The Agency seal vanished. The terminal went back to standby green, quiet and blank.
Good.
That was done.
I turned away from it and went back to the forge. There was no reason to be in New Knossos on Friday at 13:00.
No reason at all.
I pulled another bar from the fire and set it on the anvil.
Behind me, the terminal pinged once more.
I didn’t turn around.
I hit the metal harder.
MAISIE
The thing nobodytells you about teaching a seven-foot minotaur to ride shotgun is that there’s nowhere for him to put himself.
Kazan was folded into the passenger seat of the buggy he’d built for me, one knee too close to the controls, his horns nearly brushing the canopy. His tail had given up and hung over the side.
He looked uncomfortable. He also looked pleased.
“You’re too big for this,” I said.
“It was built for you.”
That was true. The seat fit me, and the belt didn’t cut into my neck. The footrests were close enough that I didn’t have to stretch.
Every part of it had been made with me in mind.
I tried not to let that make me emotional. It was a vehicle. A beautiful, ridiculous, expensive vehicle that meant I never had to wait for anyone to take me anywhere again.
So maybe it wasn’t just a vehicle. It was freedom.
I set my hand on the throttle.
Kazan watched me, but he didn’t reach over. He didn’t correct my grip. He’d already shown me twice, and now he was letting me do it.
I eased the throttle forward.
The hover-field hummed beneath us, and the buggy lifted off the ground.
I sucked in a breath.
Kazan’s mouth twitched, but he didn’t say anything.
Good male.
The buggy slid forward onto the ridge road. I kept my hand light, the way he’d told me. The machine didn’t lurch or fight me. It moved like it had been waiting for me to stop being afraid of it.
The orchard fell away on one side, rows of wet leaves and violet fruit shining in the morning light. On the other side, the woods rose thick and dark.
I’d ridden this road with Kazan before. I’d watched it pass from the passenger seat.
Now I was driving.
