not want to go. I wanted to forget too. But I felt I owed it to my father to acknowledge him, to force myself to remember in the place he loved most. Grief comes in waves, and that day it washed over the rocks. My grief consumed every fibre of my being so much I fell ill. But I remained seated there on the branch of a tree in the Forest. I allowed the wound to ooze, before I slapped a temporary bandage over it, pulled myself together, and left. I only ever returned to the Forest with Aston.

So perhaps it is why I fall silent when I should be shouting. I sit cross-legged on the Forest floor, eyes trained on the dancing flames of the fire Aston ignited. He sits opposite me. Ruben sits next to me. The other three, Ajax, Killian, and Flynn sit around the small fire too.

"Are you sure they won't hear us, Elle?" Ajax asks, fidgeting with a fraying piece of thread on his jeans, eyes averting up to me.

"Of course. Aston and I used to come here all the time together," I say, flicking my gaze at him and attempting a futile smile. "I just wouldn't recommend yelling from the treetops."

"Alright," he nods, satisfied. "We need to discuss what happened in the Palace."

"You guys go first," I say. The images of Larissa dying in my arms are too raw to touch.

I want to forget.

Ajax nods, shuffling an inch closer to the fire. The rest of us mimic him, listening. "When we went into the research wing of the Palace, we discovered they're telling the Convex drinking water has the virus."

"The drinking water," Aston says, aghast.

"Yes," Ajax nods grimly. "They once claimed that the virus was in the River. But now, they say they poisoned the drinking water. Of course, they cannot do that. They need the Convex. They can infect a handful. But it is enough to terrify everyone to distract them from organising uprisings. It helps pinpoint the immune as well."

"We've always had that fear," I say. "We used to boil our water, didn't we, Aston?"

He nods.

"Not everyone did it though," I say. "Plus, girls like Isabelle got sick from working at the laundry mats."

"Regardless," Ruben speaks up from my side. "It makes you wonder about the legitimacy of the River. They probably lied for the past 100 years about that, too."

"So, they can keep the separation," Aston says. "To instil systematic fear and oppression. To keep control."

"He needs to go," I say.

"And we cannot just overthrow him from the throne," Ruben says, drawing in a deep breath, as if mustering the courage to say the next part. "We need to exterminate him."

My heart sinks. I agree. Lord Sneya is an unjust, cruel man and we need to kill him. But he is Ruben's father.

"Ruben," I whisper, placing my hand over his.

He tilts his chin down to me, green eyes laced with grim determination. "It's okay, Elle. We need to do this."

My heart tugs anyway, and I squeeze his hand, biting down hard on my lip.