Page 11 of Only Hard Problems

Tivona huffed out an aggravated breath. “As I have told the Imperium investigatorsnumeroustimes, I had no idea that Vesper had a truebond with Kyrion, much less that she planned to escape from Imperium custody. As the new head of Quill Corp, I have cut off Vesper’s access to company technology, products, and funds, as ordered by the Imperium.” She lifted her chin. “I have followed all of Callus Holloway’s orders to the letter of the law. I don’t know what more I can do.”

“Letter of the law? Yeah, that’s about right, considering you’ve given the bare minimum of information to the Imperium investigators,” I replied. “But then again, you are a highly skilled negotiator, Ms. Winslow. You’re good at bending the law to suit your own purposes.”

Tivona frowned. “Is that an insult or a compliment?”

“Both,” I continued in a cheerful voice. “Now, do us all a favor and tell me where Vesper and Kyrion are. I’m very good at being an Arrow, and I’ll find them sooner or later. Why not speed up that long, tedious process? Think of the time, energy, and resources you’ll save me and the other Arrows. Why, Callus Holloway might even anoint you a Regal lady for your loyal service to the Imperium.”

Tivona’s features remained smooth, but fury flared in her gaze, and the same emotion rolled off her and scorched my face, as though she was shooting red-hot lasers out of her eyes. My telekinesis was much stronger than my telempathy, so I didn’t usually sense other people’s emotions so vividly. Not like Kyrion did. Perhaps that was why he was such a broody bastard, having to experience everyone else’s feelings all the bloody time.

“As I said before, I have done everything as required by Imperium law,” Tivona replied in a calm voice, despite the hot fury still rolling off her. “If you have a problem with that, file a formal complaint against me.”

“But you don’t agree with Imperium law. You don’t think Vesper and Kyrion should be brought back to Corios.”

Tivona huffed again. “So Holloway can try to siphon off their magic again? Of course not. It’s a barbaric law, one that he engineered to benefit himself, and we all know it.”

She was right. The law that any truebonded couple in the Imperium was to be delivered to Holloway was barbaric, cruel, and evil, and I could understand why Kyrion had risked everything to save Vesper and break free of Holloway’s crushing grip. He hadn’t wanted to be a psionic battery for the greedy siphon the way his parents had been for years. Kyrion might have avoided that gruesome trap for now, but it could still be his fate—and Vesper’s too—if someone captured them before I did.

“It might be barbaric, but itisthe law, and as the head of the Arrows, I am duty-bound to follow the law.” I smiled again. “To the letter.”

Tivona’s lips curled back into a disgusted sneer at my quip, and she shook her head. “I still can’t believe thatyouare—”

She cut off her words, but my telepathy let me hear the rest of her loud, strong thought—thatyouareVesper’s brother.

A dagger twisted in my gut. Somehow the words never got any easier to hear.

It didn’t surprise me that Tivona knew my secret, and I was sure that Leandra and Asterin knew it as well, since the three of them had helped Vesper and Kyrion escape from Crownpoint. Asterin had attended the midnight ball as herself, while Tivona and Leandra had dressed up like Imperium soldiers and snuck into the palace, as had Daichi Hirano and his uncle, Touma Hirano, a disgraced spelltech who built, sold, and traded all sorts of illegal products on Corios’s booming black market.

Daichi and Touma were still on Corios, hiding out in the industrial part of the city in an abandoned warehouse they thought no one knew about. I’d found them three days after the midnight ball, and I’d been keeping track of them ever since on the off chance they might lead me to Vesper and Kyrion.

Tivona kept glaring at me, that disgusted look still on her face, as though I was a cockroach who wasn’t worthy of being Vesper’s brother. She was probably right about that.

Once again, everyone knew my family’s secret, but no one was brave or brash or reckless enough to actuallytalkto me about it. My tongue itched with the urge to ask Tivona what Vesper thought of our connection, but I plastered yet another smile on my face and slipped back into my patented Zane Zimmer persona, donning it like a suit of armor to shield myself from any more verbal slings and arrows that might come my way. Too bad it couldn’t block out my own troubled thoughts.

“Can’t believe I’m what? So handsome? So charming? So utterly irresistible?” I winked at her.

Tivona narrowed her eyes, even more fury sparking in her dark gaze, the emotion hot enough to make a few beads of sweat pop out on the back of my neck.

“Humdrum, perhaps,” Leandra drawled. “Condescending, certainly. Arrogant, absolutely.”

I gasped and clutched a hand to my heart. “Humdrum?Youwoundme, fair lady. To thecore.”

“Your rotten core.” Leandra gave me a thin, sharp smile. “Besides, if I ever truly wounded you, then you would know it, Zane.”

I grinned and gestured at her stormsword. “Anytime you want to spar, my training ring at House Zimmer is always open. Why, it would be an honor to host such an accomplished warrior from House Ferrum.”

Leandra studied me with suspicion, but my compliment was quite genuine. Leandra Ferrum was one of the best fighters I had ever seen, and her stormsword and psionic abilities made her just as dangerous as I was.

“Don’t invite me to your training ring unless you want to be thoroughly beaten,” she warned.

I winked at her as well. “It’s a date, fair lady.”

Leandra rolled her eyes in response.

I turned to Asterin, who was still studying me with cool detachment. I winked at her too, but her expression didn’t change, and a strange urge rose in me to think of just the right thing to say to crack through her ice-queen persona.

“Asterin! There you are!” Rigel joined our group.

“Hello, Rigel!” I clapped him on the shoulder as though I was absolutely delighted to see him and not silently cursing his presence.

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