‘If Terebell wanted me to cross-examine every candidate, she should have said.’ I tried to sound calm, but my insides were boiling. ‘I know the syndicate. I know how it works.’
‘That is not her only qualm. If she discovers that you have not expelled the Seals—’
A flare of resentment burned up my patience. ‘I’m getting really sick of pandering to Terebell’s obsession with Jaxon. I’m sorry if publicly betraying him wasn’t enough to show that I’ve rejected him. Or if risking my neck in the colony didn’t already prove my loyalty to the cause. Maybe I was the wrong human to choose.’ I held out a glass. ‘Some wine, blood-consort?’
‘Stop, Paige.’
‘You never manage to tell Terebell to stop, do you?’ It took effort to keep my voice down. Every word quaked. ‘You fucking coward. She belittles me, treats me as her waitron, and you do nothing. Not only that, but you make me look like a fool for all the Ranthen to see. At least I know where I stand now.’
Warden lowered his head, so we were at eye level. A quiver ran across my back.
‘If I speak for you too loudly,’ he said, his voice rumbling from the depths of his chest, ‘you will pay a price far higher than wounded pride. If you suppose that I enjoy upholding the fa?ade, you are mistaken.’
His voice was no sharper than before, but there was a simmer in the softness.
‘I wouldn’t know what you enjoy.’ I stared him out. ‘I need you here. You know what we’re facing.’
‘If I press the matter, she may not allow me to see you at all.’
‘Don’t pretend you care, Arcturus. I know what you are.’
His eyes narrowed slightly. ‘What I am,’ he said, an invitation in his tone. An invitation to explain.
The accusation was on the tip of my tongue. I was ready to parrot every word of Jaxon’s warning.
Lure. Bait.
‘If all you’re going to do is tell me how much you can’t do, then go,’ I said finally. ‘Deal with your Rephaite business. Go to the Netherworld and let me run this organisation my own way.’
Warden watched me. I didn’t break his gaze, but my heartbeat was rough.
‘I cannot tell what you think you know of me,’ he said, ‘but remember this, Paige. The Sargas want you isolated. They want the Mime Order divided. They mean to sow the seeds of mistrust. Do not prove to them that human and Rephaite cannot join forces.’
‘That was an order,’ I said.
My shoulders were rigid. There was a short silence before Warden said, ‘As you command, Underqueen.’
When he stepped away, our auras untwined. I sank on to a chair and held my head between my hands.
4
Vance
29 November, 2059
Novembertide
I was losing him. Little by little, he was slipping out of reach. We were the bridge between the syndicate and the Ranthen, and unless I could somehow preserve our relationship, everything we had built together would begin to crumble. The Mime Order would not survive.
Danica came in at just past one in the morning, clad in the boiler suit she wore to work, and stamped the snow from her steel-capped boots. I was nursing my headache by the fire, raw-eyed.
‘Give me some good news,’ I said.
‘All right. I think I’ve found Senshield’s core.’
I sat up. ‘You’re serious?’
‘I don’t really like to joke. Do you want the bad news, too?’
I was still reeling from the good news. ‘Go on.’
‘It’s underground. And the facility it’s stored in is probably going to be guarded to the hilt.’
I went to wake the others; they needed to hear this. A few minutes later, the four of us were sitting in the parlour. Danica unlaced her boots and took her hair down from its bun.
‘Right. My idiot supervisor has some role in the installation of the large scanners. Today he got news that the core needs maintenance for the first time in a year. I wasn’t chosen to work on it,’ she said, answering the question that had jumped on to my tongue, ‘but I overheard him talking to the group that’s been selected. I know where it is.’
‘Go on,’ I said.
‘There’s a warehouse in II-1, which sits on top of the facility.’ I wasn’t too familiar with the section, but I could find people who were. ‘A trapdoor inside leads to the core. While they’re carrying out the maintenance, the alarms will be deactivated. But there’s a catch: the work will only take a day, and they’re doing it immediately. Today.’
‘And you still have no idea what the core is?’ Nick said.
Danica shrugged. ‘My guess is that it’s something volatile, which is why it’s kept underground. Still,’ she said, ‘now might be your chance to find out. If you can go today, while there are engineers working on it, Paige could possess one of them and see for herself.’
‘Dani,’ I said, ‘you are brilliant.’
‘Frankly, anyone could have eavesdropped on the morons in my department.’ She wiped her oily hands on her boiler suit. ‘I’m going to bed. I’ve got an early shift tomorrow.’
The stairs creaked as she trudged upstairs, leaving us to contemplate our options.
‘We have to make a quick decision here,’ I said. ‘The core might not need maintenance again for years. This could be our only chance.’
Nick rubbed his chin. ‘I don’t know. This seems too convenient.’
‘They don’t know about Dani. The double agent would have told Warden if there was even a whiff of suspicion.’
We had a lead. I needed to quash the exhilaration and think clearly, because if we did this, it would be our first direct assault on Scion’s infrastructure. It was risky, but it could be decisive for the Mime Order.
‘I want Maria and Glym to help us decide.’ I stood. ‘Jimmy O’Goblin, too – it’s his section. Make sure he’s sober.’
Eliza took her phone from her pocket. In the kitchen, I dug out a detailed map of the section.
‘Paige,’ Nick said, ‘should we get permission from the Ranthen?’
I hesitated.
‘No,’ I said. ‘If Terebell is ever going to trust me, I need to start proving I can make decisions on my own, and that they can pay off. She doesn’t ask me for permission when she decides to do something.’
‘She could cut off the money if something goes wrong.’
‘If it does, I’ll call her bluff. She needs us, too.’ I reached for my gloves. ‘Let’s go.’
We met the others in the dockworkers’ slum. Maria and Glym waited in an empty shack with an ashen Jimmy O’Goblin, mime-lord of II-1. His hair was a mess and he smelled faintly of alcohol, as always, but at least he was upright.
‘Afternoon, Underqueen,’ he rasped.
‘It’s two A.M., Jimmy.’ My breath came white and thick. ‘We think we’ve found Senshield’s core.’
‘That was quick,’ Maria said.
I imparted to them what Danica had told us. Glym listened with a frown.
‘We need to go for it,’ Maria said immediately. ‘It’s worth the risk if we can kill this thing.’
‘I agree,’ I said. ‘Jimmy, it’s in your section. Have you ever noticed any Scion activity around this warehouse?’