“She’s never seen me before.”
“No, but you can tell her about Genna. I think she’ll believe you.”
There was truth in her words, but Leopold knew there was more Byrnia wasn’t saying. Her history with Aleph was clearly a fraught one, and he wondered if he were along as an intermediary.
“So how long will it take to reach her?”
“We can’t go straight, and we’ll need to be ready to hide so…maybe two hours. That’s why I needed to wake you so early. I want to get there while it’s still dark. Then we can walk back in daylight.”
Two hours? The only time he’d walked so far in one go was a few years ago, when he’d taken part in the Council’s annual fitness challenge. He’d trained, though, building up his stamina. And he hadn’t started off after a disturbed sleep.
“You think you can make it? I
