“Yes. Yes. Very well,” the Judge snapped. “You cannot have everything. But you will have what you need. Just—leave me. I beg.”
Venetia was next to kneel. Emma could not hear her whispered request, but she saw the Judge draw back. A line appeared between his brows, like a crease in paper. But Venetia leaned forward, hissing urgently, and the Judge eventually sighed. He nodded.
Venetia rose with a smile, her eyes two pools of venom. The fox stirred uneasily within Emma: a shivering, fur-prickled feeling of trouble to come. But she pushed away the foreboding, distracted. The Judge’s eyes had come to rest on her.
“Emma Curran, we meet again. I seem unable to avoid it. But you, it seems, no longer bear the Turnbull mark.”
“I have repaid the Turnbull contract.” Emma lifted her chin. “The essence of one mortal life has been drained. My debt there is settled.”
“It was cleverly done. And I am empowered to grant you a further reward, as I have these others, for your defense of the Library. But yours shall be greater than theirs. For you have served the Night City with more than your courage in battle: Your cunning brought low one of the Turnbulls. And this, despite the power of the mark they bear to protect them. Never before, in all the centuries of this cursed contract, has the Night City found a way to touch them. But you have shown the path. And for that, I am ordered to give a great reward indeed.”
“I could go back to the mortal world?”
“More than that. To match your deed, the Night City has ordained that you may live equal to any Turnbull for all your days: with riches, fame, and power beyond other mortals. Perhaps you should like to reign as a queen, or hear your name spoken across all lands?”
And Emma saw herself as he had said. Heads bowing as she walked into a room, wealth and power in her train. Prizes, admiration, love: all falling into her lap. For a moment, it was all she wanted.
But a memory insisted on interrupting. A silver fox bracelet, sinking into the river’s depths. A token of loyalty between sisters, lost because she had been fixed only on her own escape. Back then, she had been ready to abandon them to their fates. Now she had a chance to choose differently.
Emma squared up to the Judge. “No. I don’t want any of that. If I want power, I’ll get it myself. I know I can do it. But this reward—it’s big enough for more than just me. So I want to share it.”
“Share?” The Judge sounded incredulous.
“I would not have survived the Night City without the fox maidens. Or the Librarian and his Sister. Or Robin…”
Robin shook his head. “Not me, lady fox. I have already been well rewarded for our work together.”
“Then just those others,” Emma told the Judge. “Divide the reward between us.”
Robin cleared his throat. “I believe they are close by, tending to the Librarian.”
“Very well,” the Judge said irritably. “Send them in.”
The Sister, the Librarian, and the fox maidens entered the Greater Reading Room. When they saw Emma, the instant relief on their faces melted her heart. The Judge called them forward.
“This fox maiden has elected to share with you a reward, given for her part in this night’s doings. Do you accept?”
Their expressions went from relief to shock. The Judge had to repeat himself twice more before it seemed to sink in. The Librarian beamed Emma’s way. The Sister had gone pale.
The fox maidens rushed for her. Saskia and Nancy; Frances and Selina and Gertie; the twins. Their scent washed over her: den smell, sister smell. It was warmth and it was safety.
“You took on the Court for me,” Emma whispered, hugging them all back fiercely. “I can’t believe it.”
“After going to the trouble of making you a half-decent fox maiden, you think I’m going to let you stroll around a Library full of Boars and get yourself killed? What a bloody waste of my time that would have been,” Saskia said.
Emma felt her heart swell.
“You’re one of us, love,” said Nancy.
“I am one of you,” said Emma. “And when we get out, we get out together.”
She raised her voice to the Judge. “They accept.”
“Then let them come forward.”
The Sister and the Librarian stepped closer, hand in hand. There was so much hope in the Sister’s face, it hurt to see.
“I have my own suggestion for your reward,” the Judge said. “The Night City has not seen another artist to compare to your brother. I know it was demanded, as price for your return to ourworld, the sight of your eye and the grace of your brother’s hands. Perhaps that last bargain might now be… softened. If you will permit me?”
