Perhaps the estrangement between daughter and father she’d long sought had come to pass unnoticed.
“It is,” Johanna continued. “His avatar is laying in stasis in The Kingdom, under my care. I can’t track the connection, can’t break him free. For two months now, Cindira. Even in the best of circumstances, how much longer can I expect his real-world body to endure?”
“But why would someone kidnap my father? For money?”
“If they wanted money, they would have made demands by now. What they want is power. What they want...is the source code.”
There was the reaction she’d been looking for: shock, confusion, disappointment, fear.
Especially fear.
“But anyone who has the source code for The Kingdom has the source code for GAIA. They could destroy everything my mother built, and in the process, release war back into the real world.”
“If we want to save your father, what choice do we have?”
“It’s not a choice,” Cindira argued. “They want something we can’t give them.”
“They want something we can’t give them yet.” Johanna settled into her seat, and into her decision to press forward. “You are the single most talented code writer of your generation, and your skills don’t stop there. Rumor has it that you show up in the hackdomes, and that you are undefeated.”
The girl’s eyes went to the floor as she shook her head. “I’m not sure I know what you mean.”
“Like hell you don’t. Cade saw you there a few weeks ago. For that offense alone, I could fire you, but I also know you’re the best hope we have to save your father. You don’t care about me, and we both know how I feel about you, but what about him? Won’t you finally admit you know the code for him?”
Cindira kept her silence, but the guilt weighing down her features only emboldened Johanna.
“You have the skills. Use them!” she drove on. “Break into the source code. We can clean up the damage once he’s safe.”
“But what you’re asking me to do is basically dismantle my mother’s legacy.”
“To save the life of the man we both love!” Johanna labored to tone down her rising voice. “You do love your father, don’t you? You even changed your name after your mother died as a present to him.”
Now she flashed red. “Of course, I love my father.” And behind her eyes, Johanna read the unspoken allegation, far more than you do.
“Then help me. Draw out the people who’ve done this, and once they’ve crawled out of the shadows, we’ll cut them down, once and for all.”
32
Laporte wished he had the ability to listen in to the real world the way he could the virtual one. He could tunnel through tech, become a bug that wormed its way right into any other system around, but analysis suggested detection too likely. The events of two nights before had forced every security specialist Tybor had to report for duty. There were so many new tripwires being laid down in the code, even a mouse would have trouble not stumbling over them.
The door flew open, followed by a blur of blue cotton and black hair. Cindira didn’t stop to speak. She went straight to the bathroom of the small pool house she and Asla shared and slammed the door behind her. A moment later came the sounds of retching.
Laporte’s patience could rival a mountain’s most days, but he found himself...curious. He tried to tell himself it was a result of programming, that it was merely the intersection of new knowledge and his lack of it. But there was something more there. Concern? That was a human emotion. Machines were meant to be impartial. His programming gave him a mission, not the other way around.
Finally, after several minutes, his master reemerged, pale as a sheet and with strands of hair stuck to her face.
“Miss?”
She held up a hand as she struggled to the couch, collapsing the moment she arrived. “I’m stronger now. I’m not afraid of her. I shouldn’t have...” But she cut herself off.
“You shouldn’t have listened to me.” He’d finally spent enough time with Cindira to train his predictive speech patterns algorithms. “I know it could not have been easy, facing the woman who admitted to murdering your mother without tipping your hand, but it was necessary. If you make yourself an enemy of Johanna Tieg right now, you’ll draw away from her ability to protect your father. In weakening her, you’d only strengthen whomever is keeping Rex a prisoner. You must continue your charade and work with Tybor until they’re brought down. And you must protect GAIA.”
“Protect GAIA!” Cindira laughed as she slicked her hair off her forehead. “How can I protect GAIA?”
“Don’t you want to?”
Her mouth gaped. “Of course, I do, but how? Even if I make myself a new avatar and hack in—or somehow trace the one that appeared as if by magic in The Kingdom — what can I really do there?”
“You can listen.” The mouse jumped up onto the coffee table to be eye-to-eye with her. “Miss, since your mother died, you’ve been made to feel invisible and sidelined. Sent to boarding school, while your step-siblings were being loved in a house with your father, forced to work under Kaylie’s direction at Tybor all while she took credit for your work and abused your talents for her own gain. You’ve experienced nothing but the disadvantages of not being seen.”
Laporte pulled himself up to as much height as his tiny body would offer. “But now it’s time to realize, if they never look your way, they never see you coming.”
“You’re saying keep the status quo.”
“As far as they know it,” Laporte clarified. “Cast out your roots under the ground, so when you break the soil, you’re in too deep to be swept away.”
“You know, for a programmed entity, you have a great grasp on metaphor.” She sat up. “You’re right, but I’m just one person versus the whole system. I’m really good at what I do, but how can that ever be enough?”
It was time. “You’re not alone, miss. There are others inside the Tybor systems who are ready to help you. One saved you in the arena, and again during your encounter with Johanna, creating a buffer so you could escape.”
“I thought that was you each time. You were there.” Cindira shifted in place. “But if it wasn’t you, then who was it?”
A mouse couldn’t smile, but Laporte wasn’t just any mouse. “Let’s just call her your fairy godmother.”
THE END MATTERS
CITY OF CINDERS (THE CINDERELLA MATRIX #1)
©2018 KENDRAI MEEKS
Published by Tulipe Noire Press
This book is a work of fiction. Any relation to persons and places, living or dead, is either unintentional or intended as an honorific. No part of this book may be copied or reproduced in any medium, except in accordance with International Copyright Law, without the express written permission of its author.
Kendrai Meeks
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Every effort has been made to assure the editorial quality of this book. If you found an error that affected your reading experience, Tulipe Noire Press offers its apologies, and asks you to help us correct these instances for the benefit of future readers. Please report typos and other issues here. We randomly select one reader per month to receive a gift card in appreciation.
A MESSAGE FROM KENDRAI:
I really, really hope you enjoyed City of Cinders. It is so different from anything I’ve written before (not a single kiss in the book AT ALL! Don’t worry if that’s what you’re looking for. Book two will have kissing.) As an indie author without the backing of a large publisher or huge marketing budget, my biggest career challenge is gaining visibility in this booming industry. As a reader, I hope the entertainment you got from reading the book encourages you to be part of Team Meeks, so that I can continue to bring future fairytale-inspired urban fantasy books to your bookshelves. Readers often ask me in what way they can help, and here are a few quick, easy things that, while small, are powerful:
Leave a
review. Whether that’s on the venue where you purchased this book, on a community reader site like Reddit or Goodreads, or on a blog, every bit is appreciated.
Tell a book friend. Recs are one of the main ways I discover new books, and hope you do too.
Join my mail list. It will help you stay aware of new releases, events I’ll be appearing at, and other news. Also, I tend to do a lot of giveaways. (You get your first such giveaway right after joining the list. ☺)
Join one of my reader groups. I keep up with readers on both Facebook and Goodreads.
For advanced practitioners: offer a goat sacrifice to a pagan spirit. Note: I can’t condone actual goat sacrifice, so in lieu of that, I’d advise Haagan-Dazs or Ben & Jerry’s ice cream eaten to bring glory to the 1980s rock idol of your choice. (If you do do this, I need pictures people. PICTURES.)
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS:
To my author buds who listen to me complain and keep me accountable to my own goals: the Merry Martones, Elizabeth Hunter, and Tom Hansen (whose name I always write as “Tome” before correcting it, though that seems totally appropriate for an author, am I right?)
To my editor, Rebecca, who modeled this block of misshaped clay into something that would not only hold water, but a variety of other liquids.
To my ARC team, who provided me feedback and support.
To my kids who continue to be understanding on the nights when we have to eat pizza. Yes, again.
To my (ex) bosses, who, after twenty years of employment, told me to go be a writer already, with their blessings.
To all my parents, biological and spiritual, who continue to support all that I do, by choice or by necessity.
BOOKOLOGY
The Hood Chronicles Series
Requited Hood
Reluctant Hood
Relinquished Hood
Ravening Hood
The Cinderella Matrix
Court of Discontent
City of Cinders
Romance Titles written as Killian McRae
A Love by any Measure
Snapped
All my Exes die from Hexes Series
The Motion of the Potion
Once You Go Demon
Hex Goddess
When Spell Freezes Over
Hung by the Fireplace
Science Fiction written as Killian McRae
12.21.12: The Vessel
New Adult Romance written as Mari K. Cicero
Complements
The Start-Up Bride
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Also by Kendrai Meeks
The Cinderella Matrix
Court of Discontent
City of Cinders
City of Cinders Page 16