Chapter 112


    When Linda said she knew enough, I knew she was referring to her ckmail. What she knew was that


    Nichs and I had been campus sweetheart three years ago. Unfortunately, that was enough to get


    her everything what she wanted.


    She picked up one of the cookbooks. “Since I know everything, I expect you to agree with my


    decisions. here. I know best, after all. You should consider yourself fortunate to be paired with me.”


    “I can help.” I started to reach for a book of my own, but she pped my hand away.


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    “You can help by not screwing this up for me.”


    For the rest of our hour together, I was forced to agree with all of Linda’s decisions, even the ones I


    knew wouldn’t make sense. No one would select three different kind of egg dishes. Where was the


    variety?


    But when I tried to suggest it, I was immediately shut down.


    “It would be such a shame for little Elva, wouldn’t it?” she said. “If her mother was tossed out on the


    street, destitute and publicly shamed. Absolutely tragic.”


    I kept my mouth shut after that.


    When we were finally allowed to separate for the day, I was worn out and eager to spend time with


    Elva.


    Nichs had agreed to check in on her while I was busy, so I was not surprised to find him and Mark


    ying cards in my bedroom while Elva took a nap.


    Both Nichs and Mark looked at me when I came through the door. Mark frowned.


    Nichs asked, “What happened?” He kept his voice soft, so as not to wake Elva.


    My heart skipped a beat. How had he been able to tell something had happened with only a single


    nce? Mark had only grimaced, but Nichs knew instantly, it wasn’t a sickness, nor a passing


    moment


    of anger.


    He knew something bad had happened.


    I walked to them and fell into one of the open chairs at the table. I held Nichs’s gaze, before flicking


    a


    telling nce to Mark


    Nichs, fortunately, caught my meaning. “Mark can be trusted. He knows must everything about the


    past, and our current… predicament.”


    I nodded, relieved. “You both surely know about the newestpetition.”


    “Yes.”


    “Then you know we girls are to work in pairs. But you might not have expected that my partner would


    be


    Linda.”


    Nichs straightened. Mark leaned forward, cing his elbows on the table.


    “Has she threatened you?” Mark asked.


    “Not bodily. Though she has taken charge of our challenge and refuses to ept any input from me.


    And some of these choices she is making… I feel as if she might be setting me up for failure.”


    It would be a dangerous gamble on her part, to make us both look bad while hoping she alone would


    weather the storm. I suppose she had a chance of surviving it, more than I did, simply because of the


    importance of her pack.


    Even so, it was a risk. One I wouldn’t have thought her calcting enough to make. Yet the evidence


    was there.


    “At this rate, whether the secret of our past is out or not won’t matter. I’m going to be eliminated strictly


    for ipetency if Linda has her way.”


    “We should do something about this,” Mark said, catching Nichs’s eye.


    “Our options are limited,” Nichs said.


    God, I really wished we could just tell the truth about our past. If we were out from under Linda’s


    ckmail, then she wouldn’t be able to hurt any of us. But, if we came forward ourselves, then I’d be


    breaking the King’s order.


    Unless…


    If we went public with the secrets of our past, maybe it would give me some level of protection. Surely


    once the truth was revealed, if I was to go missing, someone would notice the connection. The King


    wouldn’t be able to simply disappear me so easily.