Page 24 of Only Cold Depths
“What do you mean?” Tivona asked.
I called up the battle footage and pointed out all the times Esmina had known something was going to happen seconds before it actually occurred.
Tivona frowned. “What kind of psion power would let you do that?”
I stared at a photo of Esmina, studying the gold flecks glinting in her green eyes. “She’s a seer.”
“How do you know?” Kyrion asked.
I hesitated. I wasn’t sure how I knew, but as soon as the words left my mouth, I couldfeelthe truth of them, and I could have sworn a soft chime of confirmation rang through my mind.
“I just . . . have a feeling that’s what she is.” I shook my head. “Although I’ve never heard of a seer having enough magic to predict the future so quickly and accurately. She was adjusting to how the battle was playing out in real time seconds before everyone else was.”
Daichi nodded. “Esmina being a seer does seem to be the most logical conclusion. Perhaps if I had more information, I would have been able to learn more about her abilities.”
I huffed at the chiding note in his voice. “Sorry. The next time I’m stuck between two powerful psions threatening a bunch of bounty hunters, I’ll politely interrupt the hostilities and ask everyone to give me their full names, along with their birth planets, star signs, and favorite colors.”
Daichi huffed right back at me.
“Any updates on Holloway?” Kyrion asked.
“Holloway is holed up in the palace like usual,” Daichi replied. “Although Zane hasn’t given a gossipcast interview in almost three days, even though reporters are camped out in Promenade Park, right across the Boulevard from Castle Zimmer.”
He tapped on his holoscreen, and new images appeared, showing a lush green park and a wide cobblestone thoroughfare lined with colorful, quirky castles. The most powerful Regal families all had homes along the Boulevard.
Castle Zimmer was made of a pale blue stone streaked with jagged forks of midnight blue. My gaze locked onto the tower that housed Zane’s library. My stomach clenched with a familiar nauseating combination of anger and dread. Would I ever get used to hearing about my long-lost family? Or was I destined to suffer every time someone uttered the Zimmer name?
Kyrion snorted. “The lack of attention must be killing Zane. Perhaps that’s why he called me earlier.”
Daichi’s dark gaze sharpened. “You spoke to Zane?”
Kyrion nodded, hit some buttons, and played his conversation with Zane.
When the recording finished, Daichi shook his head. “Zane is definitely up to something. I’ll see if I can find out where he is.”
I had no desire to talk about Zane anymore, so I looked at Tivona. “How are things at Quill Corp?” I asked, unable to keep a wistful note from creeping into my voice.
Tivona winked at me. “Everything is running smoothly, thanks to your chief operating officer.”
I winked back at her. “I have no doubt of that.”
After I had seized control of the corporation, my first order of business had been to install Tivona as my chief operating officer. Tivona was a skilled negotiator who was an expert at legal strategy, public relations, and the hundreds of other details that went into running a Regal corporation. She handled the business side of things, while I ran the R&D lab, working alongside the other lab rats to improve old Kent Corp products and create new cutting-edge designs.
Tivona typed on her holoscreen, and several reports popped up and hovered over the table. “Sales of your new brewmaker have tripled since the midnight ball. Your newfound notoriety has been great for business, and I’ve been diverting half the funds into your anonymous accounts, as requested.”
A sharp finger of annoyance poked into my chest. The influx of credits had proven useful while Kyrion and I were on the run, but I wanted people to buy my brewmaker because it was the best beverage and food fabricator on the market, not because my face was plastered all over the gossipcasts.
“Are the Imperium investigators still giving you problems?” I asked.
After Kyrion and I had fled from Corios, Holloway had dispatched a squad of Imperium investigators, along with several Arrows, to Quill Corp headquarters on Temperate 42. Tivona had played her part to perfection, claiming she didn’t know about my truebond with Kyrion, and she’d managed to keep Holloway from seizing control of Quill Corp. I would be forever grateful to my friend for that.
Tivona shrugged. “I haven’t heard a peep from the Imperium investigators in weeks. They’re too busy dealing with the summer solstice attack at Castle Rojillo to bother with Quill Corp right now.”
Relief rushed through me. At least my fugitive status wasn’t causing her any more headaches. “Have you learned anything new about Jorge Rojillo’s temperature-shielding technology?”
Tivona shook her head, making her gold star chandelier earrings tinkle together like tiny wind chimes. “No. I gave the schematics to Bodie and a few of the other trusted R&D workers, but to them, it’s just a personal device, an old-fashioned wristwatch to manage the temperature. The climate-control tech is an improvement over previous iterations—smaller, faster, more powerful—but none of the Quill Corp lab rats has any idea why the Techwave wanted it so badly.”
I drummed my fingers on the table. “Tell Bodie and the others to keep working on it.”
