Free Outcast by C. J. Redwine Page B

solutions. I promised to find Rachel. I also promised to destroy both the Commander and Ian for the pain they’ve caused so many people. And I can’t imagine finding any peace until the threat of Rowansmark’s tech has been put to rest. Since Ian, Rachel, and the tech will be in the same location, I can’t keep one promise without finding a way to deliver on the others.
    But how can I reach Rachel, kill Ian, and obliterate Rowansmark’s threat all by myself? Especially when Rowansmark is already expecting me? Even if Willow counts for ten, the odds are nearly insurmountable.
    “Logan?” Clarissa’s voice compels me to open my eyes, but I don’t see her. I see the army outside the gates. The city-states up north who don’t realize that they can alter the transmitters in their beacons and break the yoke of Rowansmark’s tyranny. The leaders who might recognize the need to sacrifice now for the sake of lasting peace later.
    Leaders who might not listen to me, but who would listen to the one man who has always held more sway over the other leaders than anyone else: the Commander.
    As long as I can convince him that it’s in our best interests to work together.
    My hand shakes as I raise my fingers to touch the scarred brand on the side of my neck—a brand the Commander burned into my flesh while I was in his dungeon. I can’t think of the man without seeing my mother dying on the streets of Baalboden, flogged for daring to leave her home without a Protector. Oliver bleeding to death in a wagon, killed by his leader’s sword for the crime of being important to Rachel. Jared committing treason because he could find no other way to protect others against the monster who ruled his city.
    The thought of being allied, even temporarily, with the Commander makes me sick. I want to hurt him. I want to light him on fire and watch him burn, but I can’t. Not if I want to keep my promise to stop Rowansmark, deliver justice to Ian, and protect Rachel. An alliance with the enemy of my enemies might feel like walking barefoot over shattered glass, but it’s the only logical course of action. Emotion isn’t going to help me reach my agenda. I can swallow the rage and the bitterness long enough to keep my promises.
    The very second those promises are kept, the Commander is dead.
    “Mom, we need to leave. The trial starts soon,” Cassidy says.
    “Wait.” I reach my manacled hands toward Clarissa before she can turn to follow her daughter into the hall. “I have to go to Rowansmark. I refuse to leave Rachel behind. And we both know that the tech Rowansmark is using to leverage control over the other city-states has to be destroyed. I can’t do that on my own, and I won’t have to.”
    Clarissa raises a brow. “Who is going to help you?”
    “The Commander.”
    Willow makes a strangled noise in the back of her throat, and I hurry on. “He already has the combined might of Carrington’s army plus what’s left of Baalboden’s guards behind him. He understands military strategy—better than that, he understands James Rowan. And if there is anyone who wants Rowansmark stopped more than I do, it’s Commander Jason Chase.”
    “So now you’re going to try to create an alliance with him?” Clarissa asks. I can’t tell what she’s thinking.
    “I have to.”
    “What bargaining power will you bring to the table?” she asks.
    I straighten my shoulders. “Troops from the other northern city-states. I’ll visit them—”
    “Logan!” Willow sounds angrier than I’ve ever heard her.
    “Willow, what choice do we have? We can’t take down three armies on our own. We need help. I can show the city-states how to destroy the beacons in exchange for a commitment of troops to march south under the Commander.” I look at Clarissa, and I see she understands what I haven’t yet asked.
    “And you want to start with troops from Lankenshire?”
    “Yes.”
    The silence that stretches between us is filled with tension so thick