Excerpt
From Chapter 1: Rebel at Heart
He knows. Aurelia’s pulse pounded as the realization hit her. Somehow, he knows I want to join the Rising, but he has no proof. He’s trying to flush me out. But he’d just been talking about graduating her early—why had he brought that up if he was after her? Is he trying to scare me into being loyal?
She could never be the brainless monster-killing machine Everett wanted, no matter how he tried to bully her. But she could hear his ultimatum as if her interrogation had already come, and she’d already been discovered: Obey the Triumvirate, or be arrested for treason. She couldn’t stand the thought of spending the rest of her life serving people she hated, terrified that one wrong move would get her locked in a cell, sent to a labor camp for the rest of her life … or executed.
She had to get out, now more than ever. Not only because she couldn’t stand the Triumvirate’s evil ways anymore, but because staying would mean capture … and possibly death. Her whole body burned with fury. She’d done nothing but obey the Triumvirate her whole life, and yet they wanted to kill her—again. They’d already tried once with the competition, just to prove a point, but she’d survived. Now it appeared that they were looking for an excuse to murder her and call it “getting rid of a threat” if she didn’t bow down to their wishes.
They won’t get me. She’d already killed more monsters than most of the Triumvirate’s goons would see in a lifetime. And if they attacked her, that made them monsters. She’d never lost to a monster before, and she didn’t intend to start now.
He knows. Aurelia’s pulse pounded as the realization hit her. Somehow, he knows I want to join the Rising, but he has no proof. He’s trying to flush me out. But he’d just been talking about graduating her early—why had he brought that up if he was after her? Is he trying to scare me into being loyal?
She could never be the brainless monster-killing machine Everett wanted, no matter how he tried to bully her. But she could hear his ultimatum as if her interrogation had already come, and she’d already been discovered: Obey the Triumvirate, or be arrested for treason. She couldn’t stand the thought of spending the rest of her life serving people she hated, terrified that one wrong move would get her locked in a cell, sent to a labor camp for the rest of her life … or executed.
She had to get out, now more than ever. Not only because she couldn’t stand the Triumvirate’s evil ways anymore, but because staying would mean capture … and possibly death. Her whole body burned with fury. She’d done nothing but obey the Triumvirate her whole life, and yet they wanted to kill her—again. They’d already tried once with the competition, just to prove a point, but she’d survived. Now it appeared that they were looking for an excuse to murder her and call it “getting rid of a threat” if she didn’t bow down to their wishes.
They won’t get me. She’d already killed more monsters than most of the Triumvirate’s goons would see in a lifetime. And if they attacked her, that made them monsters. She’d never lost to a monster before, and she didn’t intend to start now.