Page 109 of Only Cold Depths
She held her hand up, and I gave her a high five. But my triumph quickly faded away, and my arm plummeted to my side. “It’s just a simulation. It would still need to be rigorously tested before the cannon could be mass-produced.”
“But?” Zane asked.
I blew out a breath. “But we still don’t know what Esmina and Pollux want with the weapon.”
“You mean besides destroying House Collier?” Asterin muttered.
“Tearing down House Collier and replacing it with her own House is one of Esmina’s goals, but I still feel like something else is going on. Like there’s someotherplayer in this game we don’t know about. Someone had to tell Esmina about the cannon in the first place.”
Zane leaned an elbow down on the table. “Like the Techwave? Perhaps Esmina and Pollux are working for General Orion Ocnus. I’m sure he’d love to get his hands on you.”
Asterin shook her head. “If the Techwave were involved, General Ocnus would have sent Black Scarabs to attack the estate, just like he did to my lunarium mine on Tropics 33. Not common mercenaries.”
“There was nothingcommonabout those mercenaries,” Zane replied. “They were some of the best fighters I’ve ever seen. If Esmina and Pollux are working for someone, that person must have credits to burn, especially given all the attacks the mercs have launched over the last few days.”
His words made me think back over everything that had happened. Esmina and Pollux had tried to kidnap me on Tropics 44, but Kyrion had stopped them. Two days later, they broke into the Collier mineral exchange to steal gemstones to try to fix the Techwave cannon themselves. Trying to capture me again in the shipping yard had been a last-minute addition after I’d destroyed their transport. And finally, earlier today, the mercenaries had stormed the Collier estate with the goal of kidnapping Kyrion, to make me fix the cannon and deliver it to them, and they had succeeded.
Those were all logical, rational steps—for someone who knew I might be able to fix the weapon. But Asterin was right too. There had been no sign of Black Scarabs, and I couldn’t imagine General Ocnus sending anyone but his own troops after Kyrion and me.
Who else knew the Techwave cannons were faulty? Who else would want to use the weapons against their enemies? I felt like the answer was right in front of me, but I couldn’t quite see it—and I desperately needed to see it if I had any chance of saving Kyrion.
My hands moved over the stormswords, sliding the weapons back and forth in time to my turbulent thoughts. I found myself studying Zane’s sword, which featured tinyZs representing House Zimmer. The same sigil adorned the pommel of my own sword.
I traced the symbol with my index finger, my skin sinking into the grooves in the silver. For months, I’d thought the sigil was anNand an unfortunate reminder that Nerezza was my mother, but I supposed the hard truth was the symbol represented both halves of my family, for better or worse.
“Vesper?” Asterin asked. “What are you going to do?”
I dropped my hand from my sword. “No idea. I fixed the cannon to have something to bargain with, but I can’t just hand it over to Esmina and Pollux.”
“Not even to save Kyrion?” Zane asked.
Tears pricked my eyes, and my heart squeezed tight. “No, not even to save Kyrion. Esmina and Pollux will use the weapon to hurt—kill—more innocent people. We all saw what they did at the estate with standard weapons. If Esmina and Pollux give the Techwave cannons to their men, there will be no stopping them.”
A tense silence dropped over the workshop as we all contemplated that horrible possibility.
Someone cleared their throat. “Perhaps I can be of some assistance.”
Asterin drew the blaster from her belt, while Zane and I grabbed our stormswords. We all whirled around, weapons up.
Wendell froze, his eyes wide as he looked at first one weapon, then another.
I hissed out a breath, lowered my sword, and set it back down on the table. “How did you find us?”
Zane cursed and glanced down at his jacket. “You planted a tracker in one of my buttons? Again?”
Wendell bobbed his head. “I thought it prudent with everything that was going on.”
Zane let out a rueful laugh, then glanced over at me. “Our father likes to keep an eye on things, even if that means planting his own spy gadgets on family members.”
“I wouldn’t have to resort to such extreme measures if my children weren’t so determined to always sprint headlong into danger,” Wendell quipped.
My children.He said the words naturally, without hesitation, as if he’d known he had two children his entire life. My heart squeezed. I’d come so close to losing Wendell when the mercenary had tried to kill him at the estate . . .
Wait.Whyhad the mercenary tried to kill Wendell? He was a well-regarded spelltech. If anything, the merc should have tried to kidnap Wendell in the hope that he might be able to fix the Techwave cannon in case I couldn’t. But the merc had said he would get a bonus for taking out Wendell, so who would want my father dead? And why now?
I chewed my lip and tapped my fingers on the edge of the table hard enough to make my stormsword vibrate with the motion. The sigil on the pommel glinted in the light, while the sapphsidian eyes in the hilt winked at me . . .
I froze, my fingers stuttering to a halt, although a sick realization bloomed in my mind. I’d been right before. Therewasanother player in this deadly game. Of course. I should have realized who it was before. Maybe I would have if I hadn’t been so busy trying to escape Esmina’s traps.
