“Seventeen.”
So, the wormhole didn’t only lead to Sector 2. I wondered how the Widow chose.
“Did you clear his name?”
Bridgebane’s nod didn’t surprise me. My knowledge was limited, but the only time I knew of that Nathaniel Bridgebane hadn’t done exactly what he’d said he would was the day he brought me to Starway 8.
After all this, he probably wished he’d just offed me when I was a kid, like my father had ordered. “Too bad I didn’t die, huh? Hourglass Mile? The Black Widow? Your bounty hunters? Sucks for you… Now you have to decide all over again.”
“Quin, I’ve—”
“You’ve what?” I interrupted. “Turned into the biggest asshole in the universe?”
“You don’t know it, but I—”
I wasn’t listening to his crap. Not now. Not ever. “Or am I useful again now that I’ve destroyed your lab?” I asked.
“You destroyed it?” I think he paled.
Lying was surprisingly easy. I twisted the knife. “I blew that garbage up.Boom!”
He cursed. “That was the only thing keeping him from coming after you again,” Bridgebane ground out in apparent disgust.
“He thinks I’m dead!”
“No!” His shout nearly blew me back. I might have moved—if not for the gun behind me. “Everything that’s happened since Sector 14 is in his records. Heknows.”
My breath choked off, strangled by the dread clamping around my throat. I’d used my real name over the com. I’d been talking to Bridgebane, thinking I was about to die, but of course other people had heard me. He wouldn’t have been alone on the bridge of that huge warship. But then with the Black Widow, the shock of not dying, the dangerous landing, the repairs, and Shade…I’d forgotten.
I squared my shoulders. I’d think about the Overseer later. Right now, I wanted answers fromUncle Nate.
“Did you know we could have saved her? Just a few drops. It’s not as though there wasn’t enough to spare.”
A shadow flickered over his expression. “Lower your gun, and I’ll lower mine.”
“Well, that’s a problem for me, since I have your goon at my back.” I kept my arm up, even though the gun was getting heavy. “Now answer me. Did you know?”
“I wasn’t there! I came back two days too late.” Bridgebane’s face twisted, suddenly reminding me of the man I used to know, the one with emotions and a heart. “Don’t you remember? I didn’t know. I wasn’t there.”
That was true. I did remember that. “And he didn’t care?”
“Your mother was too hard to control.” His eyes turned haunted. “Just like you are.”
“You threw me to the wolves!” To my dismay, my voice nearly cracked.
“I gave you a life!” he countered.
“And your recentdead-or-alivebounty really helps with that,” I snapped.
“I made it clear thatalivewas more profitable.”
I scoffed. “Well, thanks, Uncle Nate. What a prince.”
Suddenly, itdidseem as though we were at an impasse. Neither of us spoke. I stared, rage and hurt boiling inside me, anxiety making it all worse, and he stared back, his blue eyes like chips of ice and his mouth a hard line of tension.
After a charged moment, Shade filled our silence. “Uncle Nate? Quin… Tess…” He put it all together in an instant. “Quintessa Novalight? I don’t fucking believe this!”
I snorted. “I guess you’re not the only one with secrets, asshole.”
