Twenty-two.

SIL IS MAKING DINNER WHEN I BRING SIENNA DOWNSTAIRS.

Raven sits in the rocking chair reading a book. They both look up at our approach.

"I remember you," Sienna says, taking a step back. "The Countess of the Stone, right?"

"My name is Raven Stirling," she says.

"Did she kidnap you, too?" Sienna asks.

"She saved my life," Raven replies.

"They said you were dead. Put on a big show, funeral and everything." Sienna looks Raven up and down. "You were pregnant, weren't you?"

"Not anymore," Raven says through clenched teeth.

Sienna smirks. "They do love their lies, don't they?" She looks at me. "My mistress pretended to adore your Duchess but really she couldn't stand her. Jealous. Talked about her all the time behind her back."

The back door opens and Ash walks in. His face is smudged with dirt and he brings the faint scent of hay and manure.

"Soup smells good, Sil," he says, then stops short when he sees Sienna.

Sienna yelps, taking a step back. "You're-you're the rapist."

"They love their lies," I say, echoing her words. "You said it yourself. This is Ash. He's . . . my friend."

"Pleasure to meet you," he says, with a polite nod. I can see him working hard not to seem offended.

Sienna looks back and forth between us. Then something clicks in her expression. "Oh," she says slowly. "I see. What, did you two get caught together or something?"

I feel the heat of a blush in my cheeks.

"Yes," Ash says, "we did."

"They said you did terrible things to her," Sienna says. "The Duchess says that's why she can't be seen in public. Lots of royals offered up their companions to be interrogated by Regimentals. Just to make sure there weren't any more like you."

A shadow of guilt passes over Ash's face.

"The Countess of the Rose didn't have a companion," Sienna continues, "but she wanted one. Too bad she doesn't have a daughter. She was so envious of the Duchess hiring you." Sienna's eyes travel over Ash's arms and torso. "Apparently, you had quite a-"

"If you'll excuse me," Ash says in a hard tone, before stalking past us and up the stairs. A few seconds later, I hear the water turn on in the bathroom.

"He is very good-looking," Sienna says, eyeing me.

"He's more than that," I snap. "And he's not your concern." I point to the dining-room table. "Sit down. There are some things to explain."

Sil, who has been uncharacteristically silent for this whole exchange, brings over bowls of steaming black bean soup and sets them on the table without a word. The aroma of garlic and cooked vegetables is mouthwatering. She walks past Sienna and mutters to me, "I don't like this one."

The food has drawn Sienna to the table, and she digs in as Raven and I sit beside her. Raven shoots me a look that echoes Sil's words. While Sienna eats, I explain as best as I can about how surrogates die giving birth, how the Auguries have been twisted from something natural to something that serves the royalty, and how we can potentially use this force against them. I tell her that we have a chance to save all the surrogates in this city.

"Why should I care about other girls?" she says. "I'm here now. You got me to safety. Why should I risk that for people I don't know?"

"Don't go throwing that attitude around here, girl," Sil says, from where she stands with her arms crossed in the kitchen. "And don't pretend like there isn't someone in that circle you care about."

I think of the iced cake, the blond surrogate, who was clearly Sienna's friend, bought by the Duchess of the Scales. Judging by the look on Sienna's face, she is thinking of her, too.

"If what you say is true," Sienna says, putting down her spoon, "she's dead anyway."

I swallow. The iced cake must be pregnant.

"Don't you want to at least try to help her?" I say. "And what about all the other girls at your holding facility, the ones who haven't been auctioned yet, who still have a chance?"

Sienna shifts in her chair. "You don't know anything about my holding facility," she mutters.

"It was Northgate, right?"

She looks up at me, surprised.

"Dahlia told me," I say softly.

"Who?"

"She came with you on the train to the Auction," I say, frowning. "She was Lot 200."

"Oh." Sienna shrugs. "I didn't know her name. There are a lot of surrogates at Northgate. And she was only a kid."

"That's a lie." Raven's eyes go double-focused. The "whispers," as she calls them, have grown fainter since she's no longer pregnant, but sometimes Raven still hears things. "You were mean to her," she says, her voice taking on a dreamlike quality. "She was so good at the Auguries, but she was younger than you. That isn't fair. You were supposed to be the best. You were supposed to be Lot 200."

Sienna jumps up from the table. Raven comes back to the present. "Don't lie around me," she says to Sienna. "And don't waste your time worrying. It saved your life."

"What did?" I ask.

"She can't have children," Raven says.

"How did you . . ." Sienna's hand drops to her stomach.

Raven shrugs.

"It doesn't make you any less of a person," I say to Sienna.

"It makes me less of a surrogate," she snaps.

"Sienna," I say. "You're not a surrogate anymore."

Sienna sinks back onto her chair and stares morosely at her soup.

"All my life has been about one thing. How is it that I never had that power all along? It doesn't make sense. It isn't fair."

I put my hand on her arm. I can feel the bones of her wrist poking out under her skin. "You're capable of so much more. You're part of something bigger than you could have imagined."

"Come on," Sil says, opening the back door. "Enough talk. It's time to show you."

I grab a blanket off the back of the couch, in case Sil is going to do what I think she is going to do.

"Be right back," I say to Raven, who looks quite pleased to be rid of Sienna for the moment.

Sienna trails behind me and Sil warily as we walk toward the forest.

"Where are you taking me?" she calls.

Sil ignores her.

"Are you planning to do what you did to me?" I mutter. "Tie her up out here?"

"It worked for Azalea."

"Yes, but . . . it took a long time, didn't it? And we need her on our side, Sil, not thinking we're the enemy."

"Well, unless you want to try killing your best friend and having this new one revive her, I don't see another option."

She has a point. My experience with this power was so fraught with emotion, so heightened, it created an instant understanding, a sudden connection.

But I don't know how to find it again.

As we pass under the first yawning branches of the trees, Sienna stops.

"Where are we going?" she demands.

Sil puts her hands on her hips and turns around. "You need to learn how to do what we can do. We're going to teach you."

I feel like Sil should reconsider her use of the word teach.

"We're not going to hurt you," I assure her, because Sil is looking like she'd very much like to club Sienna over the head before tying her up. "You don't have to be afraid."

I connect with Earth, and roots spring out of the ground, twining themselves around Sienna's legs, up over her knees to the middle of her thighs.

"Get them off me!" she screams, but the roots are too strong. I know. I can feel them. Even as I release the connection, they hold Sienna where she is. "Are you two crazy?"

"Why'd you pick this one, anyway?" Sil grumbles, watching Sienna struggle with a pitiless expression.

"She was Lot 199," I say. "She's strong."

"She's bullheaded."

"So am I," I say.

"No," Sil says. "You're different. You're . . ." Her nose wrinkles like she's smelled something bad. "Nice," she finishes.

I have to laugh.

Sienna has calmed down and is holding on to one of the roots with a focused expression. I see what Sil meant when she snapped at me that first day, when I tried to use the Auguries. I recognize the look of concentration in Sienna's eyes, and the wrongness that emanates from her makes me queasy.

"What, are you going to change their color?" Sil says with a chuckle. "You can make them purple or green or fuchsia but it won't do any good. You're stuck out here until we say so."

Sienna glares at us. "You people are insane."

"I've been called worse," Sil says.

"Here," I say, holding out the blanket. "Take this. You'll need it."

Sienna looks like she'd rather bite my hand than accept charity, but it's cold, and survival wins out. She snatches it away from me and wraps it around herself.

"So what am I supposed to do out here exactly?" she asks.

"Listen," Sil says. "I know it might be a first for you."

"I'll check on you later," I say.

"I can't believe you're leaving me here," Sienna says.

"Rather be back in that comfy palace?" Sil says. "Remember-if you can't bear children, they'd kill you anyway. Would you rather spend the night outside or end up with a knife in your back, or poison in your wine? Come on," she says, tugging on my arm.

Sienna hugs the blanket tight around her and watches us walk away, her expression furious, her eyes glittering like onyx in the dark.

Twenty-three.

I CAN'T SLEEP THAT NIGHT.

There is a throbbing at the base of my skull, like an Augury headache, and I know it's concern for Sienna.