For a while, I paced my cell. But then fatigue set in, and I laid down to stare at the perfect blankness of the wall. A dirty cell would have given me some stains or cracks to look at. This was a white nightmare, broken only by the shadows from the candle.
A knock jolted my eyes open. When did I fall asleep? On the door, a narrow strip at eye level slid to the side, and the white door went as clear as glass. I startled and rose from the cot. Beyond was the second room, larger than this one, which connected to my cell and the door that led into the hall.
Reev stood in the next room. Looking at him hurt, but looking away would hurt more. Please, I thought, even though I knew it was useless.
Next to him was a young woman. She slouched in a wooden chair, her stocking-covered legs crossed at the ankles.
She watched me with black eyes like drops of tar. I approached the space where the door should have been and reached out a tentative hand. My palm hit the door, solid but invisible, and I drew my hand back.
“Reev,” I said, willing him to look at me. He didn’t. His expression remained as blank as the walls of my cell. I resisted the urge to slam my knuckles against the door.
“Kai.” The woman had a soft voice, almost childlike. With her frilly pink-and-white dress and lacy stockings, she looked like a doll.
She twirled a slim finger through one of her pretty curls. Her hair was garishly red. I thought of Avan’s bloody chest in the arena. I shook my head to erase the image.
“Can I ask about your powers? They’re pretty amazing,” she said.
I didn’t think they were nearly as interesting as Avan rising from the dead. “Where’s Avan?”
“He’s being taken care of.” Her black eyes gleamed. Her age was difficult to place. She could’ve been a child or a hundred years old. “Please. Tell me about your powers. Where did you learn to do that?”
I ignored her. Instead, I watched Reev, cataloging the changes in him. His trimmed hair—he’d only grown it out to hide his collar. His eyes, vacant but still that shining gray as familiar to me as my name. He stood immobile, as if he waited for a command.
The woman-child glanced up at Reev and then to me again. “R-22 is your adopted brother, isn’t that right? We sifted through his memories, but they were incomplete, spans of time missing. Not just locked away but erased completely. It was a very precise job.”
I sank onto the cot and folded my hands in my lap. I had nothing to say to her. Despite my curiosity, I had never pried into Reev’s past. How dare they rummage through his memories as if he was nothing but a history text?
“Seeing as you got into the Tournament unnoticed, I imagine you’ve met my wayward brother,” she continued. “He likes to call himself the Black Rider. For old time’s sake, I guess. It’s what the humans once called him, when they still worshipped us.”
I looked at her more closely. “Are you Ninu?”
I thought the Kahl was a man. That was how it had been taught in school.
She laughed, as if she was talking to a friend. “No way. I’m Istar. The humans knew me as Strife, and they used to pray to me in times of war.” She breathed the words like a sigh, or a fond memory. “Now they’ve all forgotten. Guess I miss the old days, too.”
CHAPTER 34
ISTAR. IRRA HADN’T mentioned her.
“How many of you are there?” I asked. Talking to her through the clear door felt odd, like talking through a closed window, even though I could hear her well enough through the slit. The way she talked, she sounded as if she could’ve been one of the girls from school. Was she doing that especially for my benefit?
“Too few, if you ask me.” She studied her nails, which had been painted pink with little white hearts on them. “But if you see Peace around, ask him if he’s bored enough yet to come and visit.”
I sincerely hoped not to come across any more of them, even if he was named Peace. “Is he in Ninurta, too?”
“Not for ages, as far as I know.” She sighed again wistfully. “But you never can be sure who might be lurking around.” She flashed straight, white teeth.
I looked at Reev, who had yet to move. “What are you going to do to Reev?”
There had to be a reason she’d brought him with her. Intimidation or leverage or something else to force my cooperation with whatever they wanted from me.
“R-22 is insignificant. He was a missing puzzle piece, now recovered.” She sounded annoyed. “His entire team was like a disobedient anim— Ah!”
Her face brightened. Her abrupt mood shifts were jarring, but after having spent time with Irra, I figured this was another quirk of the Infinite. She fingered the lace at the bottom of her dress, which was short and layered underneath with starched petticoats. The outfit looked like something the girls in the North District might wear: an odd mixture of allure and innocence.
“You don’t know?” She clapped her hands excitedly. Red curls bounced around her puffed sleeves. “I love a good story. You should hear the ones they used to tell about me.” She closed her eyes, smiling dreamily.
“What story?” I prompted.
She sat up straight. “Your brother’s, of course. The leader of his team was the only sentinel in Ninurta’s history to overcome his collar’s enchantments and disobey commands. As you can imagine, it was very troublesome.”
I hoped he had given them hell.
“The other two in his team began to disobey orders as well. But, of course, they couldn’t sever the collar’s connection to Ninu, so do you know what the leader did?” She thrust her lips into a pout. “He dared to break into Ninu’s private chambers and attempt to kill him.” Her pout stretched into a feral grin. “But he was caught. Do you know what Ninu did then?”
I could imagine. When I didn’t answer, she continued.
“He created a new collar. One that purifies the mind of all thought and knowledge, leaving a perfect shell for Ninu to refill. R-22 and the third member of their team were also meant to be purified as soon as they returned from a mission. But R-22 never came back, and his link to Ninu was broken by someone on the outside. Very few have the ability to tamper with Ninu’s collar and not kill its wearer.”
“The Infinite,” I said. In spite of everything, I wanted to know more. Reev had gone through so much so young. What happened to his real family when he was taken? And who helped Reev to escape?
Istar said spans of time had been erased from Reev’s memory. Whoever had broken his leash for him had wanted to remain anonymous.
I dug my knuckles into my stomach. Too many questions.
“So Irra told you that. And here I was hoping to give you another story.” She slumped dramatically and then jerked upright again, eyes widening. “Oops. Time’s up. Ninu wants to meet with you later.” She stood, smoothing down her dress over the petticoats. “And when you see him, you’ll give him all the information you have about Irra and your powers.”
She twirled away. Reev turned to follow her. Watching him leave, again, fractured something in my chest. I had to bite my lip to keep from calling out for him.
Because I knew she wanted me to ask, and because I had to know, I said, “Or what?”
She glanced back. She looked delighted. “You’ll be happy to know that R-22 is still intact. Ninu put up a very specific wall in his mind. It allows only certain knowledge and thoughts through while blocking everything else.” She thrust one slender finger up in the air. “But if you don’t cooperate, then R-22 will be sent for immediate purification.”