I chucked the knife on the table.
“Where’s Prescott?” Rush demanded.
“He knocked out the engineer of this train, so I told him he had to man the switches or we’d end up in a ditch. It doesn’t really matter where he takes us, as long as he doesn’t let us crash. Have a seat.”
Clarence, Rush, and I lowered into gently shaking chairs around the narrow car. Rush took the seat closest to Fairfax. He might not have a weapon, but his fists were a decent enough alternative.
Fairfax lifted his pistol, and Vanya fell forward onto her hands and knees. She scrambled away, joining me on my chair.
“Now, let’s see. I’m sure you have questions,” drawled Fairfax, setting his gun down, barrel toward us, on top of his crossed legs.
“My father,” Rush began. “You’re not working for him?”
“Ender, no,” spat Fairfax. “Ari knows my thoughts on him.”
Rush peered back at me with questioning eyes, but I said nothing. He spun back to Fairfax. “Then you’re working against him. Taking Myth for yourself?”
“In a way, yes. I still need this dragon to do something for me. Uphold a bargain I made with a certain young lady.” He lifted his brows at me.
“You knew we would come,” I said.
“When you asked me to help find your dragon, I knew you would be looking for him too. So I made sure to watch these two.” He pointed at Rush and Vanya. “And then your friend Mr. Gregory. Once my men recognized him at two different train stations, asking the same questions we were asking, I knew he was helping you. The fortune teller was harder to track down, but I did find her. Sweet woman. Or she was.”
“You killedBev?” I shouted, jumping up.
“Ididn’t. The man I sent after I spoke with her did. She knew too much, Arivelle.” He angled his head in a reproving way. “Don’t look so surprised. When you involved her, you put her at risk. She knew you had a dragon with flame, a dragon the duke wanted for himself. She’d pieced it all together, just from the few words she’d managed to pull from the guards and from you. That woman didn’t miss details.” He yawned, as if discussing murder was boring. “Speaking of details, I am still waiting for you to explain to me how the duke wins races, per our little bargain.”
Rush turned slowly toward me, his blue eyes bright as flames.
Swallowing, I flicked my eyes to him and back to Fairfax. “Who says I know how he does it?”
“I know you have my answer now, so don’t deny it. It was your letters to your sister that tipped me off, at first, that you’d discovered something big. Then I learned of your clandestine meetings with Covington at the lair, and after the fire at the duke’s townhouse, it didn’t take me long to figure out what you two were up to. It was the duke’s keen interest in Myth that cemented my own curiosity about him, in the end. I’ve known all along that Myth has his flame, so once I realized the duke had lied about executing your dragon so he could keep him for himself, I knew it had to be related to his flame. I admit I’m not certain how it relates to the duke’s racing empire, but I believe you are about to tell me, aren’t you, Arivelle? You promised.” At my violent head shake, he sighed, looking at Rush and Clarence. “You were busy at Cardan Lott. Busy making friends with the very people you hate.”
I tensed, eyes on Rush. “I don’t hate them.”
“But you hate the world they created. It’s fine to admit it. Fine to admit your goal was to destroy that world.”
Vanya spoke up. “It’s a world that needs changing, and I don’t blame her one bit.”
Rush lunged for Fairfax, but stopped short when the pistol turned in the man’s lap, barrel trained on Rush’s heart.
“Here is what is going to take place,” Fairfax said, sitting up straighter, gun still pointing out at us. “I recruited you not only to search out how the duke wins so many Ender-forsaken races, but to beat him.” Rush turned a surprised expression on me, one I tried not to read. If there was anger there, I couldn’t blame him, but I didn’t think I could handle it right now. So I kept my eyes pinned to Fairfax. “I still need you to do that, Arivelle. As I’m no longer in the mood to wait until the end-of-year race to watch the duke lose, I have scheduled a night race for you two.” He used his pistol to point between Rush and me. “Three days from now. Ari, you promised to tell me how the duke wins if I foundMyth. I’ve found him. Tell me you can beat the duke’s son here, and I’ll let you all live.”
I pinched my brows. I was finished letting others control my world, my dragon. “What if I don’t want to return to Cardan Lott?”
“Then I will kill Myth.”
The breath in my lungs flushed out. “No.”
Fairfax aimed the pistol at a window and fired. I screamed, and glass shattered.
“Now, Arivelle, tell me. Does dragonfire allow the duke to win races?”
Shaking, I looked at Rush. He stood slowly and walked a few steps toward Fairfax, angling so that he blocked Fairfax’s view of me. “My father uses magic to win races. But we don’t know how. Ari doesn’t know how to beat him.”
He wasdefendingme, even after what he’d just heard.
“Magic? Interesting,” Fairfax hummed. “But I don’t like that answer, Mr. Covington, because it won’t allow my racer to win. Get out of my way.” He waved the pistol.
