Page 461 of Eight of Swords, Part Two

Rike gives a smart nod. ‘Heard.’

Inside, the lockup is narrow and windowless, lined with steel shelving and stacked supply crates. A single strip light burns overhead. Blaire sits bound to a chair in the cleared centre. No gag, just rope.

Riley stares impassively at her. ‘So.’

‘If you have come to kill me, at least let me pass on the information I have first,’ she says quietly.

Vasily asks, ‘What information?’

‘I am beyond excusing or justifying my actions. I only want to explain them and tell you what you need to know. That is why I surrendered.’

Riley says, ‘I’d have found you.’

‘I have saved you the time.’

‘How could you do this?’ Vasily asks her, his throat tight around the question, making a whisper of his pain.

Blaire doesn’t waver, despite the creeping exhaustion in her eyes.

‘I have known for seven years that I would have to kill my nephew,’ she tells them both, her tone even. ‘As soon as Julian’s Vox manifested at the Estate, I knew it to be necessary. I had always hoped I was wrong about what he would become. He showed signs of Brightling presentation, but ultimately, I knew deep down that he was a Sway.’ She exhales slowly, shaking her head. ‘Alistair Penhalyx in the body of a Sway, no matter the strength of their abilities, would be an irreversible global catastrophe. But inside one like Julian…’

‘What?’

‘Childhood is the crucible in which a Sway’s immune system attempts to reconcile an aquatic physiology with terrestrial life. Most fail. Penhalyx was determined to bring Julian through it because a male Sway is extremely rare, the first in his bloodline since before records began. From Julian’s first use of the Vox, I knew I would have to kill him. My mission to rescue him had evolved into safeguarding humanity from an unimaginable evil. I undertook that responsibility alone.’

‘That’s it?’ Vasily asks. ‘You just decided to kill him?’

‘I knew it was necessary.’

‘You hid from me that Jules was alive in this Tower.’

‘Yes.’

‘You encouraged me to attack Iron Star, hoping he would be killed.’

‘Yes.’

‘And that is why you sent Lachlan in with the ritual,’ he says, softly distraught. ‘You wanted him to kill Riley, knowing it would kill Jules.’

‘Correct. But I also knew Lachlan would get inside when no one else could. I knew he would cause chaos and draw them both out. Lachlan was always the key.’ She looks properly at Riley for the first time. ‘You should burn Julian as soon as you’re able. I do not know the specifics of Penhalyx’s Greater Alchemy, as Roman called it, but I would not put it past him to try to force his way inside a corpse.’

‘Is that all?’

‘No. I also assisted your man Seth in breaching the Tower through a proxy. I funded the PMCs myself and supplied them with intelligence on the Tower’s interior. Seth did not intend for anyone to be hurt. I allowed him to believe his proxy shared that objective.’

‘And the Estate,’ Vasily guesses quietly. ‘The Reset attack. You knew I was going because I told you.’

‘I fed your route and arrival time into a channel I knew they monitored.’

‘You risked the Resets getting him back to Alistair,’ Riley says.

‘I took the risk, knowing there would be chaos and trusting that Lachlan would never let them take Julian’s body.’

‘Because he’s the bodyguard.’

‘Yes.’

Riley looks at Vasily.