Talisid did not look amused. ‘And how do we know that you aren’t working with Drakh?’ Alma said.

  ‘Alma, I’m going to be frank,’ I said. ‘I don’t like you. You supported Levistus while he was alive, and you voted to sentence me to death, not once but over and over again. If you were to drop dead of a heart attack, I wouldn’t lose a moment’s sleep. But Richard is a far worse enemy to me than you will ever be. If I were in a room with you, Richard and a gun with two bullets, I’d shoot Richard twice. Does that answer your question?’

  Alma looked back at me, stone-faced. Richard had been watching our exchange with an expression of mild interest. Druss looked amused. Vihaela just seemed to be enjoying the show.

  ‘We will pause this meeting to confer,’ Alma said, her voice flat. ‘We will resume in twenty minutes.’

  ‘We will be waiting,’ Richard said.

  *

  The Council delegation had withdrawn into the anteroom from which they’d entered. Four Council security had been left in the hall; they stood with weapons ready, watching us closely.

  Ji-yeong and I stood near the middle of our section, alone in the giant empty space. ‘You did well back there,’ I told her.

  ‘Why did you introduce me as an apprentice?’ Ji-yeong asked.

  ‘Because if I hadn’t, they’ve have treated you as an adult mage.’

  ‘I am—’

  I spoke over her. ‘An adult mage is a legitimate target. An apprentice is not. I told you I’d keep you safe, and this is the simplest and most effective way to do it.’

  Ji-yeong made a face and looked away. ‘I thought I was done with this,’ she said after a moment.

  ‘Needing protection?’ I said. ‘Sagash was a big fish in a small pond. You’re going to have to get used to bigger ponds.’

  Over Ji-yeong’s shoulder, some distance away, I saw Richard rise from his chair and walk towards us. ‘Stay here,’ I told Ji-yeong, and moved to intercept him.

  Our paths met on opposite sides of the barrier, close to the wall. ‘Richard,’ I said.

  ‘Alex,’ Richard said. He glanced toward Ji-yeong. ‘A new protégé?’

  ‘She’s temporary,’ I said. ‘So are the Council going to say yes?’

  ‘Isn’t that a question you should be asking them?’

  ‘I don’t think you’d be going to all this trouble if you didn’t already know their answer.’

  Richard smiled slightly. There was a pause.

  ‘What’s your angle?’ I asked.

  ‘I’m sorry?’

  ‘What do you want?’

  ‘If you’re asking why I’ve approached the Council . . .’ Richard made a small open-handed gesture. ‘I would have thought you of all people would be very familiar with the realities of a common enemy.’

  Off to one side, I could see Vihaela talking with Tenebrous. The Dark life mage was leaning back on her chair with her feet up, while Tenebrous stood stone-still. ‘A common enemy, yes,’ I said. I tilted my head at him. ‘A common goal? Not so much. If that jinn really is about to cause this much devastation, why not just leave the Council to deal with it? Hole up for a while, let your two enemies fight.’

  ‘Leaving two enemies to fight,’ Richard said, ‘is only of benefit if both have a chance of victory.’

  I looked at Richard. ‘You don’t think the Council can win.’

  ‘Without my assistance? No chance at all.’

  ‘You haven’t answered my question,’ I said. ‘Why do you care?’

  ‘Alex, I’m not some sort of genocidal maniac,’ Richard said. ‘Winning this war will bring me no benefit if there isn’t a country left at the end of it. And I assure you, if Anne’s jinn succeeds, there will be very little left.’

  I tapped my elbow but didn’t reply.

  Richard sighed. ‘Come on, Alex. No one in this room wants to see the Jinn Wars come again. Is it really so hard to believe that our interests might align? You were happy enough to work with me once. I don’t see why we shouldn’t be able to do so again.’

  I stared at Richard closely. His face was relaxed and calm. Neither his expression nor the futures gave anything away.

  A creak and a boom sounded from the far end of the room. Turning, I saw the Light delegation crossing the floor, heading back toward their tables. The Council had made its decision.

  3

  ‘So?’ Luna demanded. ‘What did they say?’

  We were in the Hollow, side by side on a fallen tree. I was sitting facing the grass, while Luna was straddling the trunk, leaning in towards me. Through my magesight, I could see the silver-grey mist of her curse twisting around her body, just barely out of range. The blurry, half-real sun of the shadow realm was above the treetops, its rays barely catching us as the afternoon faded into evening.

  ‘Oh, they had plenty to say,’ I said. ‘They argued for hours.’

  ‘Okay, let me rephrase. I don’t actually care what they said. What about Vari?’

  ‘Barely mentioned,’ I said. ‘But I did pick up on a couple of things. You remember Ares?’

  Luna shook her head.

  ‘Council Keeper of the Order of the Shield. Fire mage. Tried to kill me on that trip to Syria.’

  ‘And?’

  ‘He was found dead at his home this morning,’ I said. ‘Someone tore through all his wards, destroyed his bodyguard constructs, and engaged him in a fight. There wasn’t much left. Apparently once he figured out he was losing, he blew himself up and most of the house as well.’

  ‘So one more out of all the people who’ve tried to kill you is dead. Why does this matter?’

  ‘It matters,’ I said, ‘because the previous time he took a shot at me, he got Anne instead. It was nasty.’

  ‘And what, you think this was payback?’

  ‘Not payback,’ I said. ‘Recruitment.’ I leant back on the tree. ‘I’ve been thinking back over the past ten years, counting up all the people Anne would have a good reason to hold a grudge against. Ares – burned her. Zilean and Lightbringer – had her tortured. Sal Sarque and Levistus – gave the orders to have her tortured. Solace and Barrayar – they were the aides to Sal Sarque and Levistus. Caldera – beat her down and captured her. Crystal – mind-controlled me into hurting her. There are plenty more. Sagash. Sagash’s apprentices. Jagadev and Jagadev’s men. They’re nearly all dead. And the ones that aren’t dead, Anne’s captured.’

  ‘So?’

  ‘The marid can summon greater jinn to possess human hosts,’ I said. ‘We were already pretty sure that was what Anne was doing. But she doesn’t want random people off the street. She wants people who matter to her, that she’s got a connection to. She’s tracking down her best friends and worst enemies, and turning them into jinn-possessed slaves.’ I was silent for a moment. ‘I think, in a way . . . she’s trying to replace us. The way she sees it, we betrayed her by not taking her side. So she’s creating herself some new companions, ones who’ll never betray her because they’re mind-controlled so that they can’t.’

  Luna made a face. ‘When you put it like that, it sounds even creepier. Do you . . . You think she’s done that to Vari?’

  ‘Anne captured Caldera and Barrayar two days ago, and they were fighting on her side today,’ I said. ‘Vari was captured yesterday, so . . . I’d say it’s a good bet. Richard said it takes a while to do the summoning and binding, but it’s going to be easier now she’s got a base.’ I looked at Luna. ‘She didn’t pick that spot at random, either. Dark Anne was born in that shadow realm. Not a coincidence that when she needed a fortress, that was where she went. Pretty safe bet that we’ll find Vari there, too.’

  Luna looked down at the grass.

  ‘What’s wrong?’ I asked.

  ‘When you say “we”, you mean the Council as well,’ Luna said. ‘Don’t you?’

  ‘It’s going to be a full-on invasion, yeah.’

  ‘And the Council aren’t going there to rescue Vari.’

  ‘They say they’d prefer to banish any jinn they find rather than killing their hosts.’

  Luna just looked at me. There was no need to say what we both were thinking. The Council would place some value on Variam’s life – he was a Keeper, after all – but if he got between the Council forces and Anne, they’d kill him without a second thought. And ‘between the Council forces and Anne’ was exactly where Anne would put him.

  ‘I shouldn’t have let it get this far,’ Luna said.

  ‘What happened yesterday wasn’t your fault.’

  Luna shook her head. ‘Before that. When she came to the shop. The way she talked . . . She looked like Anne, but it was like watching someone walking around in her skin. Like there was hardly anything of her left. I knew something was going to happen.’ Luna exhaled. ‘I just didn’t want to admit she was gone.’

  I looked down. Luna wasn’t the only one who’d made that mistake.

  We stayed silent for a minute, then Luna looked up. ‘All right. You said they’d prefer to banish the jinn. That must mean they know some way to do it.’

  ‘Kind of, but there’s a catch,’ I said. ‘Remember that anti-jinn weapon we heard about last week? The one the Council was working on as a secret project?’

  ‘Oh yeah, the one—’ Luna stopped. ‘Wait. Didn’t Richard steal that?’

  ‘Yep.’

  Luna threw up her hands. ‘Oh, come on!’

  ‘Which he was using as a bargaining chip in the negotiations, by the way.’

  ‘You’ve got to be kidding!’ Luna said. ‘Wait, wait, wait, let me see if I’m getting this right. First Richard steals Suleiman’s ring, the one with the marid, out of the Vault. Then he manipulates Anne into picking it up. Then he uses Anne and that marid to start a war against the Council. Then when they make an anti-jinn weapon to try and stop her, he steals that. And now, after he’s finally lost control of Anne and that jinn, he’s asking for an alliance. Did I miss anything?’

  ‘You missed the fact that when he came to see us yesterday he blamed the whole thing on me,’ I said. ‘For smashing his dreamstone and letting Anne loose.’

  ‘Jesus. Is there even a word for that?’

  ‘“Chutzpah”.’

  ‘Okay, he’s a chutzpah.’ Luna shook her head. ‘I can’t stand the Council and he’s making me want to take their side.’

  ‘You can see why they weren’t keen on a truce,’ I said. ‘The Council had already decided to go after Anne, before they even walked into that meeting. And that meant putting their war with Richard on hold whether they liked it or not. Working with him, though . . . that’s something else. Richard told them that they’d have to, or he wouldn’t share the details on the marid’s ritual. Druss told him they didn’t need the details: they could just go in and kill everyone. Richard said they wouldn’t be able to get into Sagash’s shadow realm without him. Alma said they’d find a way. Richard said that if they didn’t involve him then they could kiss goodbye to their special weapon. I’m giving you the short version; the whole thing took hours.’

  ‘Yeah, that’s why I’m never getting into politics. So?’

  ‘They hammered out a compromise,’ I said. ‘Richard and the Council are going to attack the shadow realm separately. Multiple simultaneous gates, multiple points of entry. They were cagey about committing to anything, but my read is there are going to be four groups. First two are going to be Council-led, third is going to be Richard’s cabal. Fourth group is me.’

  ‘And me,’ Luna said without hesitation.

  ‘And you.’

  ‘When?’

  ‘The Council has the ritual pegged to go off between seventy-two and ninety-six hours starting from 8 a.m. today,’ I said. ‘So somewhere between Sunday morning, and the early hours of Monday. They’re planning to go in tomorrow, Friday evening. That gives them the Friday night and all of Saturday to work with in case something goes wrong.’

  Luna gave me a sharp look. ‘You think it will?’

  I was silent for a long while. ‘I’m not sure,’ I said at last. I rose to my feet. ‘There’s one more thing I’m going to try. I’ll keep in touch.’

  I stepped out of the gate and into the warmth and quiet of an English summer evening. Trees rose up around me, with the tops of buildings just visible over their branches. From outside the park, the sounds of London filtered through, quiet and muffled. The sun had disappeared behind the trees, but its rays still reflected from the buildings above.

  ‘Sorry about the wait,’ I told Ji-yeong. ‘You ready to go?’

  The Dark life mage was sitting in the shadows, leaning against a tree with her head tilted back. ‘I suppose.’

  I nodded. ‘Head to the park’s south gate, that way. There’s a cab waiting that’ll take you to a hotel. There’s a reservation under your name. Take a shower, get some rest. There’ll be someone coming with some new clothes, so pick something out. Oh, and ask at reception and they’ll give you a phone. The contact number in its memory will put you in touch with someone who should be able to handle anything you need.’

  Ji-yeong gave me an odd look. ‘What?’

  ‘We’re pretty much done here,’ I said. ‘You came out of Sagash’s shadow realm without a phone or bank cards, and I know you don’t have a base here in London, so I figured you could use a place to stay. The Council will probably want to interrogate you tomorrow about the wards on the shadow realm, so don’t be surprised if they track you down, but they shouldn’t be too pushy about it. If there are any problems, give me a call.’

  ‘How did . . . ? Wait.’ Ji-yeong got to her feet. ‘When did you have the time to do all this?’

  ‘Can’t expect me to tell you all my secrets.’

  ‘Okay . . .’ Ji-yeong said. ‘Then why?’

  ‘Tell you secrets?’

  ‘Why are you helping me?’

  ‘Why not?’

  ‘That’s not an answer.’

  ‘Yes, it is. It’s just not the one you expected.’

  ‘No one does favours for nothing.’

  ‘We had a deal, and you held up your end,’ I said. ‘I don’t have any further obligations towards you, but I’ve got the ability to make the rest of your day much less unpleasant, and all it’ll cost me is some money, which, in my current position, isn’t something I much care about. So, again –’ I shrugged. ‘– why not?’

  ‘And that’s it?’ Ji-yeong asked. ‘I just walk away?’

  ‘That’s right.’

  Ji-yeong stared at me for a long moment. ‘I don’t understand you,’ she said at last.

  ‘You don’t need to,’ I said. ‘Goodbye. I doubt we’ll meet again.’

  I travelled a little way east, to Canonbury. There, on an ordinary-looking street, I found a place under an ordinary-looking tree, opposite from an ordinary-looking house. I leant against the tree and waited.

  When I’d talked to Luna about everyone Anne might carry a grudge against, I’d listed people from the magical world. But Anne had had a life before becoming a mage. The house opposite me right now was the home of the foster family with whom she’d spent most of her childhood, and deep down, she probably hated them as much as everyone else on that list put together.

  I stood under the tree as the light faded and the sun sank below the horizon. Above me, the sky faded from cyan to royal blue to deep purple. Around me, the sounds of traffic rose and fell, carried on the breeze. I let the sounds of the city wrap around me, trying to take what calm from it I could. And somewhere beyond, through another sense, I watched the shifting futures.

  The phone in my pocket buzzed, breaking me out of my trance. I glanced at who it was, then reached out through the dreamstone. November?

  Oh good, you’re there. November’s thoughts feel different from those of a human: smoother, more precise, like blocks of machined glass. I hope I’m not distracting you.

  It’s fine. How did everything go?

  Your new acquaintance checked in at reception one hour and thirteen minutes ago, November said. Since then, she’s activated her new phone, made two calls to mobile numbers in South Korea, picked out three sets of clothes from those made available to her, had a shower, and called for room service. Twice.

  Sounds like she’s doing fine. Any news?

  The Council net is highly active, November said. All the data I can intercept is consistent with preparations for a major military strike.

  At least they’re taking it seriously.

  It certainly appears so, November said. And I gather from your location that you are . . . waiting.

  Yes.

  It seems highly improbable that Anne Walker would choose to visit her family home under these circumstances, November said. If detected by the Council, she would face a significant risk of being traced and overwhelmed. All tactical considerations would push her toward remaining in her new shadow realm.

  You see the future through probability distributions, I told November. I see that too, but I also see choice. And Anne’s been thinking about coming here all evening.

  What’s the probability that she will?

  It’s not that simple, I said across the link. I’ve been watching the futures for hours, and they keep shifting. If it was just her making up her mind, it wouldn’t look like this. Something’s affecting her ability to make the decision.

  But her arrival is still a possibility?

  Yes.

  Then you really should not be standing there, November said bluntly. If Anne Walker gates to your vicinity, you will be in extreme danger. Even were I to immediately raise the alarm, it would take a minimum of three to five minutes before any reinforcements could reach your position. The probability of your capture or death would be high.

  Sounds accurate.

  Then forgive me for asking, but why are you exposing yourself like this?

  I sighed, resting my head against the tree. Because it feels like this might be my last chance to talk to her.

  That isn’t a very good answer.

  I suppose it isn’t.

  Given Anne Walker’s recent history, any attempt at negotiation would be highly dangerous without access to close and overwhelming force in the event of an attack. I strongly advise that you bring in support.