Page 331 of Alchemised
He glanced at the designs. “I can’t make any promises. But …” He sighed. “I suppose it might be of use.”
HELENA WAS BOTH DESPERATE AND terrified of what was to come. If the attack was a success, if the bomb could do enough to weaken Morrough, could Luc kill him?
If he did, what would happen to Kaine?
When she slept, she had endless nightmares of digging through Morrough’s corpse in the darkness with her bare hands, arms coated in his blood, ripping out his bones, trying desperately to find the piece that held Kaine’s life. In her dreams, Luc always approached, like a rising sun.
She would plead for time, try to explain herself, but Luc never heard. Every time she burned, too.
In the cold light of day, she knew it wouldn’t be like that. She would be in Headquarters, in the hospital. She wouldn’t know anything until it was too late.
Every day she wondered if she was working towards her own doom and Kaine’s destruction.
After how poorly he’d reacted to Helena’s mere involvement in the war effort, she didn’t tell him about the bomb. It wasn’t difficult to hide it; he was so busy with the ambassador, they scarcely had any time to do more than exchange urgent information.
It was only when she and Shiseo completed all the components that she went to the roof and called for him. She had to wait a long time. When Kaine arrived, he was dressed in formal attire, sharp and polished.
“I can’t stay,” he said. “What is it?”
“We have a new weapon,” she said quickly. “Is there a time or place where a lot of the Undying will be in proximity? Somewhere you won’t be. It could be planted up to two days in advance.”
His expression hardened. “A bomb?”
She gave a tense nod.
“Obsidian?”
“And nullium, so you need to be well clear.”
He nodded and looked at her pointedly. “I hope they’re not building it at Headquarters.”
She shook her head. “No. It’s off-site.”
He exhaled. “Well, the Resistance is taking this final assault seriously at least. The Hevgotian force will cross the western border within the week, but several militocrats and officials will arrive in a day. There’s to be a welcome banquet for them the following evening. Most of the Undying will be in attendance; even Morrough may be there briefly.”
She nodded. That would work. “Can you place it without suspicion? And then get away?”
His eyes softened. “No one pays attention to necrothralls the way they should. They assume anyone using them must be on their side. If I rip out the reanimation, I can take over someone else’s and use them to make a delivery. It won’t be easily traced back to me.”
“And you won’t be there? When it goes off.” She was afraid that he was evading the question.
Standing there, the two of them looked worlds apart. He was clean and pristine, in a tailored uniform, wearing a row of intricate medals, while she stood ragged, in male-sized standard-issue clothes washed to threads.
“How far away do I need to be?”
“Far enough not to breathe it in. There will be micro-shards in the air. We don’t know what effect they’ll have. You should be far away.”
“I’ll run an errand around that time. The ambassador enjoys making himself inconvenient. I’m sure I can convince him to want something unreasonable and distant.”
She nodded. “Make it a long errand. I’ll bring it tomorrow evening.”
“No.” His voice cracked like a whip, and all the softness vanished. “Crowther’s not using you to transport a bomb.”
She shook her head. “It won’t be activated until the components are joined, and there’s a countdown. I’m not going to get blown up carrying it,” she said. “You can’t put it together on your own if you don’t know how to join the pieces.”
“I don’t care. Tell Crowther to figure out another way.” He’d turned bloodlessly pale, that inhuman gleaming rising beneath his skin.
“But if I don’t come,” she said, ready to resort to anything if he’d just cooperate, “that means I won’t see you again until—until after.”
