Crystal still hadn’t spoken or looked at me. She was watching Richard, and something told me that she was in telepathic contact with him. She was probably eavesdropping on my conversation with Anne too. Can you kill Sarque before he pushes that button? I asked Dark Anne.

  Maybe.

  Think about doing it and I’ll check the futures.

  “Yeah, nice offer,” Sal Sarque said. “I’ll make you a better one. You come over here and we see how many of you we can kill.”

  Dark Anne was doing as I’d asked, and I watched as the futures branched, her attacks overlapping within a narrow band as she tried to disarm Sarque. In a very few futures, she was able to beat him to the draw. The rest ended in a bang.

  “Is this how you want your time on the Council to end?” Richard asked. “Blowing yourself up in a useless gesture?”

  “I get to take you and your cabal with me. Sounds good to me.”

  “Maybe we should—” Solace began nervously.

  “Shut up,” Sal Sarque said.

  I’d kept my mental link with Dark Anne open. Can you reach Sarque’s finger muscles with a spell?

  Not faster than he can push that button.

  “Well,” Richard said. “It appears we are at an impasse.”

  The futures in which the bomb went off were growing. Richard didn’t seem inclined to break the stalemate, but Rachel was another story. I needed more time.

  Okay, let’s kill two birds with one stone. “So since we’re waiting around anyway,” I said to Richard, “how about a chat?”

  Richard raised an eyebrow at me. “Now?”

  I shrugged. “Well, you don’t seem like you’re going to be killing Sarque in the next five minutes.” Come on, Richard. You always seemed to know the next move. Play along.

  Richard paused very briefly, then nodded. “Very well.”

  “Great,” I said. “I’d like to change my answer to that last offer of yours. I’d like to join your organisation as your fourth-in-command.”

  “No!” Rachel shouted.

  Richard waved a hand down. He was keeping Sarque in his peripheral vision, but seemed focused on me. “That’s quite a specific request,” he said. “But I seem to recall you already turned down that offer.”

  Okay, this is the best I can come up with, Dark Anne told me. How’s it look?

  Looking at the futures, I could see that she’d prepared some kind of spell that would attack Sarque’s nervous system. No good. You need to be about half a second faster. “I’ve reevaluated my priorities,” I told Richard.

  “I’m curious as to how,” Richard said. “You gave me quite an emphatic explanation as to why you were unwilling to cooperate.”

  “I knew you were a traitor!” Solace shouted at me.

  “You and your boss have been trying to drive me off the Council ever since I joined,” I told Solace. “Congratulations, you’ve succeeded.” I turned back to Richard. “Well, that’s kind of the thing. If you remember, my big sticking point wasn’t so much to do with you, it was to do with her.” I nodded towards Anne. “I don’t have any remaining loyalty to the Council. I didn’t have much before, and Sarque and his friends have managed to destroy what little was left. But I am still loyal to Anne. And as far as I can see, the way things are now, the only way I can stay with her involves working with you.”

  “I seem to recall you also had issues with my methods.”

  All the time that we were talking, I was exploring futures, trying to find an angle of attack on Sal Sarque. None of them were working. The best chance came from distracting him in some way, letting Anne get a shot on him before he could react, but Sal Sarque was too old and wily to drop his guard. For all his age, he was fast, and I couldn’t find any avenue that would draw his attention away from Anne reliably enough.

  I was on the wrong track. Sal Sarque was the strongest link in the chain. What about the explosives themselves? I changed my focus, looking for futures in which the bomb failed.

  “Well, that’s where the change of priorities comes in,” I told Richard. “The more time I’ve had to think about our last conversation, the more I’ve come to see your point. You have been the one bailing me out of trouble. And a lot of the time, it has been because I was insufficiently ruthless. So, as of a couple of days ago, I’ve started following your advice. So far it’s been working out.”

  “Why fourth-in-command?”

  “Well, I assume you, Morden, and Vihaela are numbers one through three. I wouldn’t want to make waves.”

  “Did you just break into my home for a job interview?” Sal Sarque demanded.

  “More or less,” I told him. There. It was possible for Sal Sarque to push that button and for the explosives to not go off. The future was a ghost, a zero percent chance, but it could happen if certain prerequisites were met. I started feeding it, the faint spark growing brighter.

  “Why are we even talking to him?” Rachel said angrily. “He’s had enough chances.”

  “She has a valid point,” Richard said.

  I shrugged. “Things change. My attitudes have changed. So have my abilities. I suspect you’ve had long enough to figure that out for yourself by now.”

  He’s getting antsy, Dark Anne told me.

  Hold off, I said.

  You keep this up, he’s going to push that button just for the hell of it.

  I said hold off. Get ready for a strike, but don’t launch it.

  “Unfortunately, trust is an issue,” Richard said. “As you just admitted to Sarque, you’ve been opposing me for a long time.”

  “Not very effectively.”

  “I hope you’re not trying to use incompetence as an excuse.”

  “We could do it the old-fashioned way,” I said. “Trial by combat. Why not Rachel? You might find it interesting to see how your last two apprentices measure up.”

  “Fascinating though that would be,” Richard said, “as I said, the issue is trust. I’m afraid I’ll need something more than words.”

  All the time I’d been talking, I’d been applying pressure through the fateweaver, trying to force the future in which the detonation failed. It wasn’t easy—modern explosives are well designed—but any mechanical system has points of failure, and it only needs one link in the chain to break. All of a sudden, something gave and the future in which the explosives failed to go off sprang into possibility. Eyeballing it, I put it at around a five percent chance. I kept pushing.

  “Fair enough,” I said. “How about I help you out with your current problem, then? I’ll get rid of Sarque, you give me probationary status.”

  “No!” Rachel said.

  “What makes you think we need the help?” Richard said.

  Ten percent. “You did say the issue was trust.”

  Richard studied me for a long moment. “Very well.”

  I turned to Sal Sarque. “Sorry, Sarque. Well, actually, I’m not sorry at all. I’d say it was nothing personal, but it really is.”

  Sal Sarque looked at me contemptuously. “Go ahead and try.”

  Fifteen percent, twenty. “Before I do, there’s something I’ve been wanting to ask,” I said. “You remember those two Crusader black-ops types from a couple of years ago? Zilean and Lightbringer? They tried to kidnap and torture me, and they did kidnap and torture Anne. Flayed her alive trying to get her to talk.”

  “So?”

  “Was it you who gave the order?”

  “Don’t answer him,” Solace said.

  Sal Sarque didn’t bother to respond to her. “Why should I tell you?” he asked me.

  Forty percent. The probability curve was speeding up as the electronics came closer to failure. “In three minutes, either you’ll be dead or I will be,” I said. “So why not?”

  “Because you’re a piece of shit,” Sal Sarque said. “I’ve been fighting Dark mages my whole life, and I knew what you were the minute I saw you. You were always one of them. You want to know who gave the order? Fuck you, that’s who. You can die never knowing.”

  Seventy percent. Now instead of feeding the future in which the explosives didn’t work, I was suppressing ones in which they did. “Oh well,” I said. “I guess I’ll just ask Levistus.”

  “And you’re going to do what? Divine him to death?” Sarque gave a short, ugly laugh. “Enough talk.”

  Eighty percent, eighty-five. I stood looking at Sarque, focusing on the fateweaver. It was easy now, like pushing a boulder that’s already started rolling. Ninety percent. Ninety-five. “You’re right,” I said. “That’s enough talk.” Ninety-eight, ninety-nine . . . one hundred. “Anne, the bomb’s disarmed. You can kill him now.”

  Anne struck instantly. Black death flashed out in a howling wave.

  Sarque pushed the button and nothing happened. He hesitated an instant.

  It was too long. Sarque was strong, and I already knew from watching the futures that he could fight, but against someone like Anne there was no room for error. He threw up a shield of fire and force. Anne’s spell tore straight through it and stripped the clothes from his skin and the skin from his muscles, his body changing colours as layer after layer was torn away, flesh and veins and tendons dissolving into black dust.

  It was over in less than a second. Where Sal Sarque had stood was an upright skeleton, only traces of flesh hanging off the bones. Black energy swirled around Anne’s hand as she held the skeleton up by sheer force of will, then she let her hand drop and the bones collapsed with a clatter. The skull bounced and rolled, coming to rest under a swivel chair, eye sockets staring up at the ceiling.

  Richard, Rachel, Crystal, and Anne looked at the remains. Then, as one, they all turned to me. As they did, I reached out through the dreamstone to Meredith. Now.

  In the shadows off to my right, Meredith began her spell.

  The pattern in the control room had shifted. Before, it had been a triangle, with Sarque, Richard, and me as the three points. Now the three had become two. Richard and his three companions on one side, and me alone at the other. Solace cowered against the far wall, ignored by everyone.

  A rush of adrenaline filled me. Everything I’d done for the past few days had been for this, to bring these people together in one place. Richard, studying me from the front of his group, calm and inscrutable; Rachel, her eyes glittering with hate; Anne, aloof and contemptuous but compelled to obey. For a moment I saw them not as people but as playing pieces, moving into the endgame.

  “That other mage is still there,” Crystal told Richard.

  “I am aware.”

  Crystal nodded towards me. “Get rid of him?”

  “I’m shocked that you’re suggesting going back on your word, Crystal,” I said. “Really.” I looked at Richard. “So?”

  As I spoke, I reached out delicately with the dreamstone, but this time to Rachel. I brushed against her mind and had to steel myself not to pull away. Her thoughts were jagged, discordant, like walking on broken glass. But overlaid on her mind was something else, like a voice whispering in her ear.

  . . . going to say yes. Meredith’s magic wasn’t quite a voice and wasn’t quite words. It was more like a stream of thoughts, shifting and flowing, and to Rachel, they would feel like her thoughts. Missed the chance. Should have killed him. Now it’s too late.

  “Strictly speaking, it was Anne who handled him, rather than you,” Richard said.

  “What, you wanted me to shoot him through the head myself? You taught us to use the tools available.”

  “I suppose I did.” Richard studied me a moment longer, then nodded. “Very well.”

  “No!” Rachel shouted.

  “This is not a final commitment,” Richard told Rachel.

  “I agree with her,” Crystal said sharply. “It’s too risky.”

  . . . he wants Verus. Meredith’s whispers were steady, relentless. Always did. You were the substitute. Now he can have him. Verus and Anne, together. Won’t need anyone. Won’t need you . . .

  This was why I’d brought Meredith. No other type of mage would have been able to do this, not under Richard’s nose. But Meredith was an enchantress, and the one great trump card of charm magic is that it’s undetectable. Only Crystal would have a chance of figuring out what was happening, and even then she’d have to be looking directly at Rachel’s thoughts.

  “It’s not your decision, Crystal,” Richard said, turning back to me. While he was still looking away, I met Rachel’s gaze and smiled.

  Rachel snapped. Her face twisted in rage, and a green beam stabbed towards me.

  My precognition gave me no warning—Rachel had made the decision and acted in a split second—but you don’t need a warning if you’re the one pushing the buttons. I leant aside, the ray missing my chest by inches and turning a section of wall behind me to dust.

  Anne moved in a green-black flash. There was a crack of energy and Rachel went flying, her shield half broken. She hit the floor rolling and Anne took a step, hand raised to finish her off.

  “Enough!” Richard shouted. His left hand came out of his pocket, glowing with black-purple light; Anne’s back arched and she went rigid. A thin line of darkness darted from his other hand, hitting the floor right in front of Rachel’s face.

  Rachel froze and suddenly everyone was still. Anne stood like a statue, head tilted and her back curved into a bow, muscles trembling as she held the pose. Her eyes glittered with anger, but she didn’t speak. Crystal hadn’t moved; I hadn’t moved. The five of us stood, watching one another.

  “None of you are killing each other unless and until I tell you to,” Richard said in a voice of iron. His eyes swept across the four of us. “Is that clear?”

  One by one, the others dropped their gaze, though Anne had a dangerous look in her eyes. Rachel flinched as Richard looked at her. Through the dreamstone, I could still hear Meredith’s whispers: . . . took you out in one move, she’s all he needs, all he’s wanted. Replaced. All been for nothing, all of it . . .

  Richard’s gaze reached me and I looked back at him, my expression calm. We stared at each other for a long moment.

  “Your request is accepted,” Richard told me at last. “Provisionally. You will accompany us to be questioned. Any signs of deception will result in an immediate response. Is that clear?”

  I could see deep purple light glowing from between Richard’s fingers: the dreamstone. I didn’t let my eyes rest on it. “Clear.”

  “Don’t,” Rachel said.

  Both Richard and I turned to look at her. Rachel was on her knees, staring up at Richard, and all of a sudden she looked like a different person. The cold menace was gone: it was as if the years had fallen away and she was a young girl again, lost and vulnerable. “Don’t do this,” Rachel said. “Please.”

  Richard frowned. “We’ve discussed this, Deleo.”

  “Not him. I’ll work with anyone else. But not him.”

  A flicker of annoyance crossed Richard’s face. He didn’t like having to do this, especially in front of witnesses. “You know what is at stake,” Richard told her.

  . . . doesn’t need you, he’ll say no, has to say yes, all because of her, say yes, say yes . . .

  “I’m your Chosen,” Rachel said. She sounded like she had to force out the words. “It should be me.”

  . . . could have been Shireen, now it’s Anne, the stone, her and the stone . . .

  “Which means you follow my orders,” Richard said. He turned away from her. “We’ll discuss this later.”

  I saw Rachel’s face fall in despair. And as it did, Meredith’s spell sharpened to a point.

  He can’t do it if he loses Anne.

  Crystal looked towards Rachel, starting to frown. “There’s something—”

  Rachel’s face changed. Green light flashed out.

  It was what I’d been waiting for. I threw all my strength behind the fateweaver, aiming for the future I needed. Richard had been looking away; at Crystal’s words, he twisted sharply. His left hand, still holding the dreamstone, came across.

  The futures intersected. Rachel’s spell hit the dreamstone. There was a brilliant flash and Richard’s dreamstone, the one that Anne had brought out of the deep shadow realm two years ago and that was controlling the jinn right now, disintegrated into dust.

  For a moment, everyone froze. Richard stared down at his empty hand. The last particles of the dreamstone were trickling from between his fingers. Then he looked at Rachel, and for the first time that I could remember, his face twisted in rage. “You stupid, stupid little—”

  Then Anne spoke. It was only a single word but it echoed in stereo, Anne’s soft voice mixed with something deeper and darker, filled with a furious triumph.

  “FREE!”

  And everything happened at once.

  Solace launched a spell and Crystal started some mind effect of her own, but Anne was faster. The control room flashed dead black as she cut loose. Richard twisted out of the way, a translucent shield coming up, but Anne hadn’t been aiming at him: she’d been aiming at Crystal, and she beat Crystal to the draw. A hurricane of death roared through the room and wiped Crystal from existence. Crystal didn’t even last long enough to be stripped to the bone the way Sarque had been: before that annihilating wave she simply . . . ceased. And that quickly, there were four instead of five.

  Richard and Rachel turned on Anne, reflected light flashing from the walls, light green to dark green to black. I drew my gun and fired on Solace, who ran for cover, a water shield flaring around her as she threw spells up at the gantry. Everyone fought everyone, the movements too fast to see. Disintegration blasts blew holes in the walls, and black energy from the jinn tore apart desks as though they were tissue.

  At such a pace, the fight couldn’t last long. A spell from Anne that would have turned Richard into dust missed by a hair, exploding a bank of computers and starting an electrical fire. Richard’s counterstrike was something complex I didn’t recognise, but whatever it was, it made Anne stagger. She crossed the room with a jump, landing near to Solace. Anne looked at her, a disintegration ray from Rachel glancing off her shield. “Oh hey. Didn’t you send those guys to my flat?”