The two women in the room were exactly the ones I’d expected to see and exactly the ones I didn’t want to spend time with. Vihaela was standing in the centre, dressed in brown and black and red. Rachel—Deleo—was to one side. She had her mask on and was leaning against the wall with her arms folded. She didn’t look happy, but then she rarely does.
“Verus,” Vihaela said. “I’m glad you finally decided to show up. I’d hate to think we were keeping you from something important.”
I didn’t rise to the bait. “I was told you’d have orders for me.”
“I think you mean ‘for us,’” Vihaela said. “Oh, and it’s so nice to see you again, Anne. I was almost starting to think you were avoiding me.” She gave Anne a smile. “Still no name? You really should do something about that.”
Anne returned Vihaela’s gaze silently. “So where are we going?” I said.
“You,” Vihaela said, “are going to wait here.”
“Wait for what?”
“Wait for my call.”
“And then you’ll want us to . . . ?”
“To do what I tell you.” Vihaela’s smile didn’t alter. “I think it was explained to you that you were to follow my instructions?”
I didn’t reply.
“Good. Oh, we’re under strict communications discipline, so no calls in or out please. I’m sure the three of you will be able to keep yourselves occupied. There’s probably a pack of cards or something in the drawers.” She turned and left. I felt her opening a gate the next room over, and then she was gone.
Anne and I exchanged looks. I didn’t want to show it in front of Rachel, but I was confused. I’d been expecting some kind of large-scale preparation. Why were we just being left to wait?
Well, there’s one person who knows the answer. “So where are we going?” I asked Rachel.
Rachel stayed with her arms folded, leaning against the wall. “Where you’re told.”
“I got that part.”
Rachel shrugged.
“I thought there was going to be a fight.”
“Because you’re so useful in those,” Rachel said sarcastically.
“If we’re fighting—”
“No, we’ll be fighting,” Rachel said. “You are going to be useless as always.”
I looked at Rachel, unease nagging at me. Something’s wrong. Rachel was talking as though there was going to be a fight and she was angry at being left out. But if there was going to be a fight, why was she being left out? Richard didn’t have so many servants that he could afford to bench someone as powerful as Rachel without good reason, which meant that whatever she was accomplishing by staying here watching us, it was more important than being out there taking part in the attack . . .
They know. All of a sudden, I was sure. Somehow Morden and Richard knew that we’d betrayed them, and we were being held away from the location of the attack until they could deal with us properly.
Rachel spoke without looking at me. “Don’t even think about it.”
Damn it. Had I shown something? Never mind. I glanced sideways at Anne and saw her looking back at me, watchful; from her stance, I knew her thoughts hadn’t reached the place that mine had, but if I did attack, I knew she’d back me up. On the other side of the room, Rachel shifted slightly, pushing off the wall. I studied the distance between us. Both of us could cross it in maybe one second. Rachel’s shield would block my attacks but not Anne’s, and if Rachel went for Anne, I could dispel it and use my gun before she could throw it up again. Except . . .
Except in that second, Rachel would have enough time for a disintegrate spell. She couldn’t hit both of us; if Anne and I timed our movements correctly, then one of us would be certain to get her, but the other would just as certainly be killed.
I looked at Rachel. Behind her mask, her eyes were alight, and with a chill, I realised that she wanted me to go for her. Not much seems to make Rachel happy anymore, but as far as I can tell, hurting me is near the top of a short list. I looked at the futures, calculating our chances.
And I found something odd. Rachel would fight, hurt me if she could, kill me if she had to . . . but only if she had to. If I just ran, she’d try to stop me, but she wouldn’t try to put a disintegrate ray into my back. About the only thing I could think of that could explain that was the threat of extreme force, which meant explicit orders from Vihaela, Morden, or Richard . . . actually, probably just Richard.
You don’t go out of your way to keep a known traitor alive, especially not if you’re about to finish them off anyway. I hesitated.
Rachel shook her head in disgust and looked away. “You just never change.”
I looked at Rachel. I’m going about this the wrong way. Rachel’s always had the edge on me when it comes to brute strength; I shouldn’t be trying to outfight her. “So, have you thought about it?”
“Thought about what?”
“What I told you last time.”
“No.”
“Seems like Vihaela’s settled in pretty comfortably as your boss,” I said. “And she’s giving you orders to your face now?”
Silence.
“I guess Richard and Morden must really trust her, to give her authority over a job like this,” I said. “I mean, it’s obviously really important to them. They’d want to have their best people on it.” I tilted my head. “Kind of odd they’ve set you to watch us.”
Rachel’s eyes snapped, but she didn’t have an answer. “You do realise you’ve been replaced, right?” I said. “Back then, you were Richard’s Chosen. Now you’re just another mage.”
“I’m still his Chosen!”
“If he’d been going to move you up to bigger and better things, he’d have done it by now. There isn’t going to be some big reward waiting at the end of the tunnel. You’re not his star pupil. You’re just an early experiment.”
Rage flashed in Rachel’s eyes, and she took a step towards me. I watched her warily but didn’t jump aside; I still couldn’t see any futures in which she actually attacked. “You,” Rachel said tightly. “You think you’re so clever. I hope Vihaela does take me along. It’ll all be worth it if I get to see the look on your face. Whatever she’s got in mind—” Rachel stopped.
“What?” All of a sudden, I was wary. “What are you hoping?”
Rachel turned away.
I took a step towards her. “If there’s something you want to—”
“Shut up,” Rachel said. “I might have to watch you, but I don’t have any orders about having to listen to you running your mouth. He only said I had to keep you alive. Nothing about being able to talk. So if you don’t shut up right now, I’m going to break your jaw.”
I wondered if Rachel was bluffing, and I looked at the futures where I tested it. Ouch. Okay, she wasn’t bluffing. I looked at Anne, who only gave me a tiny shrug.
Time passed. I stayed standing in the room, and to all appearances it would have looked as though I was doing nothing, but in truth I was looking into the futures in which I used my phone or communicator, trying to get in touch with Luna or Variam or Talisid. In all of them Rachel interfered, but I was able to get brief glimpses in which I was able to try completing the calls. In every case, I didn’t get an answer, and that made me uneasy. The longer we stayed waiting here, the more certain I became that something was happening. I didn’t know what that something was, but I didn’t think it was anything good.