Our exit turned out to be nothing more than a hole in the wall, the jagged edges where the wood had been broken through poked out like the teeth of a hungry beast. I ducked through the gaping maw after Lilan. This portion of the wall had been built at the top of a small cliff of rocks, allowing for a natural fortification. The others had already almost reached the bottom, but Lilan, Sil, and I were still working our way down.

  Gold flashed in the corner of my eye, but I ignored the message, instead focusing my attention on the sharp rocks as I navigated them, stepping in the same places that Lilan had. Sil glanced over his shoulder at me, as if making sure I was still there. I offered him a nod, which he returned with a short dip of his eyes—which appeared to be shifting back to the blue that he’d had when I first met him.

  What was he? I hadn't ever heard of anything that could shift its entire appearance—though I knew that the cosmos was a very large place with many secrets, something the System’s existence constantly reminded me of. How had he ended up here? I wondered whether his story was similar to Aurelion's and mine. There was also the possibility that he was from here, though I thought that unlikely given the entire nature of what he was capable of.

  If creatures capable of shifting bodies had existed on this planet, surely we would have known about it…

  "I see Ophelia hasn't awakened yet," Sil said, climbing through the hole and stepping up beside me.

  I met his eyes and then glanced behind him, over the wall, where dark smoke was starting to accumulate in greater columns. Had the prisoners actually managed to overtake the soldiers? How would something like this possibly affect what I knew about the timeline I was living in now? This camp had never existed before now, would it change anything about the future? There were too many questions and not nearly enough answers.

  "She hasn't, no." I let the worry I had been bottling up lace the words. "If she hasn't awakened by the time we get back to the capital, then I'll need to take her to someone and figure out what the empress did to her."

  It was an itching feeling that I'd had since we'd arrived at the camp. One ?I had not wanted to confront because I was almost positive the empress had done something to Ophelia. What I didn’t know. What I did know, though, is that I couldn't be sure whoever was inhabiting my body didn't have access to the System. It could potentially explain a number of things. But it would also complicate everything I thought I knew about the System—which, arguably, wasn't much.

  I also wondered if Henrietta might be able to help her. That woman seemed to know her way around medicines and the sort. She’d also somehow known I was a dragon. Something I still hadn’t figured out.

  I continued my climb down the rocks, careful not to cut my hand on any of them. It wasn't a steep climb, but it was enough to make my thighs and legs burn from the exertion. I guess my [Ironclad Body] could only do so much, perhaps if I pushed myself harder, I might be able to improve the skill even more.

  When I'd almost reached the bottom, I spoke again, "I looked for you the day we went in. Searched most of the camp, that I could, at least. But I couldn't ever find you."

  Sil made a noise ahead of me, his feet making a soft plop as he landed on the ground at the bottom of the rocks. I dropped to the soft grass a moment later.

  Offering a wide smile, he said, "figured I should start working on our escape plan. Had something good in the works, too. Lots of flair. No explosions, though. Good call on that one; very dramatic. I didn't really expect you to outpace me." He looked back up at the wall and visibly shivered.

  "I hate cages, too," I told him, putting a hand on his shoulder. I meant the words, more than I had originally intended. Despite escaping, I was still locked in a cage. That's exactly what this body was. Though it also had its benefits.

  I touched a finger to my face without meaning to and he quirked his head to the side, as if trying to understand what I was thinking. We stood in silence for several moments, watching the cloud of smoke above the walls expand outward.

  When he spoke, his voice was soft, almost a whisper. "We got out, though. That's what matters."

  "And it seems like the others might manage the same," Lilan said, stepping up beside us. He had Ophelia over his shoulder, still, and her body hung lifeless against his. "Or, at the least, they're putting up a good fight."

  "You think they really have a chance of getting out?" Sil's voice carried a strange sadness to it that I hadn't expected from the man, not after his boisterous display back in the palace and his confident air in the camp.

  "I'm not sure, if I'm honest," Lilan responded. "The soldiers have been spread thin since I arrived several weeks ago, with more leaving every day. Some of those I knew said orders had come down, sending more men west. Whatever the empress is doing, it's taking up a lot of the empire's manpower. Even more so than usual. We’ve even heard rumors that soldiers are being sent west to squash an uprising." His face grew worried, the lines around his eyes narrowing, his mouth contorting into a frown.

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  "Did you say weeks ago?" I asked. That made no sense. Even given the time that it had taken to get to the camp by prison wagon, I'd only been reawakened in this body over a week, but surely less than two. How could she have had weeks?

  "I came in with the first prisoners,” Lilan explained. “We were brought in before the soldiers had even finished erecting the walls. That was our first job, and that’s how we were able to escape today. We built that wall with the exit in mind. But they kept bringing people in. To be honest, we were all surprised at how quickly it grew. It never made sense. So many of the prisoners they brought in were older, some were even crippled. Bringing them in as workers seemed like a waste of time. Then they started killing them when they couldn't work."

  His face grew dark, his features sagging toward the ground. "Truan and Kev came a week before you did. They brought news about other camps popping up throughout the lands further west."

  Flashes of the letters I'd read in the palace jumped to the front of my mind. “She plans to move the capital, the people there must be revolting because of the change.” My breath caught as soon as I realized what I’d said. It was too late. Both Sil and Lilan had turned to me, looks of suspicion painted plainly on their faces.

  I couldn't see their faces, but I was almost positive the others were boring holes into my back with glares of their own. "She has a lot of plans… It's hard to explain how I know—well, I guess it's quite simple, actually. I'm going to need help if I want to get anywhere with my own plans, so I guess it's best to come clean sooner rather than later."

  Sil met my eyes. I wasn't sure what secrets he was hiding, or even why the two of us felt so drawn to keep each other close despite only meeting just before our capture. But there was trust in those eyes. A trust that seemed to add fuel to the fire growing in my gut. This flame wasn't one of pure anger or fury, though. That emotion was still there, simmering beneath the surface. I wasn’t sure it would ever fade, not until after I’d dealt with the imposter wearing my skin and the [Hero] who had destroyed my people. But this flame that burned at that moment was more. It burned hotter and brighter.

  "Sil and I… we ended up in the camp because we were caught infiltrating the palace in Caelthara."

  Lilan's eyes grew wide. "The palace? Seven hells, what are you two caught up in?"

  "A lot." It was the simple answer, even if it wasn't really a proper answer. "It's hard to explain. Well, maybe not hard… just, a lot."

  He didn't press any further, which I was thankful for. I still wasn't sure I could trust him or the others. Trusting their escape plan and going along with them now was more of a matter of survival, and less one of actually trusting what they had to say.

  "Why didn't she just kill you?" Lilan's question pulled me back to reality and the harsh smell of burning wood and canvas in the air. Even downwind of the camp, the smell was overwhelming. My stomach twisted.

  Lilan's question was a good one. And one I had been asking myself for days now. I still hadn't quite figured out the answer. Did she, perhaps have to keep me alive to continue inhabiting my body? That made little sense in the grand scheme of things, especially if she had somehow inhabited my body weeks before I had inhabited this one. I lived in this body now, and she lived in mine. Why would killing me affect one or the other?

  The confusion of my thoughts must have shown in my features somehow, because Lilan let out a shallow breath and a chuckle. "You have no idea, do you?"

  I met his eyes, letting his gaze envelop mine for a breath before finally shaking my head. "It doesn't make any sense, no. She had every reason to kill us right then and there, and yet she didn't. She sent us out here to a camp that—thank the Seven—was not ready for the influx of people it received. But she wanted us away from the capital for some reason, which means I need to get back."

  Flashes of Irinda's bruised face filled my thoughts, and I took an instinctive step away from the wall, as if my body was already moving toward the capital and the unfinished business I had waiting there.

  "I agree," Sil said next to me. "How far do you think it is?"

  "Three days by wagon, right?"

  "If I kept track of the days correctly, yes. Longer walking, though."

  Nodding, I turned from the growing smoke above the camp and looked to the east. "We should get moving then. Try to find a wagon that is heading east, or steal one, I suppose. Either way, we've spent enough time here. It's time to get back home."

  Because that was what Caelthara was, for both myself and whoever this woman had been before. Cran, the spindly man who had written down all our names, had recognized this face. That much I was sure of. And part of me wanted to sneak back into the camp and demand to know what he knew. But there was no guarantee I would walk back out of it I did. It was unfortunate, though, because that was information I could have used on this path I was walking.

  "We don't have to steal anything," Lilan's voice drew my attention back to him. He'd shifted Ophelia's position on his shoulder and was eyeing both Sil and me. "We just need to find my people, they can help us."

  "Your people?" Sil asked.

  Lilan nodded and looked to the others. Kev, Truan, Hina, Jau, and Lano all met his gaze and then mine, a flame of defiance seeming to alight in their eyes. Had I missed that flame somehow? No, I hadn’t. It just hadn’t been as bright before. I had thrown oil onto the embers of their defiance.

  "You aren’t the only one with secrets, it seems,” Lilan said. “We weren't in that camp by accident. We wanted to be there." He motioned over our shoulders back toward the wall. “To send a message.”

  "The uprising…" I whispered, the word bit like poison on my tongue, burning and rotting away at the flesh. Fury threatened to cascade through me. These people… they were actively working to dismantle my empire. To destroy the protections I had put in place for them. They would turn on me the moment they knew who I was, wouldn't they?

  No, perhaps I was wrong. Lilan had some kind of System access, which meant it was likely he had at least an inkling of who I was and what I was capable of. And yet, he had seemed surprised by mine and Sil's infiltration of the palace. Then there was the fact that I planned to destroy my empire, too.

  That meant, in a way, we were allies. As unlikely as it might be. Perhaps it was time to lean into the whole rebellion thing a bit more. See how far they could take my goals. Perhaps I could twist their decisions to fit my own somehow.