Silence. While the Speaker’s eyes stay on us, still disbelieving, Aramin narrows his eyes. Behind his dark curiosity, I see an expression I would’ve never expected him to direct my way. Respect. I’m so taken aback that I look away, unable to bear it.
When the Speaker finally replies, his voice is thick with distrust. “How do we know this power between them won’t be used against us?” he says. “A Karensan soldier and a Striker who comes from a nation now controlled by the Federation.”
“You’re saying they might still be working for the Federation, sir?” Jeran says.
“How do we know this soldier doesnothave a connection to the Federation?” the Speaker goes on. “That he will use this link he now has with one of our Strikers to feed the Federation information about us? How do we even know that this Basean is loyal to us, rather than some spy?”
He isn’t wrong. We don’t know, truthfully, if Red still has some kind of tie with the Federation’s Premier. All we are really banking on is the fact that I have a history serving as a Striker, and that I have sensed nothing traitorous in Red’s mind.
The Firstblade comes to my defense. “Talin has trained as a Striker since she was twelve,” he says. “Since then, she has been loyal, has never done anything to arouse suspicion. If she says that this bond is what it is, that this Skyhunter is on our side, I’m inclined to believe her.”
After the tense way Aramin and I had confronted each other in the arena over Red’s life, it’s strange to now hear him stand firmly by both of us. Nearby, Jeran smiles quietly to himself.
“Besides,” Adena adds, “it’s a dangerous game for the Federationto play, handing us one of their newer experiments like this. Would they let one of their own purposely lay waste to two entire battalions of their soldiers, with the risk of letting an open link like this fall into our hands?”
The Speaker has nothing to add to that, but the frown stays on his face.
“This is the first time we have an actual example of such a link,” Adena goes on, trying to take advantage of the silence. “It’s worth studying this in our labs.”
“You’re seeking to discover how the Federation creates such a bond,” the Firstblade says, “and then learn how to destroy that same bond. Is that right?”
“Yes, sir.” Adena is so eager now that she’s leaning forward, hands gesturing along with her words. “It’s the Federation’s greatest strength, that ability to command their monsters. If we can sever it, we might have a chance to win this war and push them back. Maybe even to push them out of other nations already conquered.”
The Speaker sniffs dismissively. “This can’t be done,” he says.
Instead of seeing this as a possibility, he sounds hesitant, fearful. Even annoyed. I frown at the tone of his voice. What do we have to lose?
Adena catches it too. “I think it’s worth a try, sir,” she answers defensively.
“You won’t have long to work,” the Speaker warns.
“We won’t have long to fight, either,”I answer with my hands. Jeran translates my words, and all eyes turn to me.“The Federation has pushed back our warfront. We have reached the end of our choices,” I finally sign. “If we don’t act now, we will fail.”
So it has finally come to this. The Speaker looks around the room, surveying the expressions of the other Senators and the Firstblade.They are murmuring to each other, but I can see the glint of hope in their eyes. The Speaker observes this for a moment, hesitating, then turns back to me.
“Very well,” he grumbles reluctantly. He nods at Adena. “You have my permission to study this Skyhunter, but know that you’ll be watched very closely. Report everything back to me, and leave nothing out. Do you understand?”
We all lower our heads to him. The marble floor beneath me glints cold in the evening light. Beside me, Red does the same. Jeran is right. The Speaker sees Red mostly as a weapon—I catch the glint in his eyes over the possibility that we might win this war. But even now, his distrust of me is woven into the air, that somehow this is all my elaborate ruse to take Mara down from the inside. I could hear it in his voice, the belief that we are not going to figure out what the Federation did to Red, and even if we could, we won’t do it in time, not before the Federation sends their soldiers and Ghosts crashing through our walls.
But it doesn’t matter what he believes. We have run out of options. And for the first time, that means that the Speaker of Mara will have to put his trust in a Basean rat.
13
Only three Striker patrols and the Firstblade are allowed to stay in apartments on the National Plaza’s grounds. Our training in silence and speed means we make good bodyguards, and so these Strikers act as the Senate’s, tasked to protect them in a rotating shift whenever they aren’t training at the arena.
I’ve only ever seen the apartments as a set of distant towers along one side of the Plaza, fortified on all sides by steel beams pulled from the Early Ones’ ruins. It never occurred to me that I’d now be setting foot inside one—let alone living in here, and at the personal order of the Speaker, no less.
Adena and Jeran take the first apartment in our new corridor, while Red and I head for the one at the end of the hall. We step into a spectacular room, opulent far beyond anything I could have imagined. The walls are creamy white and lined with ornate marble pillars that stretch up to high ceilings. Morning light slants bright across a black-and-white-marbled floor. Each of the windows stretches from top to bottom and is bordered by white curtains. Furniture carved with curling details decorates our shared central room, while our two bedchambers branch off in opposite halls.
I let out a breath at the sight. This place is bigger than my mother’s entire street in the Outer City.
Red stops in front of the glass cabinets located on both ends of the main room. They’re weapons cabinets specifically designed for our Striker equipment, with secure slots for each of our blades and daggers and guns.
Fancy, I tell him through our link.
Unnecessary, he responds.
For what you’re about to do?I raise an eyebrow at him.This is the least they could offer.
