Luna made a face. ‘When you put it like that, it sounds even creepier. Do you . . . You think she’s done that to Vari?’
‘Anne captured Caldera and Barrayar two days ago, and they were fighting on her side today,’ I said. ‘Vari was captured yesterday, so . . . I’d say it’s a good bet. Richard said it takes a while to do the summoning and binding, but it’s going to be easier now she’s got a base.’ I looked at Luna. ‘She didn’t pick that spot at random, either. Dark Anne was born in that shadow realm. Not a coincidence that when she needed a fortress, that was where she went. Pretty safe bet that we’ll find Vari there, too.’
Luna looked down at the grass.
‘What’s wrong?’ I asked.
‘When you say “we”, you mean the Council as well,’ Luna said. ‘Don’t you?’
‘It’s going to be a full-on invasion, yeah.’
‘And the Council aren’t going there to rescue Vari.’
‘They say they’d prefer to banish any jinn they find rather than killing their hosts.’
Luna just looked at me. There was no need to say what we both were thinking. The Council would place some value on Variam’s life – he was a Keeper, after all – but if he got between the Council forces and Anne, they’d kill him without a second thought. And ‘between the Council forces and Anne’ was exactly where Anne would put him.
‘I shouldn’t have let it get this far,’ Luna said.
‘What happened yesterday wasn’t your fault.’
Luna shook her head. ‘Before that. When she came to the shop. The way she talked . . . She looked like Anne, but it was like watching someone walking around in her skin. Like there was hardly anything of her left. I knew something was going to happen.’ Luna exhaled. ‘I just didn’t want to admit she was gone.’
I looked down. Luna wasn’t the only one who’d made that mistake.
We stayed silent for a minute, then Luna looked up. ‘All right. You said they’d prefer to banish the jinn. That must mean they know some way to do it.’
‘Kind of, but there’s a catch,’ I said. ‘Remember that anti-jinn weapon we heard about last week? The one the Council was working on as a secret project?’
‘Oh yeah, the one—’ Luna stopped. ‘Wait. Didn’t Richard steal that?’
‘Yep.’
Luna threw up her hands. ‘Oh, come on!’
‘Which he was using as a bargaining chip in the negotiations, by the way.’
‘You’ve got to be kidding!’ Luna said. ‘Wait, wait, wait, let me see if I’m getting this right. First Richard steals Suleiman’s ring, the one with the marid, out of the Vault. Then he manipulates Anne into picking it up. Then he uses Anne and that marid to start a war against the Council. Then when they make an anti-jinn weapon to try and stop her, he steals that. And now, after he’s finally lost control of Anne and that jinn, he’s asking for an alliance. Did I miss anything?’
‘You missed the fact that when he came to see us yesterday he blamed the whole thing on me,’ I said. ‘For smashing his dreamstone and letting Anne loose.’
‘Jesus. Is there even a word for that?’
‘“Chutzpah”.’
‘Okay, he’s a chutzpah.’ Luna shook her head. ‘I can’t stand the Council and he’s making me want to take their side.’
‘You can see why they weren’t keen on a truce,’ I said. ‘The Council had already decided to go after Anne, before they even walked into that meeting. And that meant putting their war with Richard on hold whether they liked it or not. Working with him, though . . . that’s something else. Richard told them that they’d have to, or he wouldn’t share the details on the marid’s ritual. Druss told him they didn’t need the details: they could just go in and kill everyone. Richard said they wouldn’t be able to get into Sagash’s shadow realm without him. Alma said they’d find a way. Richard said that if they didn’t involve him then they could kiss goodbye to their special weapon. I’m giving you the short version; the whole thing took hours.’
‘Yeah, that’s why I’m never getting into politics. So?’
‘They hammered out a compromise,’ I said. ‘Richard and the Council are going to attack the shadow realm separately. Multiple simultaneous gates, multiple points of entry. They were cagey about committing to anything, but my read is there are going to be four groups. First two are going to be Council-led, third is going to be Richard’s cabal. Fourth group is me.’
‘And me,’ Luna said without hesitation.
‘And you.’
‘When?’
‘The Council has the ritual pegged to go off between seventy-two and ninety-six hours starting from 8 a.m. today,’ I said. ‘So somewhere between Sunday morning, and the early hours of Monday. They’re planning to go in tomorrow, Friday evening. That gives them the Friday night and all of Saturday to work with in case something goes wrong.’
Luna gave me a sharp look. ‘You think it will?’
I was silent for a long while. ‘I’m not sure,’ I said at last. I rose to my feet. ‘There’s one more thing I’m going to try. I’ll keep in touch.’
I stepped out of the gate and into the warmth and quiet of an English summer evening. Trees rose up around me, with the tops of buildings just visible over their branches. From outside the park, the sounds of London filtered through, quiet and muffled. The sun had disappeared behind the trees, but its rays still reflected from the buildings above.
‘Sorry about the wait,’ I told Ji-yeong. ‘You ready to go?’
The Dark life mage was sitting in the shadows, leaning against a tree with her head tilted back. ‘I suppose.’
I nodded. ‘Head to the park’s south gate, that way. There’s a cab waiting that’ll take you to a hotel. There’s a reservation under your name. Take a shower, get some rest. There’ll be someone coming with some new clothes, so pick something out. Oh, and ask at reception and they’ll give you a phone. The contact number in its memory will put you in touch with someone who should be able to handle anything you need.’
Ji-yeong gave me an odd look. ‘What?’
‘We’re pretty much done here,’ I said. ‘You came out of Sagash’s shadow realm without a phone or bank cards, and I know you don’t have a base here in London, so I figured you could use a place to stay. The Council will probably want to interrogate you tomorrow about the wards on the shadow realm, so don’t be surprised if they track you down, but they shouldn’t be too pushy about it. If there are any problems, give me a call.’
‘How did . . . ? Wait.’ Ji-yeong got to her feet. ‘When did you have the time to do all this?’
‘Can’t expect me to tell you all my secrets.’
‘Okay . . .’ Ji-yeong said. ‘Then why?’
‘Tell you secrets?’
‘Why are you helping me?’
‘Why not?’
‘That’s not an answer.’
‘Yes, it is. It’s just not the one you expected.’
‘No one does favours for nothing.’
‘We had a deal, and you held up your end,’ I said. ‘I don’t have any further obligations towards you, but I’ve got the ability to make the rest of your day much less unpleasant, and all it’ll cost me is some money, which, in my current position, isn’t something I much care about. So, again –’ I shrugged. ‘– why not?’