The Premier casts her a dismissive look. Beside him, the Chief Architect has her hands folded behind her back and head turned down, as if none of this feels out of the ordinary.
I sway on my feet. My cheek throbs from where I’d hit the floor. We’ve missed our rendezvous time with Jeran, I think, trying to concentrate on how many minutes must have passed. He’ll know that something has gone wrong, that our mission has been compromised.
The Chief Architect says something to Red, and Red glares back at her with rage that simmers hot through our link.
“No answer?” the Premier speaks, the Maran language as eerily smooth on his tongue as Basean had been. He looks at me, then nods at the guards.
I’m shoved forward hard enough that I stumble. I barely manage to catch myself. Red stares at me. I know he can tell that my balance is off, because a fresh current of worry ripples through our bond. Then the guards force me to my knees, and my hair flops over my eyes, obscuring my view. Splatters of blood dot my shirt.
Behind the glass wall, Red utters a long, low snarl. It’s the sound he makes before his mind goes blank, before he transforms.
The Chief Architect notices his reaction and says something to the Premier. He, in turn, smiles at me. “Ah,” he tells me. “He’s afraid for you. You’re communicating right now.”
They know. My eyes go back to the woman, whose gaze darts nervously away.
“Perhaps we should test your link,” he says, then turns to the woman and speaks Karenese. Beside him, one of the soldiers draws a dagger in anticipation.
A surge of fury from Red sears through me, threatening to push him over the edge. I glance sharply at him.No, I think, sending the word as strongly through our link as I can. If Red reacts to my pain, it will be the proof that the Premier wants to see.
One of the soldiers holding me down doesn’t wait. He grips my right arm tightly and positions his dagger.
Then he digs the blade in against my skin and cuts one long, jagged line.
Pain blooms in my mind. I suck my breath in sharply as blood trickles hot down my arm.
Behind the glass, Red’s eyes flare, glowing silver white. Through our link, I see a flash of his memories. Suddenly, I’m staring into the eyes of his sister and father as if I were he, looking over my shoulder at their wide-eyed stares as the Chief Architect leads him away from his home.
The Premier nods in grim satisfaction. “So silent, this one,” he murmurs to himself.
I keep my head bowed, my body trembling, my mind filled with Red’s seething thoughts. The Chief Architect says something to the Premier, and he looks at me curiously.
“My Architect tells me this bond you have with my Skyhunter shouldn’t be possible,” he says. “She tells me that severing the bond by force may damage my Skyhunter’s mind. It may make him impossible to bond again.” He frowns. “That would be a waste.”
He bends down to my eye level. I want to cut through his body with my blades. But all I can be is helpless as I watch his lips thin into a line.
“You don’t speak, do you?”
I don’t know how he makes this assumption about me, but I only scowl back at him. It makes his lips tighten in satisfaction.
“A gifted killer,” he says, rising back to his feet. “I was wondering when you and your companions would actually show up here at the complex.”
His words take a second to sink in. I look up at him, startled, trying to understand. Had he been expecting us?
As I puzzle over this, one of the soldiers asks him a question. He shrugs, shaking his head, but his eyes never leave mine. “No,” he says, “I’d like to keep her.” He tilts his head toward Adena, who is slowly stirring back to life. “And that one seems gifted enough to apprentice to our Architect here. She’ll learn quickly.”
Then several things happen at once.
A boom sounds from the front of the lab complex, accompanied by shaking earth. The lights flicker violently, setting off every single Ghost in the room. In an instant, soldiers form a protective barrier in front of their Premier.
Adena twists free from her guard’s grasp, one of her knives held at the soldier’s throat and another pointed at Constantine. She gives him a smile.
And in that glorious instant, I know she has succeeded in her mission.
28
Everything seems to happen in a blur—the Ghosts stirring to life all around us, their snarls triggering one after the other, the soldiers drawing their guns in unison.
Adena’s daggers flash in her hands. Before anyone can react to her, she whirls and slashes one of her guards hard across his chest. She looks so alive in this moment that I wish I could shout. Adena, our savior.
