Anders, Milhov, and I stand behind the Krasne Pravitko, eyeing the building's façade. Viry surround themselves with beauty: landscaping, fountains, paintings, sculptures, architecture. The brickwork on this building, like most Viry structures, has designs built into it, leaving gaps between the bricks. It actually looks a lot like Shark's rock wall.

I interlace my fingers and pop my knuckles, stretching my joined hands over my head, swaying to loosen my shoulder muscles. I kick off my heels and begin scaling the wall. The brick is rough under my skin, but I climb past the second row of windows, then the third, Milhov and Anders behind me. My arms shake a little by the time I reach the fourth floor, but I hold on fine.

Through the window, I see our target at a desk, reading some papers. Who else would be working during the Induction Festival?

"What's the plan?" Milhov whispers when he joins me on the opposite side of the window.

"Can we slide the window open?" Anders says from beneath us.

Milhov reaches with one hand and tries, then shakes his head.

"We wait," Anders says, climbing up to my other side.

There's a distant crash, then shouts much closer. Dmitar looks up, staring at the door, but doesn't move otherwise.

"Atta girl, Kaja," Anders mutters. He swings over to the window ledge and slams his elbow through the glass. He scrambles through the opening and is on Dmitar before the latter can yell for help.

Once I'm through the window, too, I turn to help Milhov. He drops the rope off his shoulder. "We tying him up?"

"Better," I say. "We're bringing him with us."

"I'm not going anywhere," Dmitar says. At least, I think that's what he says. Anders has a pretty good grip over his mouth.

"Wanna bet?" Anders wraps an arm around Dmitar's neck. After a minute or two, Dmitar stops fighting, his body going limp.

"What was that?" I say. "Did you kill him?" I go to feel for a pulse.

"Relax, it was a chokehold. I was on Shark's floor before Hejae got me. I know what I'm doing."

"Let's get him out of here before the guards get back, if that is what we're doing," Milhov says.

We wrap the rope around Dmitar's body, so even if he wakes up, he'll be restrained.

Anders goes out the window first. We balance Dmitar's feet on Anders's shoulders as best we can, so he can support some of the weight on the way down. Milhov and I hold the other end of the rope, lowering Dmitar with every step Anders takes. It's a lot like tug-of-war, except backwards. And I don't have Kaz to fall into should I fail.

Anders gets to the ground and pulls Dmitar the rest of the way.

"Ladies first." Milhov bows toward the window. I climb out, afraid the guards will crash through the door any second. What did the girls and Lovro do as a diversion? I hope they were able to get away safely.

Once the three of us are all on solid ground, Anders throws Dmitar over his shoulder and we run a block to the east gate. I breathe a relieved sigh when I see the shuttle waiting, everyone else on board.

Hejae's eyes are huge when he sees Dmitar over Anders's shoulders.

"Go, go, go!" Milhov says, swinging into the bus behind me.

We take off just as Dmitar's guards burst through the gate. Too close. I'm still struggling to catch my breath. I don't breathe normally until we are back in the cave entrance to the Kuzabn compound.

Hejae hasn't spoken the entire ride, but now he faces us from the front of the bus before we depart.

"What you did was reckless. And stupid—"

"It was Nadia's idea," Lovro cuts in, a definite whine to his voice.

Hejae gives him a raised eyebrow, then continues. "And absolutely magnificent. There will be an inquiry. No doubt his guards will meet with Ritter within the hour. If questioned, none of you know anything. You've been here, completing your assessments."

He shakes his head. "For the record, I'm proud of you guys. Let's get him squared away before anyone notices."

We bring Dmitar down to Shark's gym, where Hejae pushes one of the blue panels beside the rock wall. A door opens, revealing a set of stairs disappearing into a dark room. I'm shocked, and I can tell by the looks on the other's faces they are too, but we follow Hejae in silence to a musty holding room. Hejae handcuffs Dmitar to a chair in the middle of the room.

"We need to get to the auditorium." Hejae has gained a slightly manic gleam to his eyes. "It's time I address the Kuzabn population."

I stare at him, wondering what he could mean. He seems to remember my presence rather abruptly.

"Nadia, you stay here. You took Dmitar; you've earned guard duty."

It doesn't seem like much of a reward, but Hejae and the others stomp up the stairs before I can protest. I'm left with a silent corridor and no barrier against mulling over the past couple of hours.

I want to hate my mother. She handed me over to a brute of a stand-in father without batting an eyelash. She never tried to contact me or see how I'd adjusted. I recognize that isn't how the Viry do things, but if she really cared the way she claimed, she could have tried to contact me.

Yet I can't shake the memory of the way she looked at me the entire time I stood in front of her. Drinking me in, as if all she wanted for the rest of her life was to absorb my presence. I've never been looked at by anyone that way. Like I was treasured. Beautiful. And not because of my Viry features, but because I came from her.

I never realized how badly I've wanted to belong to someone until I saw it in Ksenia's eyes. She should have fought to keep me, but then, maybe she did. I didn't give her the chance to tell me our story.

I smile at the thought, remembering when Briar asked if I knew my Viry family, and how fervently I'd said no. I wonder if maybe he had wanted to tell me, maybe even right that moment, but I'd stopped it.

Still, Briar had many other chances to fill me in. He'd told me he would be my family; couldn't he have mentioned then that he already was?

I remember when Krishel found out I wasn't really his sister. He'd tried defending me to our parents, for what, I don't remember now. In the heat of the moment, Senka had said, "She's not even really your sister."

The way he'd looked at me had confirmed all my fears. I had betrayed him in the worst possible way. I hadn't wanted him to know my secret, but that was because I hadn't wanted Krishel to view me as anything less than a sister.

If that's Briar's excuse as well, that he didn't want to change my opinion of him, then maybe that means he doesn't want to be my brother after all. Maybe he doesn't want me to see him as anything more than a Kuzabn instructor.

I hear footsteps on the stairs, saving me from my thoughts. Except those feet belong to my newly discovered brother. Briar squats in front of where I sit and puts his hands on my face, looking me over for injuries.

"Oh, thank goodness." He leans back on his haunches. "I was so worried. Nadia, there's something I should have told you already." His words come quickly, like if he stops, he won't be able to finish his confession.

I push him away before he can continue. "What is it, brother? How could you wait this long?" I stand.

Briar squints at me, then his eyes widen. He shakes his head.

"I wanted to tell you, Nadia. So many times." He stands, too. "I didn't want to affect your training; I was going to wait until after Induction." He rubs a hand across the back of his neck, something he does when he's extremely uncomfortable. "My excuses all seem so lame now."

"Is that why you really didn't want me to go on this mission? You didn't want me to figure it out?"

"What? Nadia, I told you, I never tried to keep you from your mission." He closes his eyes then opens them. "So, you must have met our mother?" He smiles.

Dmitar shifts, regaining consciousness. Briar doesn't see him, but I can't look away when Dmitar's eyes lock on mine.

"Beautiful Nadezhda," he says, his voice gravelly, but soft.

Briar whips around. "Don't you speak to her."

I lean around Briar. "How do you know my name?"

Dmitar laughs, then sighs, giving me a cold smile. He cocks his head to the side, his gaze flicking to Briar before settling on me again.

"I named you Nadezhda. Your mother preferred Nadia. Just Nadia. But I insisted you have a regal name. Nadia." He shakes his head. "So common. Don't you agree, son?"

Briar's hands have balled into fists.

My stomach had lurched at the sound of my chosen name, Nadia JustNadia, and the sudden connection sways my allegiance more in favor of this Ksenia. My mother.

"I like Nadia," I say quietly.

"Well you would, wouldn't you? You don't know any better."

I don't like the way he talks. His voice is too smooth, his words too carefully chosen.

"This is a lovely family reunion," he continues. "Too bad your mother couldn't be here. Of course, considering I'm here, she shouldn't be there, or anywhere for that matter, very much longer."

Briar is across the hall and has his fist wrapped around Dmitar's collar before I can blink twice. "What is that supposed to mean?" he says.

Dmitar smirks. "Well you see, son, my Chorny guard wasn't the only precaution I've taken lately. I've made arrangements so that if anything happens to me, your mother will be executed. Call it a life insurance policy."

Briar pushes off him, shaking his head. "You're lying."

Dmitar's calm, smug look tells me he's not. Iskren's influence is apparent; they both sure love threatening executions to get their way.

I feel like the bottom of my stomach has dropped out and my lungs are being squeezed, but I don't quite understand why I'm panicking. She was never really my mother.

Perhaps it's Briar's white face and wild eyes—his panic contagious. After all, whether I knew it literally or not, he's always been my brother.

"I'm surprised Wyren was on board with your scheme," Dmitar continues. "I'd have assumed she would do her part to keep me safe."

Wyren? The Head Weapons Master?

"I have to go," Briar says. "Don't let anything happen to him, Nadia." He moves to the stairs.

I hate how gleeful Dmitar looks, so I stomp over to him and slam my fist, curled into an eye of the phoenix, into the side of his leg.

Dmitar yelps in pain.

"Charley horse won't kill you," I say. I look to Briar for his approval, but he's already gone.

"We can still get out of this, Nadezhda," Dmitar says through gritted teeth. His calm demeanor has slipped.

"Don't talk to me." I take out my knife. Briar's knife.

No, our mother's knife. I twiddle it between my fingers.

"You have so much potential that you're squandering here," Dmitar says. "If you come home with me, I'll see to it you are Inducted without question. I can have you Matched with Milo still."

I eye a seam in the wooden planks forming the chair back, then send the blade flying from my fingers. It slams into the wood, inches from Dmitar's neck.

I put my face very close to his before dislodging the knife. "I said: don't talk to me. Next time, I'll take your ear off." I slip the knife back into its sheath under my tunic and squat down, trying to ignore the exhaustion rolling through my muscles.

Footsteps echo down the stairwell, and I hope it's Briar coming back to rKazeve me of guard duty. Instead, Hejae comes into view.

"Thanks for keeping an eye on our prisoner, Nadia," Hejae says.

"She tried to kill me!"

"Trust me," I say, "I would have succeeded."

Hejae smiles at me, an almost eager look in his gaze. "Would you like to, Nadia? Go ahead. Kill him."

I just look at Hejae, slightly alarmed at the ease with which he gave me permission to take a life. Is this part of the test? I stand and slide my knife back out from its sheath, but otherwise don't move.

"I thought this was to protect him?" I finally say.

"Oh, Nadia." Hejae strokes my cheek, his brow furrowed in condescension. "You've performed perfectly. Better, even, than I could have guessed. You'd think you would have more trust issues considering your past. But no, you blindly follow orders and believe in the good that must naturally be present within anyone with a pretty face."

I remember Ksenia's warning to be careful whom I trust. The grip on my knife tightens just a little, just in case. I raise my eyebrows slightly, inviting Hejae to continue. I know his flair for drama won't let him keep his scheme to himself much longer.

How could I not see through his vanity and lies?

True to self, Hejae steps back and grins. "The plan was for Kuzabn warriors to be caught in their attempt to obtain information on Dmitar Culum. Though Ritter would assure the Viry elders it was a mistake, merely a training exercise, Dmitar would never buy that." He turns to smile at the captive. Hejae looks like a snake poised to strike at a field mouse. "No, Dmitar would demand to know why there was a Kuzabn presence in the Krasne Pravitko. He's had assurances from his Partner's sister that he will remain untouched by the Kuzabn." He turns to Dmitar again. "You would've felt betrayed, wouldn't you? You would have wanted vengeance."

Hejae circles Dmitar then stops in front of me again, head cocked to the right. "Vengeance would have been much harder to convince the Viry of had you not had such a burning desire for approval."

"You used me?" I say.

"Of course, dollface. What did you expect from a master conman? Now, to be fair, Anders was extremely helpful in bringing this about. It was his idea for me to tell you someone recommended you stay behind. He said the more we questioned your Kuzabn loyalty, the stronger you'd fight to prove it. He promised he'd get you to do something reckless." Hejae waves his pointer finger in the air. "That young man sure knows how to read people."

I feel nauseous.

Hejae rubs his hands together. "And you did, Nadia JustNadia. You went above and beyond, and you have delivered me a martyr. The Viry will surely avenge the death of one of their leaders by executing his Partner. Wyren won't stand for that at all; she'll lead a revolt, and then the Kuzabn will annihilate the Viry."

"But why?" Maybe if I keep Hejae talking, Briar will be back. He'll know what to do. "Why do any of this?"

"Do you know what it's like to be almost good enough? Of course you don't, you're true Viry." He shakes his head. "What a waste. There are plenty of us, with Viry parents, who've just missed the mark for perfection. We are the children who've been rejected and cast aside. We're tired of a world dominated by one person's definition of beauty."

"So you appeal for a change in standards; you don't start a war." Wasn't I having the same sentiments little more than a week ago? Haven't I had similar issues with our system? I realize with a start just how many Kuzabn probably agree with Hejae—and how quickly this could escalate.

"Appeals take time. We want change now." Hejae pulls a knife from his hip sheath. "Join us, Nadia. Help us usher in a new era."

I'm beginning to panic again. Where is Briar?

"Would you like to do the honors?" Hejae waves his hand, palm up, toward Dmitar. The prisoner stares at me with wide eyes, frozen speechless.

"You're crazy," I say.

"Very well." Hejae rounds Dmitar's chair again, this time stopping behind it.

"Hejae." My voice is steady, but I'm eyeing the blade in his hand and fighting the panic clogging my throat. "I can't let you hurt him."

"You can't stop this," Hejae says, raising the knife. "We will dominate the Viry. We will bring about a new—"

My own knife lodges in Hejae's windpipe, cutting off his words.

Hejae clutches at his throat as he drops to his knees, blood already curling over his lips.