Page 4 of Eight of Swords, Part Two

‘I don’t estimate him at all. Julian is my concern.’

‘Harker endured all we have thrown at him these past years. The power he has built...’

‘Will crumble without Julian,’ she cuts in, vaguely impatient. Blaire looks over at him and frowns. ‘Are you wearing my perfume again?’

‘No,’ he lies with a cheeky grin.

Blaire rolls her eyes. ‘Just take the bottle if you like it so much.’

‘I only like that it smells of you.’

Her irritation is softened by the love she holds for him.

They’ve lived together for seven years.

She took care of Vasily when it all fell apart at the Estate after the attack. She kept him away from the people Penhalyx sent to retrieve him. Blaire loves him dearly, although his optimism is frustrating at times.

‘Very well.’

‘We should have been honest.’

‘About what?’

‘Everything.’

‘For reasons I truly hope I am wrong about,’ she tells him, the same way she has a hundred times or more, always using the same phrasing, ‘we cannot take the risk. Are you meeting him soon, then?’

‘Yes.’ Vasily watches her like he’s waiting for her to refuse or argue. Blaire would do neither. They both have moves to make now that things are in motion. ‘Tomorrow night.’

Deceptively casual, she nods. ‘Are you going to tell him?’

Vasily doesn’t directly answer. ‘We must all be brave.’

Blaire thinks about how the six Resets who followed her knew precisely where she was. She thinks about things she would rather not, then boxes the bad thoughts to bury.

‘You are brave, my love. Never doubt it. Where will you meet?’

‘The Estate.’

Her mind runs through to the inevitable conclusion of his choice.

‘You want Lachlan to thin out the ranks.’

‘He is immortal.’

‘Given their uptick in activity over the last few months, I would not advise meeting there.’

‘Only lower-rank Resets patrol there.’

‘That we know of.’

‘I cannot stop trying,’ he says quietly, looking out the window.

‘Many birds and a single stone. Well, if you can use the meeting to your advantage, then by all means do so.’

Vasily looks at her, surprised. ‘Really?’

Casually, she asks, ‘Do you think Harker will go along?’