She didn't want to leave; she wasn't ready to face the others yet. But Adrian was right; she was weak. So she made her way to the throne room.
On the way there, she ran into Warren.
"Ms. Diaz," he said, "Glad to see you up and walking. You scared us."
"Yeah, I'm feeling much better," she said.
"What were you doing in the dungeon? They said the king brought you up to the guard?"
"Oh, um. I-I was checking on him."
"Any reason why?"
"Well, you said we should keep him alive. And he was shot. I was just making sure that-that his wound wasn't infected or anything."
"That all?" he asked. The look on his face filled her with dread. He knew that wasn't all.
"Why else would I go down there?"
"I don't know...from what I heard...you and the king were quite close."
"I told you he made me marry him. It-it wasn't real or anything."
He studied her for a few minutes.
"If you say so," he said, shrugging. "In any case, you are not allowed down there again."
"What? Why?” she asked, momentarily forgetting that she was supposed to be feigning disinterest. "I mean, shouldn't someone periodically check on him?"
"Yes, but leave that to me. Jackson will be checking on him from now on."
"Oh," she said, "Well, okay then."
She left after that, but she knew he was watching her.
Fuck. He was suspicious. And now, she couldn't even see Lex anymore.
No matter, she thought. You'll free him soon enough, and then we'll have nothing but time. She tried to convince herself that it would really happen, that she'd see him soon, and that they'd have all the time in the world to figure things out.
But she couldn't help but feel a little defeated.
Chapter 45
It crossed her mind to go to the dungeon now. Maybe Warren hadn't told the guard yet? But she knew she was only grasping at straws. She knew in her heart that the guard most definitely knew and that she'd only make herself seem even more suspicious if she went now.
Instead, she went to the throne room.
There weren't many people there. She sat down at one of the tables and forced herself to eat, to drink.
By the end of the meal, she was feeling remarkably better. Physically, anyway.
Mara came inside and silently sat down next to Aria.
"I'm sorry," Aria whispered; she felt guilt gnawing at her over the sick guards. "I-I’m sorry I asked you to do this..."
She searched Mara's face, expecting to see a look like the one her mother had given her. But she didn't find it.
Mara didn't seem upset. Or angry.
"This is war, Aria. People are going to get hurt," she said, shrugging her shoulders. "You did the right thing. You did what you had to do. We all did."
Aria wasn't sure if she meant it.
"Has anything happened? I mean, since I've been out?"
"Not really. Mostly we've just been focusing on not catching the virus. But so have they. So no new plans have been made or anything. And since quite a few people are still sick, I don't think Warren is in any hurry to send people back," Mara said.
Aria sighed. It wasn't enough. Warren would send people back at the first chance, and they still had no plan.
"I've been working on something," Mara said.
"What?"
"Well, we need a way to communicate with each other since we can't all be in the same place at the same time."
"And?"
"I've stolen a few of their radios and reset the frequencies. We've formed a few small groups. Five, to be exact. But so far, we only have three radios."
"Mara, that's great. Really, I-I don't know what to say," Aria said, feeling more grateful for Mara than ever.
"Well, it's a start."
"Have you talked to Grace?"
"Yeah," Mara said, looking around. "She's going crazy, being cooped up in that room. She isn't used to being so...useless."
Aria thought of Lex and how he felt the same way a couple of days ago. How was he holding up? Was he doing as Aria asked? Or had he already formed some sort of escape plan?
"I need to talk to Lex," Aria said.
"So go see him," Mara said.
Aria told her about her conversation with Warren.
"Shit," Mara said, "Well, there's no way you can see him now. That would basically tip Warren off."
"I know," Aria said, feeling hopeless. "I just..."
"I know," Mara said, "But there isn't anything you can do for him. Not now. So take your own advice and act normal."
Just then, she saw Jackson walking past the throne room.
"I gotta go; I'll catch up with you later. But please get those last two. We need to form a solid plan. Tell everyone to meet in Peter and Brent's room tonight, okay?"
Mara nodded.
Aria ran after Jackson, catching up to him before making the turn that led to the dungeon.
"Hey," Aria said, "Are you going to check on Lex?"
"Yeah," Jackson said, "I heard about what happened. I'm sorry, Aria. But I'll try to help him, okay?"
She nodded. "Can-can you just tell him that we're working on getting him out? And that....and that I miss him?" she asked, feeling a little embarrassed.
"Yeah, Aria. I'll tell him."
She went back to the quarantine room, figuring that taking care of people would somehow make her feel better about what she had done.
It didn't.
That night, they met in Brent and Peter's room, not all of them, just the ones that could make it. Luckily, that included all of the leaders of the five groups.
Katy, Hunt, Brent, and Martinez were four of the five leaders. Aria was the fifth.
"How long do you think Warren will wait to go get the others?" Isla asked.
"I'd say we're looking at a day. Two at the most," Brent said.
They looked around at one another. Aria noticed that her mother was still avoiding her gaze.
"Has anyone thought of anything?" Martinez asked.
"I have," Hunt said.
Aria looked up to study him, feeling more hopeful than she had since all of this had started.
"What do you have in
