“Silva and I kind of grew up together,” she told him. “My father worked for his. He wanted what all young men want, but I very much didn’t. His father indulged him too much, which had turned him into a little dictator.”
“I know the type,” he said. “Insecure about their power, they become fixated on obtaining or destroying anything that challenges it.”
“Exactly. He wasn’t used to hearing no, but his father protected me.”
“Until his father died.”
“That was when we sought-out Ventress for protection. It was fine, at first. Then she had me fighting in the pits to provoke Silva into doing something stupid. I could live with that. Then came this. Stealing from the wealthy and powerful. You said you knew why.”
“It’s interesting,” he told her. “The story you just told me has been playing out again, but with bigger stakes. The reason I asked about Lucian Lamprey is that he was the one that prompted Ventress to send you off, thieving. Like Silva, Lamprey took an interest in you, but Ventress had promised to protect you.”
“Reputation means everything to her,” Sophie said.
“That’s why she sent you off on jobs that would get you caught. Once you were in the system and out of her reach, Lamprey could swoop in using his own influence to get his hands on you. The problem is, Lamprey turned out to be very much of a type with Silva. He isn’t used to being told no, and you became the symbol of his denial. As time moved on, his inability to have you became an obsession, leading him to increasingly pressure Ventress. You seem to attract a certain kind of man, unfortunately.”
“We were in hiding from Ventress. She was quietly trying to find us, even while publicly, we were under her protection. Even her reputation won’t matter if someone that powerful is bearing down on her. But what you said about the story repeating itself… someone wants to provoke Lamprey, the way Ventress was provoking Silva?”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
“I’m not going to tell you that.”
Sophie fell silent as she thought it over.
“Dorgan,” she concluded. “That wasn’t the first time someone has interfered to help me get away. Those people who attacked you at the docks had to be his. Ventress or Silva's people would have gone for me, not you. That was because they wanted me to not get caught, so Lamprey would keep stressing?”
“Yes.”
“Whoever it was had to know who we are, and what we were doing. Someone from the Island using Dorgan’s people as a cut-out, to keep their hands clean.”
“Yes.”
“So all that we did. Our plan. We were just dancing in the hand of some rich prick on the Island.”
“Yes.”
“But you messed that up. And now I’m going exactly where Lamprey and Ventress wanted from the start.”
“Not exactly,” he said.
“Are you joking? You think I don’t know how this goes? I’m sentenced to indenture, except instead of getting auctioned off, the court makes a deal to hand me over to an upstanding member of the community.”
“That’s where I intervene,” he said. “I can’t stop the indenture, but I’ve recently been reading the agreement between the city and the Adventure Society. One of the rules tucked away in the small print is that anyone who completes the contract gets right of refusal on anyone sentenced to indenture as a result of that contract.”
“So I end up in your hands, instead of Lamprey’s.”
“Yes.”
“How do I know that’s any better?”
“You don’t. I could be making all this up to manipulate you into quietly capitulating to my arrangements.”
She stared at him and he gave her a friendly smile in return. They sat in silence while she thought things over.
“Why?” she asked, finally.
“Why what?”
“Why take my indenture? Won’t that pit you against Lamprey?”
“Yes.”
“You work for the person who wants to provoke him, don’t you?”
“If that were the case, I wouldn’t have caught you at all.”
“You say that, but there could be plenty of reasons. Those people they sent to interfere, they didn’t seem to stop you. That might just be cover. They were afraid mine and Belinda’s plan might actually work, or maybe that we’d get caught carrying it out. So they send you to catch me and still keep me out of Lamprey’s hands.”
He smiled.
“That makes sense,” he said, “assuming that anything I’ve told you is true. Lamprey may not be involved at all. There may be no mysterious figure from the Island, masterminding events. We may not have your friend upstairs and this might not even be Jory’s clinic. Have you been inside since the renovations? This could all be a game I’m playing. The man with lascivious intentions could be me.”
“Then why bother with all this?”
“Who knows? Maybe I need you to go along with my plot due to some nuance of local laws that would put you in my power. Maybe I’m just a twisted maniac who likes to play with his food. I told you in the beginning that you aren’t in control of what happens next.”
“I’m starting to think you’re twisted, whatever the truth is,” she told him.
He chuckled.
“Quite probably,” he said, and stood up. “I'll go get your friend. You can talk things over.”
He opened the door and left, then it opened again immediately and he stuck his head back in.
“Please don’t try to break out.”
106
Something Shady
Jory’s kitchen table was covered in magical diagrams, with Belinda taking Clive through how they worked.
“Obviously, the lock is impervious to ordinary intrusion,” she explained. “I re-sequenced the magical bursts into an irregular pattern. It doesn’t throw-off any individual element, but—”
“—it accumulates small errors that cause the whole thing to break down,” Clive finished. “That brilliant. How did you come up with that?”
“I was working on something a while back. I was stuck using low-quality sequencing rods and I didn’t realise what was happening until the misalignment crashed the whole rig. I came up with this while troubleshooting.”
“Brilliant,” Clive said. “Adversity driving innovation.”
Jory’s assistant, Janice, knocked on the door as she came in.
“Mr Asano says she’s awake. You can go and see your friend now.”
They all went back downstairs, Janice heading back to reception while Clive and Belinda went to the treatment room where Sophie was locked up. Jason was outside, leaning against the wall. He was watching an image being projected onto the opposite wall by a small crystal.
“How is she?” Belinda asked.
“She’s trying to pick the lock right now,” Jason said, “so I’m guessing fine.”
The gestured at the wall opposite and they saw Sophie, from above and behind, hunched over the door lock. The three of them stood looking at the door as five runes lit up around the doorknob.
“Five-element lock,” Belinda said. “Not bad for an internal door.”
“Jory keeps some expensive supplies in these rooms,” Jason said.
“Good to know,” Belinda said.
“Please don’t steal them,” Jason said.
“I don't think she'd do that,” Clive said.
“No, I would,” Belinda told him.
The runes on the door moved until they formed a straight line and the lock clicked. The door opened just enough for Sophie to look out.
“Didn’t I ask you specifically not to do that?” Jason asked her.
Sophie groaned in dissatisfaction, but Belinda threw the door wide to ensnare her friend in a huge hug.
“I’m so glad you’re alright.”
“You too.”
Jason gestured at the room Sophie had just broken out of.