Page 35 of Anchor

“It did, but I feel fine. A team of Whitefires took care of me. I have no wounds, no pain. I’m okay.”

There would be no point in lying. My instinct weren’t on high alert, and the office was simple, spacious, and her desk was big enough so that there was a good distance between us. I felt safe, but then again, I didn’t fully trust my instincts right now because I’d felt perfectly safe with Michael and Erid, too.

“Glad to hear it,” said Cameron. “I’ll admit, I was impressed to hear that you actually won the game. Nobody really thought it could be done. For a Mud to win any kind of magical game?” The way she said that word—Mud—like it was dirty. Filthy.

Exactly what we’d been taught all our lives, and I don’t know why I was almostoffendedby her tone of voice.

“Actually, being Mud might be the best thing that could have happened to me.” And maybe that was stretching it, but I couldn’t help myself.

“How so?” Cameron said, folding her hands over her desk, leaning close, her curiosity painted all over her wide brown eyes. “How did that work? I couldn’t imagine living without magic, let alone winning a game the likes of the Iris Roe.”

“Exactly that,” I told her. “I was forced to look for alternatives. We’re so dependent on magic, and I thought I couldn’t live without it, either, but I simply had to learn how to rely on other things. My body, my memory, my weapons.”And Taland.Without him I’d have died in that fucking alley in Night City, and those Whitefire players would have used my body to get their key for the challenge.

Without Taland, I wouldn’t be alive.

And now I was forced to sit here in this office instead of going after him.

“Fascinating.” She brought her hands to her chest. “I couldneverdo what you did. Never.”

Fuck you,I thought. “Well, I could. I did,” I said. “And I don’t know if you heard from the Council, but they tested me and the Rainbow?—”

“Restored your color, yes—they told me this morning. Looks like you got lucky. You can use your Redfire again.” Lucky. That word—lucky.

The Council members had called me lucky, too, and I still had no clue why.

“I can.” Never mind that itwasn’tmy Redfire magic. Never mind that it was different, and the Council said different was bad, but Madeline had chosen to lie to their faces—so who was I not to take it?

I didn’t want to die—fuck that, not without seeing Taland, at least. So, I’d keep that little detail to myself for now, and I had no doubt that my grandmother wouldn’t tell a soul, either. After all,shehad lied, too, and her precious reputation was in question here. She wouldn’t risk shaming herself, not unless she had a perfectly believable explanation that would put all the blame on me.

“Good news, good news,” Cameron said, her eyes cold and calculating as she looked at me now. “The Council also asked me to brief you on the story that we’ve published regarding your status.” She pulled a black leather folder from the top of the pile of documents on her left and opened it. “I’m sure you saw the people outside. They’re not happy that a Mud stole their colors.”

She laughed.

My skin crawled.You’re just jealous,I thought. “I didn’t steal anything from anyone,” I said.

“No, no, of course not. I just mean they’re pissed that you were Mud and you got to drain the Rainbow—andwin five million dollars, too.” Her laughter turned even more bitter. “That must make you proud. A self-made millionaire at the age of twenty. You don’t hear that often.”

I raised a brow. “I’m sure you know who I am, Miss Cameron. I was already a millionaire before the Iris Roe.”

Not really—I wasn’t. My parents did leave me a lot of money, but not millions. Madeline had those; my parents hadn’t. But I just wanted to piss this woman off because I didn’t seem to have the patience to pretend today and I just wanted her to get to the point already so I could leave, go find Taland.

The way her cheeks flushed so suddenly could have been funny. “But the people don’t know that. And they’re pretty angry—those signs were really something.”

It occurred to me how muchpatienceI’d had before I turned Mud and my life went to shit.

It occurred to me howniceI’d been to people my whole life, how I’d always tricked myself into keeping my mouth shut becausethey probably don’t mean it,orthey’re not really aware of what they’re doing,orthey’ll probably regret it later and apologize.

No.

Abso-fucking-lutely not. Whatever had happened to me since the night I received that text—or maybe it was just my impatience to find Taland, but I didn’t care if people meant to be rude to me, if they were aware, and I was most definitely not concerned with them regretting anything.

I forced my lips to stretch as I looked Cameron straight in the eye. “The people are jealous because I did what they couldn’t do even with their magic intact, that’s all. I’m obviously not going to take a bunch of signs seriously.” If I were in a better mood, I’d have faked a laugh, too, just for good measure.

“How,though?” she asked, squinting her eyes at me as she leaned closer over the table. “How did you manage to even drain the Rainbow? That alone requires a lot of magic.”

Taland-Taland-Taland-Taland—“Like you said, I got lucky.”

A second of silence.

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