“He took it.” Not a question. A statement. “The sculpture is gone.”
No one answered.
Tarsus turned back to Carys. His hand moved to his belt. Drew a second blaster.
He pointed it at her chest.
“Last chance,” he said quietly. “Where. Is. He.”
CARYS
The blaster’s muzzle pressed cold against my chest. Tarsus held it steady. His expression empty. The kind of calm that came before someone pulled the trigger.
“Where. Is. He.”
I kept my breathing even. Shallow. The collar’s weight felt heavier than usual. Or maybe that was the second blaster still aimed at my throat by the guard behind me.
“I don’t know what you mean, sir.”
His finger moved to the trigger. “Wrong answer.”
Flinx growled low. His synthetic body coiled next to my feet. His eyes burned warning red, but he didn’t move. Couldn’t move. Two armed guards. Two blasters. Any attack would end with me dead before he crossed half the distance.
I sent through the link.
Tarsus studied me. His eyes had shifted to deep orange. The color he wore when he was done playing games and ready to hurt someone.
“Let me clarify the situation,” he said quietly. “I know about your escape plan. I’ve known for months.”
My blood chilled.
“Your supplier, Renna?” he scoffed. “I’ve had her under surveillance for a year. I let her get you those parts. I wanted to see what my little curator was building. Every component you purchased. Every illegal part you acquired. I knew all of it.”
The floor felt unsteady. Renna. Not a traitor. Just... watched. As I had been.
“I know you’ve been stealing from my meal allowances,” he continued. “Skimming credits. Building a fund. I let you. To gauge your resourcefulness. How far you’d go.”
He was lying. I could see it in the way his jaw tightened, the slight shift of his weight. He'd suspected something, maybe, but not this. Not everything. He was scrambling to seem in control.
“This was never about the gala,” I said, my voice barely a whisper. “This was a test.”
“Very good.” He smiled. No warmth. Just satisfaction. “I suspected something when a Vinduthi arrived on Valyria. The timing was too convenient. A wealthy collector with no real background appearing just as tensions with the Conclave intensified? Please. So I did what any prudent person does. I investigated.”
He gestured to the empty velvet cloth on his desk. The missing sculpture’s absence felt like a void in the room.
“Did you think I wouldn’t notice him sniffing around? I knew what he was the moment he docked. I simply allowed him to attend the gala to see what you would do. I wanted to see if my prize curator was still loyal.”
Tarsus moved around me in a slow circle. Examining me from every angle. The blaster never wavered.
“You failed the first test when you met him in the tunnels. Made your deal. Agreed to betray me.” He stopped in front ofme. “You failed the second test when you created that... ‘system failure.’ Brilliant work, by the way. Using my own gala as cover for your sabotage. Very clever.”
“Sir—”
“And you failed the final test,” he continued, ignoring me, “when you stood there in the ballroom, pretending to be frightened while you bought him time to get here. Protecting your partner.” His expression shifted. Something darker. “You chose him over me. That’s what I needed to know.”
