Page 109 of Shadowborne: Reckoning

Diaan had been the one to suggest it. Alexi only agreed after the fact.

Nerves tangled with anger in my chest.

Was I reading too much into this? Or had the queen been at the center of this from the beginning, allowing her personal desires to mold her political advice?

“…But if two versions of the same message say different things, how does anyone who reads them later know which is right?” Bren asked Voski.

“I think that’s the point,” Voski replied with a glance at me. “Only the person who receives this in its original form is going to know—and it’s up to them to decide which version filters out to others. And if anyone ever intercepts a message, or does the work inadvertently… well, they’ll only ever copy a false version.”

“Is that our friend’s trap?” I said suddenly.

Had Ruin somehow figured out that the queen was working against the Furyknights? Was he sending messages back to her in the hope she’d inadvertently reveal what she really knew?

“Sir?” Voski asked quietly.

I tried to speak, but my voice was hoarse. I cleared my throat. “Is our friend sending true intelligence to one person, and false to another—to the mole? Seeding different information from the same message and seeing who comes back with the right answer?”

They looked at each other, but of course, we couldn’t know.

If Ruin truly was trying to uncover the mole, it would be a genius way to do it—normal Shadowfang codes and language to share intelligence used to hide an entirely different message in this perverted code.

And pretty soon he’d find out who’d made decisions based on the right information.

Maybe he even knew he would receive word back on a specific day?

Maybe Hanson’s deadline wasn’t the end of the Festival, but the day Ruin knew he would get his answers?

My stomach churned.

“Bren,” I said quietly. “Take Akhane and get to the clearing outside the city. The second Benji arrives, you’re copying everything on that page, every single jot—make sure the placement is precise. Then you send him straight back to get that message on its way. We’re taking no risk that our friend learns we’ve intercepted these. You bring it straight back to me, then you do everything as you normally would.” I met her eyes. “If you run into our powerful friend today, your primary goal is to pin him down on a detail: Did he set the deadline he’s placed on you? Or was it put in place for him? Use your wiles if you must, but you find out. If I’m not here this evening, you take one of your brothers to the ball and you continue to hunt that particular fox. Let your brothers distract the asshat. I think it’s time our friend was finally reunited with his colleagues.”

She nodded. “I’ll do it. But… where will you be?”

“Hunting the truth,” I muttered.

Voski eyed Bren. “Take Gil. Our friend is scared of him.”

Bren nodded, then started for our bedroom. “I need to take my knife,” she said quietly, trotting across the room. I turned to look at Voski and found the man intent, staring at me like he willed me to know something. I frowned.

“What—?”

“I have something I believe would be better discussed alone, sir,” Voski murmured.

The hair on the back of my neck stood up.

‘Donavyn, what’s going on? Why wouldn’t you be at the ball tonight?’

‘Because, I have a very bad feeling about what we might find out today, if we decode that message from Benji. And I need all eyes and bodies in one place while I figure out if I’m right.’

Voski hadn’t taken his eyes off me, and I almost told her to check back in with me before she left the District, to fly over and reach for my mind, but something about the man’s tension stayed my tongue.

He specifically didn’t think Bren should hear it. Why?

The moment my mate had armed herself, then hurried out of the suite, I turned on Voski. But there was no need, he’d already gotten to his feet and was walking towards me, another piece of paper in his hand.

“I thought… I wasn’t sure,” he said. “I thought you should see it and be the one to make the call.”

He extended his hand with a folded piece of paper, and I took it, as I unfolded it, Voski said quietly, “He should have burned it… unless it’s a diversion. Like you said? If you read this and you want her to know, I’ll go after her. Bring her back before she leaves, but…”