Well, not my mother. A real one.
“You must not be angry at him, Ava. He knew nothing about my connection to you before that day, and when he realized who Roderick was, he wanted to tell you.”
I thought back to the day Anara told me about my father. I’d left the house before Finn, overwhelmed and needing to collect myself, but as I walked out, the Veilorians present had begun to speak in their native tongue. Then, outside the house, his mother had done the same thing.
“He wasn’t allowed to tell me,” I murmured.
“He was not,” Anara confirmed. “We knew you would eventually come to me with questions, but we forbade Finn or Rye from telling you about your brother before that. It was too big of a secret.”
“Because he looks human,” I said.
“And because he and other Veilorians like him live in the human world. You understand the implications of that, do you not?”
My head felt like it was spinning, so it took a moment for me to collect my thoughts. Once I did, I realized what she was implying.
“They have chips, don’t they?”
They had to, or they wouldn’t be able to do anything in Polis. Not get a job or a house, not even buy a slice of bread.
“They do,” Anara replied. “Somehow, Roderick was able to make contacts on the outside that provided him with chips, and he used them to create fake identities for others. Which allows them to live outside the District. They have jobs and homes. They even vote. You can see why this is information we wouldn’t want many humans to know.”
“I do.”
“Then you will not be too hard on Finn?”
“I won’t,” I promised, and it wasn’t a lie.
It still hurt to know he’d kept something from me, but considering how big the secret was, I found it difficult to blame him.
Anara gave me a sad smile and patted my hand. “I am glad. He cares about you very much.”
“And I care about him,” I admitted.
Without realizing I was doing it, I found my hand going to my stomach. Anara noticed, and for probably only the third time ever, her steady exterior cracked, but she said nothing. All she did was pat my hand.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Hours after returning home, my mind still hadn’t stopped spinning.
I had a brother who was half-Veilorian. Even more mind-blowing was that he was different than most half-humans. And he lived in Polis.
Had he known about me? Had he looked for me?
Was he a terrorist?
That Finn had known for a while now felt insignificant in the face of everything else. He’d been ordered by the Veilorian council not to tell me, so I couldn’t blame him for keeping it to himself. A part of me was even grateful. I hadn’t been tortured when we were dragged from the District, but what if I had been? What if Finn had broken his promise, and I’d let this huge secret slip? The very idea made me shudder. So many people could have gotten hurt, and even though none of that had happened, it was enough to make me grateful to Finn for not involving me.
I was still reeling when he got home, and my confusion and uncertainty must have been obvious, because he froze the second he laid eyes on me.
“You went to see Anara.”
“I did,” I said, looking up from where I sat on the couch.
Finn nodded but still didn’t move, and for only the second time since we’d met, real fear shimmered in his eyes. The first time had been the day the guards stormed the District, but this was different. That day, he’d been scared for me. Now, though, his fear was for himself.
“I’m sorry,” he said after a few seconds of silence. “I didn’t know Roderick was your brother before that day in Anara’s house, and I wanted to tell you, but I couldn’t.”
“She told me.” I forced out a shaky but genuine smile, hoping to ease his worry. “I’m not angry with you, Finn. I understand.”
Some of the tension melted from his body. “You do?”
“You were protecting your people. You did what you had to.”
He moved, finally, crossing the room so he could take a seat next to me on the couch. “I know him.”
“Roderick?” I asked, even though I’d known he would, and it wasn’t a surprise.
I hadn’t realized there was any tension in his shoulders until they relaxed, but the difference was significant. Almost like they’d been stiff for months, and he was finally able to let the stress slide off him.
“He’s part of the reason I couldn’t tell you about my job.”
“You work with the half-humans living outside the District,” I said. “Using the secret exit you told me about.”
I’d made the connection shortly after returning home, remembering not just the secret entrance Finn had told me about, but how he’d reacted when Arch was dragged back into the city. You should have come to me, Finn had said. As if he would have been able to get the medicine Arch’s sister needed.
“I do,” he admitted.
“Have you seen him recently?” I asked. “Anara said she hasn’t seen Roderick in more than a year, but have you?”
Finn hesitated, but after a few seconds let out a long breath. “It’s been a few months, but yes.”
“And you haven’t told his mom.”
“He asked me not to.”
I filed that away for later, instead asking the question that had been nagging at me since before I left Anara’s “Is my brother a terrorist?”
“Roderick isn’t a terrorist, not like you think, anyway. He’s angry, and he wants things to change. He’s spent the last two years working his way up in the ranks of the government, hoping he could make a difference from the inside. He was, too, at least for a while. He worked with Mayor Gunderson
