Flashback ( PDFDrive )

There was no way to know if the signal was strong enough to
transmit through the force field, but she had to believe that it would—
and she had to try to stall until Dex and Lovise got there.
“Or, wait, am I supposed to guess?” she asked. “Let’s see. . . .”
She closed her eyes, pressing two fingers against one of her temples
and pretending to read his mind. “You’re here because you’ve finally
realized that your cause is totally creepy, and that you’re never going
to win, so you’re hoping to cut a deal for your cooperation. Not a bad
move, honestly. But you’re forgetting that the Council holds a
grudge.”
“Do they?” Gethen asked. “Seems to me like they’ve gotten rather
lenient lately.”
His smile made it clear that he was well aware of Alvar’s sentence—
and she refused to rise to his bait.
She polished the blades of her throwing star with the edge of her
tunic. “Don’t worry, when your time comes I have a long list of
suggestions for how they can punish you. My favorites involve flesheating
bacteria.”
“Ugh, now I get why Keefe was always going on about this one,”
the figure on Gethen’s right grumbled. “They both think they’re so
clever.”
Her voice was soft and raspy, like curls of smoke. And the shadow
at her feet seemed darker than the others.
“You’re Umber, right?” Sophie asked.
“To some people.” She crossed her arms, pulling back her sleeves
and drawing attention to her black-painted fingernails. “I only give
that name to those I don’t trust.”