Rise An Eve Novel Read Free

hands that had held mine when I’d first arrived in the Palace, the ones that had worked the washcloth over my dirt-caked skin and carefully untangled the knots in my wet hair. “Beatrice,” I called out. “How did you get here?”
    She turned around to face me. Though only two months had passed, she looked older, the deep lines framing her mouth like parentheses. The skin beneath her eyes was thin and gray. “It’s so good to see you, Eve,” she said, stepping forward.
    “Princess Genevieve,” Charles corrected, holding up a hand to stop her.
    I pushed past, ignoring him. After I was discovered missing the morning of the wedding, Beatrice had confessed to helping me leave the Palace. The King had threatened her and her daughter, who’d been in one of the Schools since she was a baby. Afraid for her daughter’s life, Beatrice had told him where I was meeting Caleb, revealing the location of the first of three tunnels the rebels had built beneath the wall. She was the reason they’d found us that morning, the reason we’d been caught and Caleb killed. I hadn’t seen her since.
    “There was a rumor at the center,” Beatrice went on, her voice nearly a whisper. “I saw some of the trucks coming through and followed them. They’re the girls from the Schools?” She pointed back at the building, at the windows that were covered with plywood, her hand unsteady. “I’m right, aren’t I?”
    The soldier with the birthmark stepped forward. “You have to leave, or I’ll have to arrest you for being out past curfew.”
    “You’re right,” I interrupted. They’d ultimately cleared Beatrice of any involvement with the dissidents, after I argued her case to my father, insisting she knew little about Caleb, just that we were planning on leaving the City together. They’d moved her to the adoption center, where she now worked, caring for some of the youngest children from the birthing initiative. “That’s why we’re here, too.” I turned to the soldier. “I wanted to see my friends from the School.”
    The woman shook her head. “We can’t permit that.” Her words were clipped, her eyes never leaving mine. Despite efforts to keep the story contained, it felt as though all the soldiers knew what had happened: I had tried to escape with one of the dissidents. I knew of a tunnel being built beneath the wall, and I’d kept that information from my father, despite the risk it posed to security. None of them trusted me.
    She pointed behind me at Charles and the male soldier who’d escorted us to the hospital. “Especially not with them here. You have to go.”
    “They won’t come with us,” I insisted.
    A shorter soldier with a chipped front tooth kept pressing her thumb down on her radio, filling the air with static. On the other end of the connection were the low murmurings of a woman’s voice, asking if they were ready for her to pull another Jeep around for unloading. “We already know about the Graduates,” I said loudly, nodding to Beatrice. “Both of us. I’ve visited the girls in the Schools before, with my father’s permission. There’s no security risk here.”
    The woman with the birthmark rubbed the back of her neck, as if considering it. I turned to Charles to see if he could sway her. His word still meant something inside the City walls, even if my loyalty was in question. “We can wait here for them,” he said quietly, stepping away from the building.
    “We have to finish bringing the last of them inside,” she finally said. Then she moved from in front of the glass doors, permitting us entrance. “Ten minutes, no more.”
    ONLY A FEW LIGHTS WERE ON IN THE FRONT LOBBY. MOST OF the bulbs were broken, but a few flickered incessantly, stinging my eyes. Beatrice walked closely behind me. Some of the chairs in the waiting room were overturned, and the thin, tattered carpet smelled of dust. “Back in your rooms, ladies,” a woman’s voice echoed in the hallway. A shadow passed on