40. Harlow

In a packed Guardian’s Crossing, Harlow meets Bea, takes a drink to settle her nerves after seeing Aidia, and signals she has a private plan. In the back room, Harlow reveals her intent: turn Henry against Rafe to earn a final favor from her parents and secure freedom to flee beyond the mountain. Bea questions the Poison Vixen work, and Harlow proposes expanding a network to keep it going after she’s gone.

Talk shifts to the North Hold attack and missing women. Bea reports only Francesca from their network is missing, but rumors—credited to Rochelli—claim the disappearances are a tithe to the Drained, allegedly sanctioned by the Carrenwells. Harlow rejects the accusation as Rafe-fueled chaos and, after explaining the Breeders and evolved Drained to Bea, agrees to extract details from a drunken rebel sympathizer at the bar.

Harlow approaches the man, Shane, and swiftly gets him to agree to talk privately. In the room upstairs, when Shane lunges, Harlow subdues him with an elbow to the temple and ties his wrists with curtain cords, planning to interrogate him after he wakes. She slips away to steal a favorite bottle from Bea’s hidden wine stash and drinks in the courtyard to pass time.

Back at the bar, Bea serves Harlow her new Dark Star Festival brew and mentions the crowd came for the tasting. A flash of suspicion makes Harlow briefly consider whether Bea could be the rebel mastermind, but she dismisses it. Then Bea casually reveals Henry arrived, asked for Harlow, and went upstairs some time ago.

Realizing Henry might encounter the bound rebel and act decisively, Harlow panics and sprints for the stairs, intent on preventing an interrogation from turning into a killing—and on salvaging her plan to leverage information against Rafe.