let that slimy wench score off you so easily!” The doppelgänger held her hands as if something had slipped through.
Vinnet’s portrayal of Anjedet needed work, then. “They won’t all come back, but I’ll get some return.”
“You’re the one who taught me to weigh the probabilities.” She jabbed a pointing finger at the door. “Why in all the worlds are you going all in on an unsubstantiated threat?”
Even lords didn’t put up with that sort of insubordination from humans. Did Anjedet? Then again, this girl had substituted for Anjedet. She couldn’t have done that by being meek, and Anjedet had to have worked with her closely. Maybe this was normal between them. “I was weighing the possibility that they would die.”
“So, what? Now you have no spares. What will you do if you’re attacked?”
She certainly wouldn’t take a random host.
Vinnet, what’s she mean, attacked? We’re in the middle of the Central Palace. Your memories all say the kings, the lords, and the rest of the planet aren’t allowed in here. How is someone going to attack a queen?
“Have you heard of plans to do so?”
She glanced away. “Neith may be after your wardrobe, but the others could be planning more. As you’ve said, there’s no substitute for vigilance.”
Watch her. Vinnet couldn’t worry about this girl and her standing among the queens and mind other threats alone.
But you have control of my eyes.
Listen to her. Think about her actions. Warn me when you understand what she’s doing. That was what her previous hosts had done.
If I had to guess, she’s going to attack us.
I read that, too, but then why would she worry about spares?
The doppelgänger folded her arms across her chest. “At the very least, you’ll never get your Earth spare back. You know somebody will take her tonight.”
“Tonight?”
“Well, they can’t have her be influenced by the others; they’ll want her experience pure.” She narrowed her eyes. “Are you testing me? Aren’t we a little past that?”
Vinnet stared at the door as if she could see through it.
No foothold.
No cover.
No way to continue the mission unless they got Maggie back.
Vinnet swallowed. “You’re right. My mind was elsewhere. I need to recover her.”
Vinnet needed Maggie back, or she needed to kill her. She grabbed the doppelgänger’s wrist. “Do you know where they’ll be?”
The girl studied Vinnet as if she’d grown a second head, then shrugged. Smirking, she whipped her hand free and stalked into the next room back.
You’re not going to kill Maggie, are you? Sarah’s stomach clenched.
It only made sense. They couldn’t leave Maggie to host a Kemtewet, or her knowledge would betray Vinnet’s cover. She doubted she could recover Maggie without compromising herself and voiding the best opportunity the Gertewet had of defeating the Kemtewet while they still could.
Free humanity from tyranny on the hundred worlds or continue trying to protect this one girl?
The decision was simple, but Vinnet didn’t have to like it. She didn’t need another senseless killing. Moreso, she didn’t need Sarah’s anguish added to the raw hurt of her recent kidnapping and their new, precarious relationship.
But there were millions counting on her mission’s success, whether they knew it or not.
The doppelgänger emerged from the back room with a katana and a tanto. She presented the larger blade to Vinnet and tucked the smaller into the folds of her dress. “I will be ready.”
Her neutral words implied neither support nor opposition. The Gertewet would be ready, too.
A sword?
Vinnet studied the larger blade. Nicks marred the edge and sides, and rust smeared it in places; it hadn’t been cared for. As she adjusted her grip on the hilt and took in the doppelgänger’s steadiness, the implications unfolded. The queens commonly used weapons against each other? Perhaps this assignment was more dangerous than anticipated; she’d counted on status to inhibit some attacks.
Then again, if the queens really meant to kill each other, they’d use weapons that created damage a common teleporter couldn’t heal. Was this just another game to them?
Nothing to do but keep moving. Switching to a single-handed death grip, she lowered the sword casually out to her side until she didn’t mind drawing all attention.
She nodded to the doppelgänger. “Lead.”
Vinnet followed her into the vestibule, where the room’s surprising depth and stillness only emphasized its emptiness. Without the press of bodies, she saw clear back to the doorway leading to the vassals’ quarters, all lined in white tile.
Harbored with the Kemtewet, the whole assembly was destined to be used and cast off. Their fates hadn’t changed, whether with one queen or another.
Vinnet followed the other fake queen into the hall and back into the depths of the queens’ wing.
You know Maggie is the only one of them who wasn’t already going to die here. Sarah’s anger burned against Vinnet’s mind.
Situations change. She made mistakes; everyone did on early missions into new territory—like this one.
She hasn’t done anything to anyone. If you kill her, you’re no different from the Kemtewet.
Except she killed less frequently than Kem, and even that, she hoped, would one day pan out into a total cessation of hostilities. This must be done.
No, it doesn’t!
Her host would understand in time.
The corridor ended at large, embossed doors with padded benches on either side. Two girls looked up from the benches, one in gray and one in black—spares of the queens of Bones and Faces, separated from their mistresses. Did she need to leave the doppelgänger, who’d pledged her readiness for…something?
The doppelgänger opened the doors and followed her in.
Vinnet took in the room in a moment: a tiled path led to a rippling pool surrounded by cafe tables inside a colonnade, and straight ahead, another hall led even deeper. A cloying scent marked the central pool as a symbiont environment, and Maggie reclined over it, strapped into a replica of the chair Sarah had endured. The Queen of Faces entered the pool beside Maggie, where she required nothing but to swim from host to host. Serket and an attendant looked on from the patio furniture.
Serket leaned against the table. “You lost her, Anjedet. There’s no need to fuss.”
The Queen of Faces waded deeper into the pool.
What if Sarah was right, and a peaceful solution existed? What if Vinnet could have it all? She had to try. “This was not part of our agreement.”
Everyone there, doppelgänger included, stared at her.
Rolling her eyes, Serket propped her chin on her fist. “Of course it was. I’ve ensured that Neith’s agent won’t kill her.”
Except killing might never have been the real threat. Who could say that Serket and the Queen of Faces weren’t Neith’s agents, sent to pettily deprive Anjedet of her Earth prize?
“We’ve won, Anjedet. Accept it.”
The Queen of Faces dove into the water, leaving choppy ripples in her wake.
Out of time.
Vinnet ran.
It took far less time to leave a host than take a host; the queen could be free in seconds and poised to take Maggie.
Vinnet reached the pool’s edge.
The dead vassal’s body surfaced, streaming blood from neck and back that clouded the nearby gel.
Too late.
Vinnet adjusted her stride to jump in beside Maggie. Her sword slashed at Maggie’s neck.
Maggie screamed, “Vinnet!”
The sword splashed in, hitting nothing but gel.
Strand it all! They weren’t going to take down the Empress with compassion!
“Vinnet!”
Maggie’s voice registered just as Serket’s first throwing knife caught in Sarah’s hair, inches from Vinnet’s true body. Too close. She dove under.
The situation had evolved. There were two enemies: one with knives, one in the water with her. There were also two unknowns in the room: the doppelgänger and the woman in the back. And Maggie had said her real name.
Vinnet had been caught before; the ISC or the Queen of Blood could remember her. They had everything they needed to crack open her cover, with or without Maggie’s continued existence.
Then don’t kill her!
There’d be no point. Now, she had to keep word from spreading. Did she have three targets or four?
Maggie screamed, and Vinnet cracked open her eyes. A long symbiont, easily a clone to the real Anjedet, struck at Maggie’s back, beginning to burrow in. Too focused on its prey, it didn’t notice that the sword worked underwater, too. The gel robbed Vinnet’s swing of speed, but the blade batted the symbiont out of place in a puff of red. Maggie’s blood bloomed.
Vinnet surfaced for a breath. Something whizzed over her shoulder and clattered onto the patio—another knife.
Someone grunted. Over at the tables, the doppelgänger wrestled with Serket, keeping her too occupied to throw any more knives. An ally, then. Three targets.
That left the swimming queen. Vinnet dove under and glimpsed the queen making another attempt at Maggie’s back. This time, Vinnet’s swipe pinned the queen’s long, slick body to the pool’s floor, but the blade’s edge slipped sideways. Vinnet lost pressure while turning it, and the queen writhed away. Vinnet swiped after her, clipping the end of her tail before she darted out of range.
That was something.
But not enough.
If Vinnet could get Maggie free, maybe the queen would focus on Vinnet—and open herself to attack. Vinnet breached the surface and unclasped one of the wrist restraints. Maggie should be able to get the rest.
But Maggie didn’t respond, only stared.
Blood tinted the gel around Maggie and the queen’s dead vassal pink, and tiny red streaks trailed in the queen’s wake.
It’s going to take forever to catch her. Sarah’s mind replayed the feel of the queen slipping away.
A waste of time, Vinnet realized.
A dark shape darted toward her, and she swatted at it with the katana, swiping through the tail tip’s wispy trail. They had to either kill it or get out now. She freed Maggie’s other arm. “Move!”
The girl bolted upright and reached for the restraints at her legs. With her back out of the gel, the queen couldn’t get enough purchase to use her. A drone might, but not someone that large.
Vinnet climbed out of the gel.
The woman at the back inched away, careful to not get involved. On the pool’s far side, the doppelgänger danced around Serket, heckling her with the tanto while staying out of range of the knives. Mostly. Both bore small cuts.
Enough. They didn’t have time for this.
The doppelgänger scored Serket’s shoulder and flitted a step back toward the door, drawing the queen’s attention away from Vinnet. Catching Vinnet’s eyes and grinning, she kept up her attacks and counters, and most importantly, Serket’s attention.
Vinnet crossed the room unnoticed until she drew close. Serket expected her closer and swiped out with a knife.
Vinnet eased to the side and swung the katana.
It sliced open Serket’s belly, spilling dozens of tiny eels in a spray of blood. Fetal symbionts covered her slippers.
The doppelgänger let down her guard, as if they’d finished.
Too early. Despite Vinnet’s interference, one of Serket’s knives caught her thigh.
One more katana swing caught the back of Serket’s neck. Her body collapsed on the slew of infant Kemtewet.
The doppelgänger gaped. “You…you can’t kill her. You told—Anjedet told me!”
“Can’t?” Vinnet pried open the second wound, checking that she’d really caught the symbiont. Fine bones protruded from both sides of the cut.
The doppelgänger trembled. “The Empress won’t let us live. She decides if anyone dies, not anyone else.”
One more way she’d blown her cover. Might as well leave.
Maggie?
Vinnet glanced back. The observer had disappeared (teleported to safety to spread the alarm?) and only Maggie remained, standing atop the reclined chair and looking for a way to jump free without entering the water. She couldn’t; it was too far.
“Jump in and climb out!” It shouldn’t take long, and the aquatic queen had nothing to hold her prey in place.
Maggie looked past her and gasped.
Vinnet dropped, and something grazed her back. She rolled away to her feet.
Collecting herself, the doppelgänger readied her short blade. “You still have a spare, Anjedet. Don’t worry; I’ll put her back in place for you.”
What?
The doppelgänger rushed forward, brandishing the smaller blade, but she wasn’t well-trained. Vinnet feinted, and she fell for it, leaving her left side open.
Vinnet struck her ribs. She let the girl pass, then hamstrung her.
The doppelgänger dropped her blade, and Vinnet kicked it away. She clamped hands on her side and tried to speak.
But Vinnet cut open her throat.