Whether he’s suspicious of her plans.
Constantine leads me with a small turn into the dance circle, and I push the brief exchange out of my thoughts. I can feel his exhaustion reaching the breaking point tonight, but he forces himself into the steps along with everyone else, one of his hands gripping mine tightly and the other pressed against the small of my back. I can tell from theway he moves that he’s relying heavily on my strength to keep him upright and moving with everyone else.
And even though I now know exactly why this is happening, that this is what we want to happen, I still cringe at how weak he is. Why do I care at all? Maybe it’s the bond between us, giving me the illusion that I should care for someone who shares his emotions with me. Then I realize that I’m scared of his faltering because it means the planisworking. Which means soon, in a few days, I will need to stand in the arena and make my move against him.
Which means I’ll need to trust that Raina and Mayor Elland will protect my mother as they’ve promised.
Ifeverything continues to go according to plan.
Well, Talin, Constantine says to me as we turn. I meet his eyes to see a slight, sinister smile on his lips.You must be thrilled to have seen me like that.
I keep my gaze steady.I’m only frightened, I answer, and am relieved at how truthful it must feel through our bond.
And why is that?
My mother’s life is in your hands. What happens to her if something happens to you?
Constantine laughs a little at my words as he steps in time to the music. Somehow, even in his condition, he manages to keep up with the nobles dancing around us. I can still see other people glancing in our direction, staring at the Premier, wondering when he’ll falter next.
You’re wise to worry, Constantine answers. His weight presses against me as he fights to keep himself going.
I harden my heart and tighten my hand in his. As we go, I glimpse Raina dancing with her husband a few couples in front of us. When she catches my gaze, she holds it for a second. If she’s shaken after her encounter with Caitoman, she doesn’t show it.
Elsewhere in the circle, I see Mayor Elland in the crowd too, dancing with her partner. The crowd is heavy with tension, the cheers and laughter now seemingly more forced, the pockets of unhappy people murmuring louder.
I keep a grip on the walls around my heart and continue to spin with the Premier.
The song crests, and the dance shifts. I find myself staring at the rings glinting on the Chief Architect’s fingers a short distance away. There is a plain band, a silver swirl, a sun with radiating lines.
We turn again, and the world blurs around me. The air, crisp and cool, stings my cheeks.
The tension in the air thickens. My muscles are tensing. Something feels like it’s going to happen.
As I think it, Constantine looks at me. He notices my unease.
That’s when I hear a tinypopcome from somewhere in the audience. Something sparks in the air.
Ironically, the part of me that catches this is not the Skyhunter enhancements made to me by the Chief Architect, but all my years of training as a Striker.
Thepopis from a gun. The spark is gunpowder.
At the same time, I hear a resounding shout, the words ringing clear in the air.
“He is not ordained to rule us!”
I move without thinking. One of my steel wings curves protectively around Constantine, forming an impenetrable shell of steel. I feel the reverberation of the bullet against the blades of my wings. Every movement is so inhumanly fast that I find myself taken aback by the sheer force of my response. It is like watching someone else command my body.
In reality, the entire moment must have happened inside a fractionof a second, and I must have moved so quickly that others barely saw it. Constantine doesn’t even turn toward the sound until I’ve covered him.
Get down!I scream through our bond before my wings close around him. And as the world around us explodes in chaos.
Someone has just attempted to assassinate the Premier. The game against Constantine has begun.
23
TALIN
The moment is all a blur.
