“There wasn’t meant to be an actual out, though,” Trystan said, and received a bitter look in return.
“No, there was not. You were meant to keep distracted, miss all the signs, not see my true intentions. Until, of course, it was too late and you and Olena were already bound. Then, what choice would you have but to join your forces with mine?” His expression darkened further, like he had a bad taste in his mouth. “That disgusting human came along and ruined everything. Well, almost. I’ve gotten us back on track, mind you. Possibly ahead of my initial schedule. Part of me even thinks I should be thanking her.”
“That’s the new plan, then? Pretend Kint Tellers save Varasow from the wicked Tars?”
“Sneer at it all you like. Sometimes the simplest strategies are the most effective.”
“Say it does work,” Trystan offered. “How do you intend to get ahold of Vakar without having me bound to anyone? Olena is dead, and the Uprisen heir is currently in holding. Do you just expect Vakar to be so grateful, they roll over and pronounce you their new king?”
He’d slipped that bit about Delaney in there, unable to resist attempting to find out something. She just had to be alive. If she was, he could still figure a way out of this and get to her.
He almost slumped in his chair when his father didn’t react to his phrasing, or jump to correct him. That was a good sign he hadn’t killed her.
“Of course not.” The Rex waved him off, stepping back over to the main computer, where the Sutter had been working for the past five minutes. “I only need them to let their guard down. Just a few weeks, days if we’re lucky, and I’ll have them all begging me to take over if that’s what I please.”
“By using the device?” He made a big show of rolling his eyes, grinning on the inside when he saw how negatively it affected his father.
“This device is a work of genius,” the Rex ground out past clenched teeth. “Proof is right before you. Don’t you recognize any of the Tars on that screen? You should. You’re the one who procured them for me in Kilma.”
Trystan frowned, turning back to watch the mayhem still unfolding, despite how badly he didn’t want to. He couldn’t make out any of their faces; the camera was too far away for that. He wasn’t really supposed to, anyway. It was just another point his father was trying to make. And he’d made it.
“You said you formed them—why?” There were a few reasons he could think of, but he wanted to know the whole story. “Just to further my distraction?”
“Things aren’t always about you, son.” He tsked in disparagement. “No, they served a greater purpose in the long run. A group for the world to hate more than they hated us. Somewhere else for them to look while I worked tirelessly on getting us right where we are now. Close, so close, to our final goal.”
The Rex might have set the Tars in motion, but he hadn’t been their actual leader. Once they’d served their purpose, distracted the world with attacks, drawing attention away from all the horrible things Hortan End had done during the war, he’d found a new use. Having met some of them in that warehouse, Trystan knew firsthand they believed they were working for the good of the entire planet. They wanted to protect the integrity of the royal families and the thrones. That was why they hadn’t wanted a twit like Olena having a say in Kint politics. Why they’d later rallied against Delaney, a human. They’d been labeled terrorists, sure, and they’d executed attacks, had tried to kill.
But not whole cities.
The people of Varasow were innocent; it was out of character for the Tars to attack the way they were, same as wearing a uniform was.
“You used the device on them, didn’t you?” Trystan’s gaze roamed across the screen, counting. There were way more Tars invading than he’d arrested in that warehouse. His father must have used them to get the rest of their numbers, trapped them. “All of them?”
“Only on the handful of leaders you’d procured for me,” the Rex said, pride apparent in his tone. “Took a few rounds of trial and error, we lost a couple, but it was worth it, wouldn’t you say? Look at them go.” His eyes glazed over a bit. “Doing exactly what I instructed them to do. The final task I created them for. The genius of Clean Slate is, I can strip away a person’s sense of self, but leave behind basic knowledge and information. The Tar leaders who survived the tests recalled they were Tars, and what their purpose was. They just didn’t remember they never took direct orders from me before.”
“You’re a monster.” Trystan couldn’t play the game anymore, couldn’t pretend like he was unaffected or like he cared at all for the man standing before him. “If I weren’t tied down right now, I’d kill you myself.”
The Rex’s eyes narrowed, and for a moment it looked like he was going to activate the fritz around his wrist and shoot him. Then the storm in his eyes settled and he motioned toward the Sutter. “We’ll proceed now.”
Trystan tensed up when the woman approached him, not liking where he thought this was heading. After that major confession, there was really only one way this could go, and it wasn’t with the two of them shaking hands and letting bygones be bygones.
“Once this is through,” the Rex said, moving in front of him so that he was hovering over his son while the Sutter began plugging things into the computer at his back, “everything will return to the way it was. I’ll have the dutiful son I deserve, and you will no longer have disgraceful feelings for a human.”
The Sutter reached over the back of the chair, pressing Trystan’s head forward. He struggled against her hold, but the binds kept him from being successful. There was a prick at the base of his skull, and a slight burning sensation as something thin and metal was placed over the spot his fitting had been implanted.
“I’ll wipe your memories, all those ideas about rebellion and that misplaced animosity, and we’ll start fresh. I’ll have to take more than I did with the Tars, of course. There’s a lot you’ll need to be reminded of, but I can’t risk leaving something behind and having you turn against me a second time, now can I?” The Rex grinned.
“Father.” Trystan wasn’t sure if he was pleading with or cursing the man.
“Don’t worry.” The Rex bent down so that he was in the Zane’s line of sight. “The technology is flawless now. No nasty side effects. I wouldn’t murder my only heir. Even unbound to a Vakar Lissa, you’re still far too useful for that. After all,” he said, leaning a little closer so that Trystan could see the cruelty flicker in his eyes, “you’ve got more sway over the Kint army than I do. That’ll come in handy when it’s time to order them to prepare for invasion.”
He tried not to let the words sting, but it was impossible.
His father didn’t care about him any more than he did the computer he was currently hooking Trystan up to. Hell, since he’d spent years trying to perfect the device, he probably cared about the damn thing more.
“We are ready to proceed, Rex,” the Sutter said, and Trystan squeezed his eyes shut, bracing himself.
“Unless this part was important.” Delaney’s bold voice suddenly filled the room.
The Sutter was shocked enough that her hold faltered, and Trystan was able to lift his head to see Delaney standing there between two computers, one of which was still playing the attack on Varasow.
She was holding her hand up, waving something in the air. It took a moment for him to realize it was a set of wires with a port at the end.
His Lissa glanced at it, then at the Rex, and said fearlessly, “It sure looks important, don’t you think?”
CHAPTER 24
What the hell was she doing?
As far as bad plans went, this one totally took the cake. Even as she stood there, painstakingly keeping the grin plastered to her face, she knew it. This was a horrible, terrible idea.
She was supposed to wait for Ruckus. They’d separated when they’d entered the wing, and were going to come from either side of the hall, taking out any Tellers they met on the way, so they wouldn’t be hit with any surprise
s.
But of course, when she’d gotten to the door, the biggest surprise of all was standing over Trystan, gloating. The Rex was supposed to be gone, yet there he was.… And seeing what he clearly intended for his son, Delaney knew that unless she was willing to watch Trystan get his mind erased—which she definitely wasn’t—she needed a new plan.
Sending one last command to Fawna, she’d taken off the gorud and hidden it from sight. Fortunately, as per usual, Trystan was holding everyone’s attention, making it easy for her to slink her way into the room.
Once she was close enough, all she’d had to do was wait for the Sutter to turn her back, and then she quickly snuck around to the other side of the supercomputer behind the Zane. She’d spent a good minute trying to figure out what looked most important—partially wishing she hadn’t taken off the gorud, so Fawna could help her—and then had just started pulling. Most of it she’d left on the ground back there, but the wires in her hand she’d kept.
Slipping back around to the head of the room without getting noticed was just as easy. Something told her everything from here on out wouldn’t be.
“Miss Grace,” the Rex said as he spun on her, glowering. “Always turning up at the most inopportune times. Imagine my surprise when I heard you’d somehow cheated death. Again.”
She lifted a single shoulder. “Sorry to disappoint.”
“I’m going to need that returned”—he angled his chin toward the wires—“immediately. Afterward, since you’re here already, you can watch.”
“You hurt your son?” She shook her head. “No, thanks.”
“No.” He chuckled. “I meant you can watch him kill you. That’ll be the first order I give him. A test, if you will, to ensure the device has worked and erased all memory of who you are. I’ll tell him you’re the enemy, and recalling that I am the Rex, and he is the Zane, he’ll attack without hesitation.”
“How many people did you murder trying to get this thing to work?” she asked. “Don’t they count for anything? Weren’t they your people?”
He waved his hand in the air, seemingly unthreatened, though she caught the step he slid closer. “Fodder. They served their purpose, and their Rex.”
“And their families?”
“Delaney.” Trystan’s voice entered her mind, sounding strained. “What are you doing?”
“Trust me,” she sent back. Now that she’d momentarily saved him from the machine, the rest of her plan required getting the Rex to play along, without letting on that that was what he was doing.
“Do you have a way of getting us both out of here unscathed?” he asked, and when put that way, she was forced to tell him the truth.
“Nope. But Ruckus is coming. Eventually.” She held her ground. “Just give me a minute.”
“I don’t believe we have that kind of time, Lissa.”
“Working on it.” Kind of.
“Their families should be honored that I gave meaning to their loved ones’ pathetic lives,” the Rex said then, cutting into their private conversation. “Everyone on this planet has one purpose, and one purpose only: serve me. They did their jobs, and now the rest of my Tellers will do theirs.”
Delaney heard the sound of the doors opening behind her and felt a shiver skitter up her spine. Without even having to turn to see for herself, she knew it wasn’t Ruckus entering. Things had just gone from bad to worse.
“Shoot the Rex!” Trystan demanded, tugging at his bonds. His struggles only caused the chair to shake a bit. There was no way he was going to get himself out of that.
“Can’t,” she returned. “I don’t think we got enough!”
“Enough what? Damn it, Delaney!”
She wanted to explain, but there was no time for that.
Tightening her grip on the wires, she activated her fritz and spun on her heel, already aiming for the entryway. Her stomach clenched painfully when she realized there were at least a dozen Kints flooding the room, spreading out to block the only exit.
It wasn’t like she could leave anyway, with Trystan still in that chair, but that didn’t make it any less frightening being trapped.
They’d come in prepared, with their own weapons drawn. Not wanting to give them the chance to open fire, she began shooting as she dove for cover behind the computer next to the large screen still displaying the attack on Varasow. Zees pinged against the metal, ricocheting off, and for a moment she was so distracted by the obvious threat, she forgot all about the others.
The Sutter darted across the room, headed straight for her. The woman didn’t have a fritz, however, so had no way of defending herself when Delaney finally caught sight of her and lifted her own.
She pulled the trigger quickly, watching as the Sutter’s body jerked and then dropped forward. Her forehead whacked sharply against the solid ground.
“Delaney!” Trystan’s warning came too late.
She glanced up to find that she was surrounded, with twelve fritzes aimed directly at her head. Her mind raced to come up with a way out, but as far as she could tell, there wasn’t one. If she tried to fire, they’d kill her.
“You’ve been bested, Miss Grace,” the Rex drawled, almost like he’d read her mind and wanted to rid her of that final thread of resistance. “Deactivate your weapon and place the wires on the ground, carefully.”
“If I do that,” she said slowly, eyeing the end of the fritz closest to her face, “you’ll use that thing on Trystan.”
“If you don’t,” he stated, clearly losing patience, “I’ll simply have them shoot you, and use it on him anyway. Do you really want the last memory my son has to be of your death?”
“Are you seriously trying to play on my compassionate nature right now?” It’d been pretty stupid, thinking she could waltz in here and solve everything on her own. Especially considering the only part of her plan that had so far run smoothly relied heavily on Fawna.
Barely resisting the urge to glance at where she’d placed the gorud earlier, Delaney began doing as the Rex said. Her fritz caved in on itself with a wave of her middle finger over the sensor at the bottom of the metal band. As it did, she lowered her palm until it was pressed flat to the ground.
“Just because you don’t have a heart,” she added as she forced herself to let go of the wires, “doesn’t mean you have to take advantage of those of us who do.” She canted her head at him, pretending to think. “Or maybe it’s the opposite. Maybe the reason you’re going through all this trouble is because you’re jealous.”
“Excuse me?” His eyes narrowed.
“What’s wrong?” She tsked. “Jealous of your own son? It’s gotta suck, huh, finding out that your army would rather follow him. That it’s his name they whisper in the dark, chant on the battlefield. How many of them, do you think, are just waiting for the day he can take the throne and they can all be done with you?”
“Delaney…” Trystan was glaring at her now as well, though she only risked sparing him a glance, unwilling to take her eyes off the Rex for long. “Whatever this supposed plan is, I do not approve.”
“Duly noted. Next time, when I’m the one tied to a chair, you can come up with the plan. Deal?” She didn’t give him a chance to respond, and opened her mouth with the intent to lay it on the Rex some more.
An explosion at the doors forced her jaw shut, the blast practically knocking the Tellers closest to it off their feet, and they stumbled and slipped. Two of them accidentally pulled their triggers, sending off rounds of zees pinging against the surrounding computers and metal contraptions.
One sailed straight toward Delaney, and she only had enough time to curl in on herself to avoid a direct hit. It grazed the side of her leg, just above her knee, and she let out a startled cry at the sharp pain. The last time she’d been shot with a legitimate alien bullet, she’d been on Earth.
After, she’d passed out. Now she couldn’t afford to.
A cloud of pink smoke flooded the room directly after the doors exploded, engulfing half t
he Tellers in less time than it took to blink. Sounds of a struggle soon followed, though it was impossible to see what was going on through the thickness of the smog.
To avoid getting caught up in it herself, Delaney abandoned her position against the computer, clenching her jaw against the pain in her leg as she put pressure on it. A tendril of the pink cloud drifted closer, and she accidentally breathed it in. The coughing started immediately, her throat suddenly on fire as she stumbled forward, away from the rest of it and toward Trystan.
The burning was so intense, she almost didn’t notice when strong arms banded around her waist, lifting her into the air. She had a split second to register it was not a friendly hold, before whoever had her threw her like she weighed nothing. Her body spiraled, and she closed her eyes, already knowing what was coming.
When she landed, it was on her right shoulder, and the momentum sent her rolling until she slammed back into one of the computers at Trystan’s right. Her skull whacked back against it, dazing her, but that was nothing compared to the sensation still going on in her throat.
She struggled onto her hands and knees, hacking, barely able to see through the tears in her eyes. Trystan was screaming her name, but she couldn’t tell if it was through their fittings or aloud. Her hands clawed at the collar of her shirt, not that it would do any good, and she’d just sat back on her heels when a shadow stopped in front of her.
Through blurry vision, she saw the Rex lift a fist, and she braced herself a second before he brought it down across her cheek.
If it’d been difficult for her to see before, it was impossible now. The world momentarily winked in and out. Her face was pressed to the floor, the chilled surface surprisingly soothing to her skin, while the rest of her felt like it’d been completely doused in kerosene and set ablaze.
When she finally managed to peel her eyes open again, it was to find three Kints pulling the Rex away. He struggled for only a second, glaring down at her furiously, before he twisted and followed of his own volition. They ran directly into the pink cloud, which was just starting to dissipate around the edges.
Within Ash and Stardust Page 25