Maybe this was the part where she should speak. Steris opened her mouth and made a noise to that effect, but they kept talking straight over her.
“I won’t stand for this!” Reddi said, throwing himself — paradoxically — to his feet. “This is not the oath my constables swore!”
“You don’t get to choose, constable,” the governor said. “I hold your commission, and that of every constable in this city. They ultimately answer to me.”
“We can quit, Varlance,” Reddi said, leaning forward, his hands on the table. “You can’t force us to fight.”
“I—” Steris started.
“Actually,” Adawathwyn said lightly, “that’s precisely what a draft is, Constable Reddi.”
“I would—” Steris tried again.
“Yeah?” Reddi snapped. “And who exactly is going to lock us up?”
“Everyone shut up and listen!” Steris snapped. “Or I will barf on the table to get your attention!”
The entire room stared at her.
“I’ll do it,” she warned. “I keep medication in my handbag to produce the effect. You’d be surprised at how often the option is relevant.”
Well, now she had their attention.
“If we are worried about war,” she said, “we should immediately begin an evacuation of the city.”
“No good,” Cett said. “If there is war, we need workers to facilitate industry — and to ramp up production of munitions.”
Rusts. That was the correct answer. She’d hoped he wouldn’t have thought that far forward. She glanced at the silent Malwish ambassador. What did he think of all of this? Had he anticipated it? She had always kept her focus on members of the Set in the Basin. But who was to say there weren’t members among the Malwish as well? Rusts.
“War is not the answer,” she said, turning back to the group. “It serves our enemies, not us. Look, I made a list here, to prove the logic of what I say. I’m increasingly convinced that the leaders of the Outer Cities want us to be passing legislation that restricts and insults them. They want us interfering.
“They have built gunships and militaries, but they have not attacked. They caught Waxillium in their midst, shooting up a warehouse, but what haven’t they done? They haven’t expelled our constables or officials from the city. They’ve shouted about it, they’ve drawn up editorials. But they haven’t attacked. Why not?”
“Because they need us to do it,” Reddi said. “They need us to give them a reason to go to war.”
“The common people of the Basin don’t want to fight,” Steris said. “Certainly not against Elendel — where they undoubtedly have family.”
“Or because they don’t think they can win,” Lord Cett said.
Steris looked down at her notes. “That’s … unfortunately a real possibility.”
“Why is that unfortunate?” Reddi asked.
“Because,” Steris said, “if they know they can’t defeat us in open war they might do something desperate. Like unleash a weapon of cataclysmic relevance.”
“Returning to your real point,” Adawathwyn said. “This bomb you keep harping on.”
But Governor Varlance was watching her. He was listening.
“My husband,” Steris said, “is in Bilming investigating it as we speak. He produced a terribly dangerous explosion in our laboratory, using rare materials we know the enemy has. We have traced a set of test explosions in caverns underneath Bilming. Something is happening.”
She met the governor’s eyes. “And if our fears about a bomb are true,” she said softly, “then the posturing — manipulating us into the position of a bully and tyrant who needs to be resisted — might be intended to give the leaders of the Outer Cities a justification. A way to explain why they had to take such extreme measures. Like destroying us all.”
The room quieted, but then Lady Gardre shook her head. “Are we really entertaining these fancies? Doomsday weapons? The real politics of the situation aren’t enough?”
She, Steris realized, looking at the quiet woman, must be the member of the Set. She’d assumed there would be at least one moving among the political elite of Elendel. For a while she’d worried it was the governor or Adawathwyn, but they were both too obvious. The Set liked to move beneath layers of obscurity.
The governor was far too prominent, and Adawathwyn too actively working for things the Set wanted. She was a decoy; she likely assumed she was the mastermind of her own designs. In actuality, she was just another puppet. Encouraged, but left clean so that her eventual downfall wouldn’t lead to real conspirators. Who included, smartly, the woman who was seen as the most reasonable. The most rational.
Steris felt far more comfortable upon identifying her. It was like … finding a snake in your intimates drawer. Yes, it was alarming. But at least you could close the drawer and know where it was.
But how to steer the conversation in defiance of that woman? Ah. Perhaps that?
She turned to the constables. “This might be the right time to reveal yourself,” she said.
“Huh?” Reddi asked.
“Not you, Constable-General,” she said, looking past him toward the lanky Constable Gorglen — the younger man with a long neck and freckles. So unassuming. He met her eyes.
“How did you know?” he asked in a grinding, rough voice that didn’t match his frame.
“Process of elimination,” she said. “We were promised help, and MeLaan said there were multiple kandra among the constables, but gave only one name. Plus, you walk awkwardly when you have to use a two-legged body.”
“Damn,” Gorglen — TenSoon — said. “But I suppose you’re right about the timing.” He stood up before the room of surprised people and made his skin transparent. “Harmony would like me to impress upon you the importance of our current debate — and to confirm what Lady Ladrian is saying. The Set is real. They are planning to annihilate Elendel.”
The governor gasped.
Adawathwyn drew back.
Reddi gaped, then spun on Steris. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I wasn’t a hundred percent certain until earlier today,” Steris admitted. “I actually wondered if you were also kandra, Reddi. I decided against it, as I don’t think Harmony likes his kandra impersonating important officials. Except that once. Well, and that other time. But those were exceptions.” She flipped open one of her notebooks. “I’ve been tracking who might have been replaced for weeks now. See? Kandra attendant to the constable-general. Second most likely placement in the city for one of the Immortals.”
“And the first?” Adawathwyn asked.
“You,” Steris said, flipping back a page. “But I was working with outdated information. A kandra in your place would take far more care not to be an utterly worthless piece of slime.” She made a notation. The room was quiet. “Oh, did I say something awkward again? I do make that mistake sometimes, don’t I?”
Reddi slumped back into his seat. “I can’t believe this…”
“It was all but inevitable that they would be among your staff, Constable-General Reddi,” Steris said.
“No,” he said. “It’s not that he’s kandra. It’s that … rusts, Wayne was right…”
“I am TenSoon,” the kandra said to the room, eliciting another series of gasps. He growled softly. “I hate it when people do that. Harmony is worried. And so you should be worried. Especially as Harmony is … unable to see certain things lately. We are working blind.”