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“Some place you’ve got here,” Trevor said.
“It has its perks. Nuclear power, for example. Enough to light the strip for a few more centuries. And store rooms like you wouldn’t believe; the restaurants and hotels used to get millions of visitors a year. Supplies to last a lifetime.”
“Why are we here?” I cut in. “What do you want?”
“You came to me, remember?” he smiled, revealing his fangs. I felt my chest beating in response. When the elite smiled, it always felt like a threat.
“We didn’t actually. We were kidnapped by your thugs.”
“You wererescued, you mean. And, if we’re negotiating, let’s review our accounts. I already saved you once, in Crollust. So that’s twice you owe me.”
“What’s he talking about?” Trevor asked, turning towards me.
“She didn’t tell you? I found her stealing elixir from the renewal center. Making a fine mess, actually.”
“And you didn’t turn her in?” Trevor prompted.
“Why would he—he’s an imposter,” I said. “A foreign elite from a distant kingdom. He was as much at risk as I was.”
“Even so, I could have torn out your throat, or raised the alarm. I did neither.”
“I needed the elixir. It was for… Jazmine.” The name stuck in my throat, and I reached for my drink. I’d stolen elixir for Jazmine, to save her. It seemed so long ago now.
“Anyway, I don’t owe you for that. Just because you didn’t do a bad thing you could’ve done, that doesn’t commend to your character. You were the solution to your own threat; a threat of your making.”
The words felt sloppy, and I bit my lip to keep from saying more. I hoped they would have the intended meaning.
“Fine,” Augustine crossed his arms. “As I said earlier, there’s nothing I wanted from you, before.”
“And yet you saved us. What’s changed?”
“I don’t know yet. But that doesn’t mean I don’t detect some potential in you, something valuable. My men tell me, as they approached, they saw you take out two brutes, moving as fast as an elite, and compulse over a dozen men. How does a chosen have the power to do that, to do any of it?”
“Brutes, is that what they’re called?” Trevor asked, leaning forward.
“That’s what we used to call them. It’s been a very long time since I’ve seen one. But let’s stay on task.” His eyes fell back on me.
I wasn’t sure what to tell him. Damien had made me swear to keep my secret. But it felt too late for that now. He’d already seen what I could do.
“I’m different,” I said. “Renitent.”
If he was surprised, or recognized the term, he masked it well, even though I felt someone shuffle behind me. The hair on the back of my neck stood on end. But when I looked around at the other dim figures in the open space, nobody was close enough to be listening.
“Ask what you are here to ask,” Augustine prompted.
“What are you talking about?”
“You need allies, I suppose. I hear you’re drumming up a rebellion.”
“News spreads fast.”
“I’m well-informed.”
“What are you offering?” I asked.
“That’s not the way this works,” he smiled, reaching for a deck of cards. He shuffled them, and I noticed he had tattoos on the inside of his fingers; ancient and faded.
“Could we help you? Of course. We skirmish with Richard’s forces from time to time. The soldiers get a drop a day. The chosen get two. We know your rules. That’s why our fighters get three.”
