“You’re killing them. Your old companions.”
“It is my area of expertise,” Janus said. “If I am not useful, I will be torn to pieces, as you well know.”
“You’ll be torn apart in the end anyway,” Jane said tauntingly. “We all will. Our only peace will be inside the Beast.”
“Perhaps. I choose to delay my fate a little longer, if I can.”
“Why?”
“Why does anyone live another day when they’ll have to die eventually?” If he’d had a body, Janus would have shrugged. “What are you doing, Jane Verity? I thought you had achieved your peace already.”
“Winter will be here soon. The Beast will take her.”
It will try. “I understand that’s what’s consuming its attention.” He paused. “Is that it? You don’t want to watch?”
“It will be... hard for her. At first.”
Janus laughed. “As I thought. You truly are a coward, aren’t you?”
“What?”
“You told me this was for her sake. That you and Winter could be together here, and happy. But you know, if you’re honest with yourself, that it isn’t true. Winter would never submit to the Beast, as you and I have. She will fight until there is nothing left of her but scraps.”
“I will find the scraps,” Jane said. “I will find her. I have until the end of time.”
“Of course. Better that than risk her rejecting you again.”
“She only rejected me because of you,” Jane said. “Because you twisted her mind.”
“Deceive yourself if you like,” Janus said. “I know Winter better than that. Better, it seems, than you do, if you think she’ll ever be happy here, as part of a monster.”
“I will have her,” Jane said. “Forever. And that’s the end of it.”
“Whether she wants you or not?”
“She wants me!” The last word rose to a screech, and Jane vanished, her whirlwind self zipping across the non-?space. Janus watched her for a moment, then returned to his task.
In the real world, Janus bet Vhalnich picked up a pen and, without looking, quickly scrawled a few words on a sheet of paper, as though he were afraid someone was watching.
17
Raesinia
Raesinia had been present for quite a few of Cora’s excited rambles, but this one was definitely worse than usual. This one had diagrams. They had started on one sheet of foolscap and spread off it in all directions, necessitating a raid on the writing desk in the other room for more paper and ink. Raesinia wasn’t actually sure what the network of boxes and lines depicted—?it could have been corporate structure, the interdependence of contracts, or the web of a drunken spider. She did her best to nod at appropriate junctures and chime in with enough questions to get the gist.
“—?and once you’ve come to terms, you dictate them to one of the market scribes, and that’s the end of it. Millions of eagles can move around that way in a few minutes. The Exchange in Vordan looks like a medieval fair by comparison.” She shook her head. “Everything’s public, too, by law. You can look at the record books, which can be very valuable if you know how to read them. For example, I’m certain Goodman and his cronies are leaking to the market; you can see the prices move every time we have a meeting. Which is probably illegal, but I’m sure we’d never pin it on him—”
“Is it working?” Raesinia interrupted. She’d gotten used to doing that, with Cora. The girl didn’t mind, and it was the only way to get a word in edgewise.
“Is what working?”
“Your plan, to make more money.” Raesinia had understood it only vaguely, something about speculating in derivatives related to Vordanai debt.
“Oh. Yes, so far. I’m still a long way from where I need to be to play on Goodman’s scale, though. Even down in the trading pits, you can practically feel everyone pause when he walks by.” Cora cocked her head. “Have you figured out what we’re going to do yet? If we had a more specific objective I might be able to tilt things in that direction.”
Raesinia shook her head. She didn’t have a plan, precisely. More a sense that money was the water through which Goodman and people like him swam, the substance of their power; being able to manipulate it had to give her some kind of advantage. Cora can think rings around Goodman. We just need to use it somehow.
“Well, I’ll keep things as they are, then,” Cora said. “I’ve mostly been taking the buying end of the derivatives, because as a new concern traders are reluctant to take on the counterparty risk, even at a good rate. That limits us a little bit, but if our capital keeps expanding we ought to—”
The door opened. Raesinia stood up, a little relieved, until she saw the expression on Eric’s face. He looked like someone who’d been told he had only weeks to live.
“What’s wrong?” Raesinia said. Even Cora stopped chattering.
“You’d better read this,” Eric said.
He handed her a folded page, written in a neat hand she didn’t recognize. Raesinia scanned it, and her breath caught in her throat. She read it again, more carefully, hoping that somehow she’d gotten it wrong the first time.
After what felt like a hundred years, she looked up.
“You’ve seen this?” she said. But of course he had; it was written on his features.
He nodded. “It’s all over the Keep, Your Highness.”
“What is?” Cora said. The bubbly excitement of moments before was gone. “What happened?”
“There was a battle near Alves,” Raesinia said, keeping her voice level. “General Kurot’s army was beaten badly. Much of the army was shattered, and the general was captured. Marcus is leading what’s left of the Army of the Republic south, with Janus’ army in pursuit.”
At least he’s alive. Though the terse notice seemed to shatter all her hopes, she clung to that. Marcus is alive. Or he was, when this was written.
“I don’t understand why he would retreat south,” Eric said. “Why not east toward Vordan City? Surely—”
“Surely he had his reasons,” Raesinia said. One thing her strategy sessions with Marcus had taught her, back in Murnsk, was that there were always realities on the ground that couldn’t be appreciated by looking at a map. “I’m not going to critique Marcus’ moves from five hundred miles away. Kurot’s, either, for that matter. There’ll be time for recriminations later.” Assuming Janus doesn’t send us all to the Spike. “You said this is all over the Keep? You’re sure?”
“Yes, Your Highness,” Eric said. “I overheard some of the staff discussing it in the hall.”
Damn. It was too much to hope they’d be the first to find out, but it would have been nice not to be last. “Go and tell the king’s secretary I need to speak to him at once. Tell him it’s very urgent.”
“Of course,” Eric said. He hurried away, nearly dropping his notebook in his haste.