Hi everyone!

Thanks so much for your patience! I was on vacation in Japan for the last 3ish weeks and I thought I'd have time to post there but it ended up being super busy! Whatever the case, I had a fantastic time but I'm glad to be back to post again, LOL!

Enjoy the new update!

Love, Luckycharms <3



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Thea wanted to speak to Rue before they headed out, but when she went to visit him, he was fast asleep and she didn't have the heart to wake him up, not when he was so incredibly weak and rest was much needed. So instead, as she sat on the train heading to Kal, Aaryan sitting across from her with a table between them, she just hoped that the next time she saw Rue, she would be bringing good news.

The train ride up to Kal was of course a long one, seeing as they were going from nearly the bottom of the State all the way to the top, and though Thea had hoped she and Aaryan would spend most of the train ride silent and to themselves, that wasn't the case.

Instead, most of the ride was spent with the two of them bickering about one thing or another. Once it was because Aaryan suggested that Thea lie down when she began to doze off and Thea got annoyed with him for telling her what to do. Another time it was because Thea wanted to stretch her legs and Aaryan said no because it'd be safer for her to stay near him. And another time it was when they reached a checkpoint and Thea momentarily misplaced the piece of paper that had the phone number they were meant to call. Thankfully, she found it.

The last thing they needed was Niall and the backups charging in because they thought Thea and Aaryan were in danger when really, Thea was just a little careless.

In addition to the bickering though, Aaryan seemed to have no qualms with trying to pester Thea, even when she would try and ignore him, working hard to properly edit what would soon become the second volume of Rue's poems. Since the first one was on its way to being published, she knew the second would be following soon enough. Whatever the case, Aaryan didn't seem bothered by her coldness, trying to break through to her... to get her to be normal with him again.

Though Thea was annoyed by his persistence, she was grateful that he was sitting on the other side of the table between their benches. It gave her the perfect amount of space to keep her head down and avoid the sight of him.

However, it was when they were about an hour away from Ilia that even that changed.

Thea jumped a little at the sound of the door between their car and the one in front of them slamming shut behind the two men who had just crossed over and walked in. She glanced at them, frowning a little for not having any common decency and trying to prevent the slamming, before she looked back down at the poems.

Aaryan, who was still across from her, had his arms crossed as he leaned back against the bench he was on, glancing lazily at the others who sat with them in their car. After a moment, Aaryan spoke up once more. "Are you seriously going to keep acting like this, Thi?"

He said it louder than he usually spoke, startling Thea into looking up at him.

"You can't be mad at me forever."

Thea frowned, pushing her hair behind her ear. One of the most annoying parts of having short hair now was the fact that she couldn't easily tie it back away from her face. There were always strands falling forward, being a bother to her. "I can do whatever I want," she muttered.

When Aaryan didn't respond right away, she glanced up at him, surprised by his silence because if there was one thing he liked to consistently do during this trip was make sure he had the last word. When her eyes met his face however, she saw that he was distracted, glancing over at something, or someone, in one of the seats behind her. Then, he turned and looked out the window for a few moments before looking back at Thea.

Aaryan then surprised Thea by standing before stepping forward and sliding onto the bench she was sitting at, only stopping when his body was right against hers and his arm around her shoulder. "What are you doing?" She snapped, trying to fight his arm away.

"Listen to me, this is important." He suddenly said into her ear, though his voice was so quiet that even at that distance, she could barely hear him. "But keep acting angry. Don't make it obvious that the conversation has changed."

"It's not an act," she whispered back, frowning. But she understood his words and remembered Niall telling her to listen to him, so she raised her voice again. "Go back to your seat, jerk."

Aaryan's body was turned to face hers, his elbow on the table and his cheek rested on his hand. "I've apologized a thousand times, Thi," he said, his voice raised, but then he lowered it again. "I've made a mistake."

Thea raised her brow. "Yeah, you have," she responded in her regular voice. "And I don't have the patience to discuss this right now-"

"No," his voice was still hushed, "I mean I've made a mistake now. With the plan."

Thea hesitated.

"The two men who've been walking through the train cars... they just passed through, did you see them?"

She shook her head. "I heard them though," she said, reflecting on being startled by the sound of the doors slamming shut.

"They're Crows," Aaryan said, making Thea's eyes widen. "They've been patrolling the train and switching out every few stops so as to not be suspicious. But it wasn't that hard to figure it out. It's not unusual for Crows to do that... usually they're checking for State Soldiers so that they can warn their brethren before they arrive at their intended location."

Thea remembered Aaryan suggesting that this would happen when they were in the planning stage with the rest of the team. "Yes, you mentioned that. So what? You knew that would happen."

"Yes, but it looks like the Crows in Kal are much more organized than we anticipated... and we already expected the most from them," he continued. "Don't make it obvious and look, but there are two men, one young, one much older, sitting a few seats behind us."

Thea didn't need to look. She remembered seeing them... they'd been on the train for a while... pretty much since they got on at the Capital. She had smiled at the elderly man a few times during the trip whenever she and Aaryan would leave and come back during brief stops. "So? What about them?"

"I just saw the Crows that have been patrolling the cars make contact with them."

Thea hesitated. "So?"

"When I say contact, I mean subtle and silent, and I mean the kind of contact Crows give each other to be discreet around people they mistrust," he said. "Those two are also Crows. And I wouldn't be surprised if there were Crows stationed in each car."

Thea's eyes widened, surprised by the thought of an old man being a Crow. "You're sure?"

Aaryan nodded. "They've been watching us," he said. "And we've gotten their attention. They've communicated that we need to be watched."

She blinked, a little annoyed. She remembered noticing the old man watching her as she and Aaryan bickered about her possibly losing the phone number they were meant to call. "So, what now?"

"Our plan regarding our relationship is out the window now," he said.

Thea's frown deepened, knowing what he meant. Thea and Aaryan were supposed to pretend that they didn't really know each other, but they had basically been bickering like an old married couple for the entire trip.

They were supposed to make sure the Crows thought she was naive and doing this spontaneously, and prove her naivety by seeking the help of a young man who she knew to be a Crow. They couldn't do that now if people had been listening in the whole time.

"So we've got to change things up," he said, looking away for a moment as he thought deeply for a solution to this new mess.

"You can apologize and sweet talk all you want but that changes nothing," Thea said, trying to keep up the act. "Go away."

"Lower your voice, Thi, do you want the whole train to know how heartless you are?" he responded, a small smile forming on his face. "We're going to pretend to be newlyweds."

Though he said the second part in a whisper, Thea responded with a loud "what?!"

"We've bickering like couples do, it'll make sense," he said before leaning in a little closer. "And your short hair will make it more believable."

"I am absolutely not pretending to be your wife," Thea hissed, though realizing that her short hair would help with that lie as newly married women often did cut their hair short, seeing as it was a significant event in their life.

"Do you have a better idea?"

Thea responded by frowning.

"I thought not," Aaryan said. "We are a married couple, married last week... Monday... which will explain the freshly cut hair. Your parents didn't approve because they knew I was a rowdy, good for nothing Crow and you're from a good, respectable family, so we eloped... this'll make the both of us seem young and naive."

Thea's cheeks were warming, though she kept the frown on her face clear.

"I now live with you in the Capital, where you have been coming home from work every day and telling me all the details about your conversations with Rue. You told me you wanted to go find the people he mentioned and I agreed to help not only because I love you, but because I despise the State and would do anything to undermine it. Do you understand?"

Thea sighed. "And so why are we fighting?"

"Because I took the money I was supposed to use on your wedding ring and donated it to the Crows. That'll explain why you don't have a ring."

"Oh, so I'm a materialistic snob?" Thea asked. "I never cared for a ring anyways."

Aaryan raised a brow. "Is that part of the act or are you making a serious statement?"

She responded by rolling her eyes.

Aaryan hesitated for a moment before continuing. "In all seriousness, this is good... it's an unspoken rule among Crows to not mess with their brethren's families... especially their wives. They'll probably leave you alone when we make that clear."

Thea looked down at the table in front of her. "I guess we'll find out when we arrive."

Aaryan let out a breath. "I'm going to do a quick walk up and down the train... just to see what we're dealing with. Stay here... don't move."

"Yeah, yeah, I got it."

Aaryan let out an exaggerated, exasperated breath before sliding out of the seat and standing, his back towards Thea.

"And where do you think you're going?" Thea snapped.

Aaryan turned and looked at her with a raised brow, looking confused for a moment before realizing she was still acting. When it hit him, he rolled his eyes. "To go for a walk. Why, you think I can't do even that right?"

Thea scoffed loudly.

Before marching off, Aaryan snuck her a wink, which Thea responded to by smirking, now unable to hide her amusement.

Once he disappeared through the door that connected their car to the next, slamming the door shut behind him for extra emphasis, Thea had to stifle a chuckle as she wondered for a second about the fact that maybe she wasn't really that mad at Aaryan about everything anymore.

Aaryan returned to their car a few minutes before the train slowed into the station at Kal, letting her know that there was literally no one else on the train except for other men that he suspected to be Crows, and Thea couldn't have been more nervous.

Reminded of her experience with Kinny in Danyo, she was certainly anticipating guns to be drawn and that thought filled her with so much anxiety that she could hardly breathe. And when the train finally pulled into the station at the heart of Kal's capital, Gayath, Thea didn't even realize she was holding tightly onto Aaryan's hand after reaching out for it when he held it out for her as they rose from their seats.

As they exited the train and felt the chill of the northern winter hit them hard, Aaryan held Thea's little trunk for her while she held her breath. They were greeted with clouds of smoke from the train, the foul smell of urine and garbage and extreme poverty.

The station was small and grossly unkempt, with holes in the ceilings and walls, completely open the the elements, and homeless people sitting around everywhere.

Thea was suddenly reminded of the Railway Slums of Southern Kiriyu... where Niall's mother was from. Though there were certainly not as many people here in the little station, the sight of the poor people broke her heart the same way the sight of the Railway Slums did.

As Thea's eyes scanned the station that somehow miraculously managed to stay standing despite falling apart in nearly every way possible, they landed on the two men who were sitting in the car with them since pretty much the Capital. They were talking to two other men, both of whom, despite being in regular winter clothes, held rifles similar to the one her brother had.

Thea pulled herself closer to Aaryan as they walked down the platform. "You were right," she whispered, looking up at him.

"Of course I was right," he muttered back. When he looked back down at her, he was met with her annoyed frown, but responded with a warm smile. "Just remember the plan. And stick to it. We'll be fine."

Her frown faded for a moment as she watched him. She couldn't pretend that the sight of the smile on his very handsome face did make her relax a little... It reminded her that unlike in Danyo, this time she wasn't alone. Whatever her frustrations with Aaryan, he was here.

After letting out a breath, she turned her head and looked back at the two men with their rifles and just as Aaryan had suspected, they began to approach them with glowers on their faces.

Aaryan tightened his grip on her hand. "Stick to the script," he muttered.

"Hey," one of the two men snapped.

Thea's body went rigid as she looked at the owner of the voice. The black eyed, black haired Crow was tall and built and had a frightful expression on his face. He looked impatient and unkind and Thea felt the odd need to pretend she wasn't scared, though she was.

The second man followed along closely behind him, and unlike his companion, he was more relaxed looking... handsome, even. Though he did look concerned, he certainly wasn't as scary.

And behind those two were the two gentlemen who were on the train with them, both wearing full suits and had hats that casted a shadow over their eyes.

Aaryan and Thea stopped walking, and though Thea's grip on Aaryan's hand became more painful, he didn't pull away. "Good afternoon, brothers," Aaryan said, calmly.

The more handsome, nicer looking man raised a brow. "A Crow?"

Aaryan set down Thea's case before grabbing his coat with his free hand and pulling it, revealing the pistol he had strapped to his belt... a kind of foreign made gun that had been illegally imported in during the Civil War from neighbouring nations.

Most of the Crows weapons were brought in illegally from foreign nations... and the only good that came from it was that it could be used to identify fellow Crows. Though, Thea supposed, that could be a bad thing too.

The handsome man's eyes went from the pistol, up to Aaryan, and then to Thea. "Show me your IDs."

Thea swallowed back her nerves. This is it.

Pulling her ID out of her purse, she let Aaryan take it from her before handing them to the man.

"What's a Crow doing, coming all the way here from the Capital with some girl that he spent an entire train ride bickering with?" He asked as he took the IDs from them. "What business-" he cut himself off when his eyes fell on Thea's ID, clearly spotting the State Seal instantly. "Grab them." He snapped.

Before Thea could blink, the frightening and large man grabbed Aaryan, ripping him away from Thea's grip and locking him in a choke hold. "Hey!" Thea shouted, but before she could go after him, the younger man who had been on the train with them grabbed her.

Thea tried to fight from the man's grasp, at least until she heard Aaryan shout at her. "Thi, don't!"

She let out a breath and tried to calm down, letting her eyes fall back onto the man who was holding their IDs.

"Hey, pretty boy," he growled. "Why the fuck would you bring a bitch who works for the State here? Are you mad? Do you not know where you are?"

"That bitch is my wife," Aaryan responded, glaring back at him.

The man hesitated, his eyes narrowing for a moment before falling on Thea. She could tell he was looking at her hair, and just as Aaryan predicted, the wheels of their lie began to turn because the man seemed to believe them.

When his eyes fell on the man that was holding Thea, he gave him a curt nod to which Thea's captor responded by releasing her. "Apologies... Ms.," the man with their ID's said before turning back to Aaryan. "Though you have yet to answer my question. Why the hell would you bring someone who works for the State here? And your wife at that? Are you trying to get her killed-"

"I asked him to bring me!" Thea said, stepping forward. Stick to the script, she reminded herself, even when the man who had previously detained her grabbed her arm, though much more gently this time. "He brought me here because I asked- no, begged him to."

"She wants to help us," Aaryan added, also sticking to the script.

"Us?" The man asked.

"The Crows," Aaryan clarified.

The man, his suspicion extremely evident, turned to Thea. "And how might you, an employee of the State, help us?"

Thea let out a breath. "You have to understand that just as you do not trust me, I do not trust you," she started. "The only person I'll talk to about my intentions is the person who goes by the name Tai."

The man's brows furrowed for a second before returning to normal, almost as if he was trying to hide his shock. The other men, however, did not do as good of a job at hiding it, their wide eyes darting from one person to another, as if Thea had said something unforgivable. "Now where might you have heard that name from?" The man holding their IDs finally asked.

"From Rue," Thea said, firmly. Before she continued, she watched as the man's shoulders lowered ever so slightly while his expression shifted momentarily to confusion. "Rue," she repeated. "He was second-in-command to Tai before he was captured by the State in Faru after purposefully misleading them in order to make a fool out of Rivier-"

"Who are you, girl?" The man asked, suddenly scowling. "How do you know all of this?"

"My name is Thea," she said, confidently. Somehow, the mention of Rue seemed to push any fears she had away. "And Rue is my friend."

The man scoffed.

"I was tasked by the State with getting Rue to trust me so that he would give me information that I could then take to my superior, General Niall Killian," she said, "but... I've started to care for Rue and I want to help him. I want to free him, and the only way to free him involves me talking to Tai."

"What-"

"That's all I will say to you... I want to speak with Tai."

The man watched her carefully for what felt like a few minutes. Finally, he turned to Aaryan. "Do you realize how much you are risking by coming here, with your lover, with a story like that?" He asked. "One wrong move, one single inkling that you are lying... and you two are done for. You will never leave Kal alive."

"What can I say," Aaryan started. "My woman is insistent and irrational. Besides, she's a stubborn one. She would have come with or without me."

Though Thea knew he was still playing the part, she couldn't help but feel that he meant that part honestly. It made her stifle an eye roll.

The man surveyed them for a moment longer, before letting out a breath. "Elav," he called, making the older man stand at attention. Thea hesitated, recognizing that "elav" meant 'youth' in old Elorian. It was not exactly the alias Thea expected for the oldest looking Crow she had ever seen. "Get me the radio."

"You believe her?" The large man holding Aaryan asked as Elav rushed off into a small room nearby.

"Doesn't matter if I believe her," the man with their IDs responded, looking at Thea. "That's Tai's call."

Thea felt her heart jump up into her throat. Yes. She thought. They were going to take her to him.

When the older man called Elav returned with the radio, the man with their IDs grabbed the handset without taking his eyes off of Thea. After a moment of just staring, he spoke up. "Hey, it's Kova–" Thea narrowed her eyes, trying to think hard of what Kova meant in Old Elorian. Sadness? Anger? It took her a moment, but she finally landed on it. Rage. His alias meant Rage. Odd. "–I need to talk to the boss." There was a pause before he finally broke eye contact with Thea. "Of course it's important, jackass. I have someone here at the station who works for the State."

Thea watched as Kova rolled his eyes and let out a breath before suddenly standing up straight. "Tai," he said. "Sorry for the sudden call."

Her heart began to beat quickly.

"Yes, from the State. A girl and her husband, a Crow," he said, before pausing to listen. "I didn't want to presume anything... I thought it'd be best for you to make that call, but I will add that she's mentioned Rue... apparently Rue gave her your name."

Another pause.

"She's suggesting she's friendly with him," he continued. "But won't say anything else to anyone except you."

Pause.

"Just her-"

"I won't go anywhere without my husband," Thea snapped, figuring this might happen.

Kova raised a brow. "I'm assuming you heard that?"

Another pause.

"Understood," he said, and after another moment, he returned the handset to its place at the side of the radio. Kova then turned to the large man. "Sinna," he called, making Thea raise a brow because she knew that 'sinna' meant 'tiny' in Old Elorian, "search him. Get rid of all his weapons. Strip him all the way down."

Aaryan rolled his eyes but didn't fight as Sinna began pulling his clothes off of him and confiscating the guns Aaryan had... there would be three, if Thea remembered right.

Thea let out a breath, turning away.

"Have a problem looking at your husband naked?" Kova asked, a smirk on his face as he approached her.

Thea frowned, ignoring the question. "I'm assuming you're going to have to search me too?"

He gave her a sympathetic smile. "Sorry Ms, but we've gotta do what we've gotta do-"

"Absolutely not," Aaryan growled, making Thea jump. "Don't you dare touch her."

"You should have thought of that before you brought her here, loverboy," Kova said. "We'll take her to a room to protect her modesty-"

"I said, no," Aaryan snapped. "She doesn't have any weapons on her-"

"And we won't be taking any risks," Kova responded. "Trust me, strip searching the wife of a brother does not bring me any pleasure-"

"She's a woman," he began to fight away from Sinna's grip, "you dogs don't need-"

"Welcome to Kal, Prince Charming. The one place in the world where men and women are actually treated the same."

"You son of a-"

"Aaryan, it's okay," Thea said.

He looked at her with wide eyes. "Thi-"

"It's fine," she repeated, smiling warmly at the now shirtless Aaryan, undoubtedly surprised by how serious he was to protect her modesty. "Like he said, we've got to do what we've got to do. If I need to do this to help Rue then fine."

Aaryan was grinding his teeth together and Thea couldn't help but think that if they didn't believe he was her husband before, they certainly must have believed it now.

"Really, it's okay," Thea insisted.

He let out a breath. "You can't touch her," Aaryan finally said. "If you do-"

"I don't need to touch her," Kova said, rolling his eyes before picking up Thea's bag and walking towards the room that Elav got the radio from. "This way, Ms. Let's get this over with."

"Thea if he touches you, you shout, do you understand?" Aaryan said.

Thea nodded. "Yeah... but really, don't worry. I'll be fine."

He didn't believe her.

Nevertheless, Thea took a nervous breath, before following Kova to the room. When she made it, she saw that it was a simple office, however it held all sorts of guns and a few things that maybe even looked like bombs. "Just strip to your underwear," Kova said as he began to light a cigarette. "As annoying as your husband may be, out of respect to him, I'll keep my eyes off the Crown Jewels."

Thea scoffed, but when Kova said nothing else, she began to take off her clothes.

One by one she pulled off her attire, handing them over to Kova to inspect completely. He did a thorough job, checking every pocket and seam for god knows what exactly.

When Thea was in her underwear, he did one walk around her as she hugged herself, cigarette sitting lazily between his lips, making her feel incredibly uncomfortable. Oddly enough, her hair being so short made her feel even more naked than she really was, and that didn't help the situation. It was also freezing cold, so Thea's slight shaking was inevitable.

Finally, Kova stopped in front of her. "Hands up," he said, making Thea let out a breath, though doing what he said. Once her hands were up, he gave her another quick check before stepping away. "You can put your clothes back on. I'll go ahead and check your bag."

Thea felt instant relief, though she was a little surprised by how uncomplicated this ended up being. "You shouldn't be surprised that he's worried about me," Thea said as she slipped back into her trousers. "He has reason to be concerned."

"What reason are you implying?" He asked, keeping his eyes down as he rummaged through her things.

"The fact that you're a man and I'm a woman. Being naked in front of a man puts me at risk. It puts any woman at risk."

He shut her bag and handed it to her, smoke releasing from his mouth as he did. "I'm a Crow from Kal," he said. "We are different from the Crows you're used to. We are the remnants of the Original Crows and have morals. We treat women with respect, the same way our ancestors did."

Thea raised a brow.

"As a soldier, my job is to treat your naked body the same way I would treat my naked body... I've made a vow to do that, and if I do something unforgivable despite that, then I am put to death," he continued as he made his way to the door and held it open for her. "So, Theavi, your naked body in front of me puts you in as much of a risk as my naked body would put me in, when in front of you."

Thea watched him as she pulled her coat back on. Though he seemed sincere, she couldn't help but not believe him. Sure, she believed that Rue came from a division that was better than the rest, but there was no way they would be that honorable.

When they left the room, Aaryan was putting his pants back on, not shivering much at all despite the fact that he was half naked. When his eyes fell back on Thea, she smiled at him and gave him a reassuring nod, which seemed to work in calming him down because she saw his shoulders lower.

Sinna, who was still watching Aaryan with an unbreakable, angry glare, now held three guns in his hand, all of which he let Kova take from him. "Good guns," he said, examining them thoroughly. "Who do you follow?"

Aaryan hesitated, making Kova look at him. Of course, the hesitation was intentional and planned... another means of making these men think of them as dumb and naive.

Kova waited for another moment before raising a brow when he figured it out himself. "Orynan?" The name was spoken with a large amount of clear disgust.

A frown formed on Aaryan's face. "I left the group," Aaryan said. "That's why I'm in the Capital with Thea now."

Kova muttered something that sounded like 'brainless dumbass," before saying more clearly, "good. That man is a worthless menace to the cause. Most men here would consider it an honor to be the one who sends a bullet through his brain."

Thea frowned, thinking of her brother. "Can we get our identification cards back?" Thea asked, wanting to change the subject.

Kova chuckled as he began walking, and when Sinna pushed Aaryan into following, Thea followed as well. "You won't be needing that here."

"But we'll need it when we leave."

"We'll give them to you then, if we decide that you're allowed to leave."

"What?" Thea asked.

"One wrong move and you're never leaving here alive."

"But-"

"Surprise, surprise," Kova said as they reached a large military vehicle with darkened windows. "I hope you didn't think that walking right into a Crows Nest would be a safe and easy thing to do."

Thea's frown deepened as Kova opened the door of the hefty truck.

"You're on our pecking grounds now," he said. "You follow our rules, or you die. Do you understand?"

The excitement that Thea initially felt about meeting Tai waned a little when she was suddenly reminded of the dangers of a Crows Nest.

And right now, they were probably in one of the most dangerous ones of them all.

Once they were in the vehicle, driving towards wherever Tai was, Thea found her nerves acting up as she wondered what exactly she had gotten herself into. She calmed a little when Aaryan reached out and took her hand in his, but the only real solace she felt was when she reminded herself that Rue would not allow her to walk into the heart of danger... right?

Then, there was the fact that Niall and the rest of the team were on standby, waiting in case there was a need to come and save them. Of course, Thea hoped it would never come to that... though the team had expected a level of organization from this division... it was clear that they underestimated them.

And Thea was made even more certain of this around an hour into the drive after driving through nothing but slums and decrepit homes. Soon, they finally left the horribly impoverished town and were driving through the dense forests of the Elorian North until after another half an hour they cleared it, revealing the gates to another town.

"Welcome to Illia," Kova said from his spot at the front of the vehicle next to Sinna, who was driving.

Thea hesitated. "But... this..."

Kova turned, looking at her with a small smile. "Surprised?"

Thea held her breath and even Aaryan looked shocked, his lips parted in a gawk.

Within moments, the massive military vehicle was driving into a gorgeous town blanketed with a thick layer of snow.

It was... not what Thea had expected... looking almost picturesque.

Despite the weather, a light amount of snow still sprinkling down, there were plenty of people out... men, women, children... all sorts of folk going about their day, paying no attention to them as they passed what seemed like an entirely normal, peaceful neighbourhood. They drove past gorgeous homes and fully stocked stores and a library and a post office and a small hospital and few restaurants and even a gorgeous city hall that was as white as the snow, designed completely in the style of Old Elorian Architecture.

"Not the poor dump you expected it to be, is it?" Kova continued, looking straight ahead. "That's what happens when you have a leader like Tai.... someone who actually wants the best for the Elorian people, unlike Orynan, who drains and ravages and destroys anywhere he goddamn lands in."

Thea was dumbfounded. "You say that, but how is it possible to have such a poverty stricken area neighboring a beautiful town like this?"

"Because every single person you saw at the station, man, woman, homeless or not, is actually a Crow. The station is a front. It's meant to mislead the people we want to mislead."

Thea let out a breath. "You're faking the poverty?"

Thea could see him smirking. "It's worked this long, hasn't it? Kept the nosey State as far away from us as possible. Though Illia's prosperity isn't entirely a secret, since the State assumes that we're doing alright for ourselves, it would do the State better to let everyone believe that the entirety of Kal is a decrepit, impoverished Crows Nest. Saves them money and resources because everyone would agree to keep a region with a Crow infestation suffering... and that in turn gives us our privacy."

Thea turned to look at Aaryan, who looked equally as surprised as she was.

They had severely underestimated this group... even Milo had no idea that Illia was like this... this division was organized and intelligent and sophisticated enough to even manage to fool the State itself.

Thea pressed her lips into a thin line for a moment before speaking again. "And you're just openly telling us all of this?"

"Like I said... if Tai deems you to be untrustworthy then you're not ever leaving here alive, so I have nothing to worry about."

Thea swallowed back her nerves. She had a feeling that things were not going to be as straightforward as she had initially anticipated.