"Change to what?"
"To the truth,"he says."The files from Sterling’s office. The blueprints. The emails between Thorne and Vance. The proof that he ordered the hit on a sitting U.S. Senator's son to get him admitted to my facility."
My breath catches. "You're going to expose him. Live."
"I'm going to nuke him,"Alaric corrects."But you have to trigger it. The sequence is keyed to your tempo. If you stop... the upload stops. If you miss a note... the connection breaks."
Pressure. Immense, crushing pressure. Just like the recital. Just like the day I broke. But this time, I am not playing for my father. I am not playing for approval. I am playing for blood.
"I won't miss," I whisper.
"Five minutes!" the stage manager calls out, sticking his head in the door. "You're up, Miss... uh..."
"Nemesis," I say.
He blinks. "Right. Nemesis. Let's go."
I stand up. I smooth the velvet over my hips. I touch the knife on my thigh. I touch the earpiece. "Alaric?"
"I'm here."
"Watch me."
I walk to the stage. The curtain is down. The roar of the audience is a muffled ocean on the other side. I sit at the piano. The bench is warm. I place my hands on the keys. My tremor is gone. My blood is cold.
The curtain rises. The light hits me. Blinding. Absolute. The audience goes quiet. They see a woman in black velvet, raven hair, pale as death, sitting at the abyss.
I look up. Directly at the Royal Box. I see him. Senator Thorne. Silver hair. Fat face. Smug. He is drinking champagne. He looks bored.
I smile. It is the wolf smile.
I bring my hands down.G Minor.Danse Macabre.The first tritone. The Devil's Interval.Diabolus in Musica.
Dun-dun-dun.
The screens behind me flicker. The first image appears. A grainy photo of Thorne shaking hands with Vance.
A gasp ripples through the crowd. Thorne leans forward, frowning.
I play faster. The melody swirls, mocking, skeletal.Death is tuning his fiddle.The images cycle faster. Bank transfers. Medical records. The order to kill Alaric Graves.
Thorne stands up. He drops his glass. He is screaming something, but the music drowns him out. He points at the stage. He points at me. His guards are moving.
"Keep playing!"Alaric shouts in my ear."Don't stop! The upload is at 60%!"
I pound the keys. I am not playing the piano. I am beating the life out of it. I channel the dogs. The cabin fire. The river. The blood transfusion. I pour it all into the instrument. It screams. It weeps. It roars.
The guards are running down the aisle. They are coming for me. The audience is in chaos. Screaming. Pointing at the screens. The final slide is loading.THE FRAY TRUST - ILLEGAL ACQUISITION.STATUS: BLOCKED BY ELODIE FRAY (ALIVE).
I see Thorne’s face turn purple. He realizes. The ghost is real.
The guards jump onto the stage."Now, Elodie! Run!"
I hit the final chord.CRASH.The upload hits 100%. The screens go black. Then red.CHECKMATE.
I grab the clutch. I kick the bench back. The first guard reaches for me. I throw the clutch at his face.POP.The VX canister explodes.
He screams, clutching his throat, foaming at the mouth. He drops instantly. The second guard freezes, terrified of the gas.
