The Offering by Kimberly Derting Page B

snapped into place. Eden’s elbow was straight, but her arm was twisted at her shoulder, so that if Eden so much as dared to resist Brook’s hold, if she tried to break away from Brook, Brook had only to elevate the arm, to torque it the slightest bit. It would send Eden into immediate and extreme agony.
    I recognized the move from my own training with Zafir.
    I wondered what exactly had transpired in those fewmoments when Eden had been out of my sight. I wondered not just why Brook was gripping Eden in that manner, but how she’d managed to get the drop on Eden—who was taller and more muscular—in the first place.
    I was reminded again of Zafir’s tutoring. Size isn’t always the most important thing in battle. Skill—and sometimes surprise—will carry you further than sheer bulk.
    â€œGoing somewhere?” Brook questioned, her eyes drilling into me. “Something you forgot to tell me? Some plan ”—she paused over the word—“you forgot to mention?”
    Eden tried to straighten, but Brook rewarded her with a sharp jerk of her arm. Eden’s face distorted in a mixture of fury and agony that made every muscle in my body tense in reply. Nausea rolled through me as I waited to see what Eden might do next. I imagined she wanted to rip Brook limb from limb. Instead Eden said, from between gritted teeth, “You weren’t invited.”
    Brook leaned closer, standing on her tiptoes so she could reach Eden’s ear, her own face a study in unwavering resolve. “Well, here’s your chance. Invite me now. Because you two aren’t leaving these walls without me.”
    â€œBrook, no,” I gasped, not sure whether I was reacting to her request or to her treatment of Eden, or both. “You can’t go,” I insisted, finally breaking free from the stupor I seemed to have fallen under as I’d stood watching the two of them. “How did you know anyway? You should be in bed at this hour.”
    Her mouth twisted into a wry grin. “I already told you. There are no secrets around here.”
    With that, my stomach lurched. I wondered how much sheknew, and worse, if anyone else had figured out what I was up to. “Who did you tell? Does Max know?”
    Brook scoffed at the notion. “Are you kidding? He thinks you’re sleeping like a baby at this very moment. You have him as hoodwinked as everyone else around here. No one suspects you’re sneaking around under the cover of darkness, planning to go who knows where, with . . .” She glanced at Eden, her smile growing. “Me and Eden here.”
    Eden’s eyes narrowed, but she remained silent. A smart move, considering her precarious position.
    â€œBrook, I’m serious. You can’t come. What you’re suggesting . . . well, you’d be defecting from your position as commander of the armed forces. You can’t do that.”
    Brook laughed, almost a snicker, as she countered, “But you can defect as queen? To do what? To go where?”
    She didn’t know everything, I realized, but her words pricked my conscience. I brushed aside my own guilt as I glanced at Eden. “I’m not defecting as queen, Brook. Let Eden go and I’ll explain.”
    Eden’s black eyes snapped up to mine, and I saw a flicker of something there. Something very close to triumph.
    It didn’t take Brooklynn but a moment to weigh my request before she shoved Eden away from her. Eden rolled her shoulder, lifting her arm as if loosening the stiff muscles. The gesture appeared casual, a natural response to the angle she’d just been pinned in. But it was a deception, and before she’d finished a single rotation of the joint, she’d spun around, her fists at the ready and her shoulders squared. She moved so fast that if I had blinked, I would have missed it.
    Fortunately for me, I hadn’t.
    Her attack stance was thwarted, though,