Page 168 of Rite of Unity

Heat ignited in my chest, pressing outward, warming my frozen limbs with an overwhelming urge to scream, to hit something.

I surged forward, slamming my fist into his arm, then stumbled back, my mouth falling open.

His face mirrored mine.

He’d been there.Right there, the entire time, and never said a word.

Then, hysterical laughter bubbled up inside me, bursting free and filling the room.

Calden’s shock melted away, and his lips tipped up in a rare smile.

The laughter continued to pour out of me.I gasped for breath, slowly regaining composure.

At last, I stilled, leaning back against my pillow and staring at him through a new lens.

“I never suspected you.”

“I’ve wanted to tell you for so long.”He leaned back, settling beside me.“You’ve only known me since you joined the Rite, but you were my mission for six months before that.

“I received word of the plan.A girl from the Middle would need to get inside the wall.She’d poison the president in his own home and slip out without anyone ever knowing.

“For a plan like that to work, it had to be someone trained, able to fool the cameras and the world.The only way in was a match with an Elite.So… I knew what I had to do.I would invite you to join my Rite.

“But I wasn’t betting it all without knowing who I’d be working with.”

He blew out a breath, looking over at me again before his focus returned to the ceiling.

“So, I started watching you.

“I planned to tell them they had the wrong girl.A Middle woman with no experience was expected to fool everyone?Andkillsomeone?”He scoffed.“But then I saw you.Really saw you.

“The way you watched the world around you when everyone else turned away.How you saved bread from your lunches and handed it to Lower children on your way home."

My throat tightened.

“But it was the day you went to the public execution that I knew you were the right one.When everyone else stared in sick fascination or fear, you were angry.”

Heat pricked the corners of my eyes, and I blinked furiously, shaking my head.I should have been upset with him.He’d used his access, his father’s resources, to spy on me.But relief was the only thing that washed through me.

“What did you know?”I whispered.

His hand lifted, a finger wrapping around a lock of hair framing my face.It twisted lazily, and the silence in the air was heavy as I waited.

“That we were meant for each other.”

I didn’t respond.Couldn’t.

There was a version of us that I could see so clearly it hurt.Two people who understood the same things, who were working toward the same end.But those people didn’t exist in the real world.

I exhaled a loud breath, pulling back to untangle my hair and staring up at the black lines drawn on my ceiling.An imitation of the crack in my room back home.“I need to get a message to Lucen.Can you help me with that?”

Calden’s smile fell.“Why?His plan didn’t work.I’m getting you out.”

I sat up abruptly.“No.”

He watched me, all the earlier mirth gone from his face.“No?”

I lifted a brow.“You’ve been inside the wall all your life.You had a hundred opportunities to end him, and you never did.”I turned, crossed my legs and faced him.“I guess that’s why they sent me to do the job.”