C13 Blood Doesn't Lie

The healing mark catches the moonlight wrong, too pink at the edges, too new, and once I see it I can't unsee it.

"That mark," I say slowly, my voice barely above a whisper. "You said the rebellion branded you decades ago."

My aunt's expression doesn't change, but something behind her eyes goes very still, the particular stillness of someone recalculating a plan in real time.

"Decades ago