After the Walls

Chapter 16

"Care to not speak in cryptic and tell me what the hell you're on about?" Edward says, voice low and gravelly. His fists clench at his hips and his shoulders stiffen.

The man, whose shaggy hair floats in the wind, snarls. "My sister," he says, voice cracking. "She was sick, and you stole her from me. Took her to your sick lab, performed Gods knows what on her. She died there. She must have. I haven't heard from her since she left."

Edward swallows and his Adam's apple bobbles. "I... I am sorry. I'm not that person anymore. My life has moved into a different path."

The man lets out a bitter laugh. "Lucky you. It must be nice living in the palace, taking your father's place, and pretending to be a better leader than he was. But I know better. You are just like him. Only you hide behind a mask. At least your father was honest about his cruelty."

"You need to walk away," Edward says.

"Or what?" The man prowls up to his, and liquor stains his breath. "You'll kill me? Gods. There are worse fates, Edward Mallory."

Edward grabs the knife in my belt and holds it to the man's throat.

"Edward, no!" I snap, grabbing his wrist. But he shakes me off.

The man chuckles. "You are no better than he is, Elle. Choosing to side with him. Letting him poison us with the shadowteeth blood in the crops. They call you a hero. The girl who saved us from the king and the famine. But you are no hero of mine."

"Did you just come here to speak your mind? Insult us?" Edward bellows, red splotching his cheeks. "Leave at once. Or I'll send the hounds after you."

"Your guards do not scare me. They are not like the Tranqs." The man chortles and madness glimmers in his gaze, flickering between the two of us. He ducks away from the blade and staggers down the road.

"I should kill him," Edward says under his breath. "Or throw him in the dungeons. How dare he–"

"Let him go," I snap. "We have things to do."

"What the hell was that?" Ruben asks as we enter Aston's small home. The house is nothing more than a cramped living room and kitchen, with one stove hob, and a boiling pot resting over the flames. Sunlight streams in through the dusty window over the kitchen, overlooking the farms and orchards. Apples and oranges dot the trees. Freshly plowed fields send the smell of upturned soil through the ajar window.

I slump into a chair at the rickety old table and blow out my cheeks. "He... seems to miss your father."

Ruben raises his brows, casting a wary glance at Edward.

"He mentioned poison," Edward says, sitting next to me. "He thinks the shadowteeth is poisonous. But how could that be true if it cured the blight from the potato fields?"

Ruben clicks his tongue. "Sounds like a grieving man."

Aston, who hovers over the stove, flicks off the flame and then pours the tea from the pot into mugs. He places them on the table before us. "So, the Red Movement is coming for us," he says, changing the subject. "We need to figure out what we are going to do."

"We build the army, of course," Edward says, bringing the steaming mug to his lips as Ajax steps into the room from the backdoor. "I know you and Ruben have worked together in the current army. I will need your help in convincing more of the Convex to join. And Ajax, perhaps you'd be willing to try to convince the Concaves, given you are from there and you were a leader."

Ajax blows out a sharp laugh. "Funny. I wonder who stole my position?"

"So, do you want to protect the city or not?" Edward sips his tea, glaring at Ajax from beneath his brows.