Last Guard

by Nalini Singh

  Did they say anything yet?

  No. But if anyone can find the solution, they will.

  The two of them ended the conversation there, without good-byes. They weren’t necessary, because even separated by thousands of miles, Payal and Canto were never apart, the bond between them a living thing luminous with emotion.

  He lived inside her, as she lived inside him.

  The Payal before, the one who hadn’t yet met Canto again, she would’ve believed such a thing must be intrusive—but it wasn’t. They didn’t surveil one another. No, it was more akin to knowing that if she held out a hand, he’d be there to grab onto it. Always, he’d be there.

  A word hovered on the tip of her tongue, such a huge word, such a massive emotion.

  Breath shuddering, she pushed it away. Not yet. She wasn’t ready to face that . . . to hope for that. It felt like asking for too much.

  After doing breathing exercises to compose herself, she took one last look in the mirror before she headed to her father. Sunita, her long gray hair neatly braided and her black staff uniform pressed to within an inch of its life, was hovering outside her room when she exited. “Miss Payal,” she whispered, fear a tremor in her voice.

  Payal immediately stepped close to the taller but far thinner woman. “What’s the matter?”

  Chapter 44

  Murder most foul, as in the best it is. But this most foul, strange and unnatural.

  —From Hamlet by the human playwright William Shakespeare (17th century)

  “YOUR BROTHER,” SUNITA said, darting looks up the hallway. “He destroyed his suite last night.” She twisted her hands. “He hasn’t lost control like that since the day you saved Visha.”

  Payal’s mind flashed to an image of Visha’s wounds, the slick of red on the brown of her skin. “Thank you. Now, I want you to disappear for a few days—log health leave into the system. I’ll authorize it.” If her brother was in a rage, then the older woman wasn’t safe. Lalit might ignore the servants, but she couldn’t take the risk that he hadn’t worked out that Sunita was Payal’s.

  The older woman—who put on a good Silent front most of the time, but who’d clearly thrown off the shackles of the protocol with far more success than most Psy her age—looked at her with distressed eyes. “You’ll be all alone.”

  Payal had always thought theirs a strictly mercenary relationship, but there was fear and worry in the other woman’s eyes. She could see it clear as day now that she was no longer blocking her emotional center. It shook her to know she’d blinded herself in such a destructive way.

  “I’m a cardinal Tk,” she said gently. “He’s never going to be as strong as I am.”

  Sunita resisted. “He won’t fight in the open. He’ll be like a snake, sliding in under the door while you sleep—it’s how he was as a boy, so cunning that he hurt you while your father wasn’t looking. I tried to watch, to find ways to distract him, but I was only a maid.”

  No doubt in Payal’s mind of the depth of Sunita’s concern. “I’ll make sure I never drop my guard.” She put a gentle hand on Sunita’s shoulder, felt the jut of bone there; she’d looked into Sunita’s nutrition in the past, learned that the other woman ate a normal diet—the thin stature was a family trait and not a cause for medical concern. “But I need you out of the way so I don’t have to worry about anyone else.”

  Sunita hesitated again before nodding at last. “I should leave now?”

  “Yes. Go.” A storm had been gathering on the horizon for a long time—her ascension to the Ruling Coalition would’ve only fueled Lalit’s fury.

  After Sunita hurried away, Payal deliberately called her brother on the phone to keep him distracted. “Has Father summoned you to his apartment, too?” she asked. “I need to discuss something with both of you.”

  “No,” Lalit purred, and it held venom. “I’m not part of the Ruling Coalition, after all.”

  Yes, the storm would break soon. “Meet me there. Bring an updated version of the Tirawa file.” She made it an order because she had to act as she’d always done with him—anything else, and he’d suspect she’d been warned of his tantrum. “Ten minutes.” It’d take him most of that time to put together the old file, and Sunita would be long out of the house by then.

  “Yes, boss.”

  She stopped herself from glancing up at one of the security cameras as she spoke to Canto. Can you see me now?

  Yes. Not being creepy—I just need to watch over you in that place.

  I don’t mind. She wasn’t “normal” and neither was he. This was their normal. I’m going to see my father.

  I have no feed in your father’s apartment. Grim words. You’ll have to alert me if there’s a problem.

  Shouldn’t be. He likely wants to talk politics and how I can use my position to advantage the family.

  I’ll keep you in sight as long as possible.

  Payal walked on feeling as if he were right there beside her.

  Arriving at the door to her father’s apartment not long afterward, she put all extraneous thoughts aside. Pranath Rao’s assistant showed her into her father’s room, where Pranath sat in bed, showered and dressed in a crisp white shirt with a raised collar. A blanket of fine black wool covered his lower half.

  His bed desk was busy with documents and organizers.

  “A moment, Payal.”

  She used that time to make a subtle scan of the room. The mirrors at the back were still in place, but she felt no minds in that area. That might be true—or it might be a complex shield. It could be done, though it was hard work. As far as she knew, the only people who regularly maintained such shields were those like the Arrows.

  Her father wouldn’t have hired just anyone for his guards; his people would be highly trained. Not Arrows, since Arrows couldn’t be bought. Mercenaries, then. Possibly leftovers from the Council superstructure, people who’d managed to get away because they’d kept their heads down.

  “Father.” Lalit walked into the room.

  Pranath looked up. “I was informed you were here.” A reminder that he knew everything that happened in Vara. “But this is a private meeting, Lalit.”

  “To which Payal invited me,” Lalit said with apparent equanimity.

  “We need to discuss the Tirawa offer that just came in.” Payal held her father’s gaze. “I want Lalit to run that negotiation.”

  Lalit’s head swiveled toward her, but he said nothing. Pranath, in contrast, put aside the organizer on which he’d been focused, and said, “Is there a reason you don’t want to personally handle such a major deal?”

  “I’m part of the Ruling Coalition,” she pointed out. “There are certain duties I must perform that will take me away at times. Lalit’s more than capable of closing this.”

  “Are you?” Pranath demanded of her brother. “You’ve been slipping of late. Did you really think I wouldn’t hear of you demolishing your suite? That kind of a lack of control is of a child.”

  She didn’t expect it. Not then.

  Lalit had used his telekinesis to pick up Pranath and break his neck before their father was even aware of what was happening. “Good-bye, Father dearest.”

  No guards responded.

  Pranath hadn’t had anyone on standby. He’d been expecting only Payal. Whom he had on a leash.

  She shoved Lalit telekinetically to the other end of the room as he began to turn toward her. He smashed into the wall, cracks going out in every direction . . . then smiled and said, “You and me, little sister. Oh wait, we have another sibling, don’t we?” Then he vanished.

  Canto, Lalit just killed our father! I think he’s going for Karishma! She teleported the split second afterward, right into Karishma’s living space at the school . . . just in time to see Lalit blink out of there. It happened so fast that she couldn’t tell if he’d had anyone with him. “Kari!”<
br />
  She’s not at the school, remember? Canto’s calm, clear voice. You told me she and Visha Ramachandran went on a small vacation to a rural property that you own.

  Payal’s panic flatlined. Yes, and Lalit has no knowledge of that property.

  I just used your passwords to access the security system of the vacation property, Canto added. I can see them—they’re fine, doing a puzzle in the living area. If Lalit could get there, he’d be there already.

  Thank you. Her mind snapping back into focus, she returned to her father’s suite.

  The doors flung open at the same instant, Pranath Rao’s guards arriving too late.

  She slammed them back with her Tk before they could raise their weapons. “My brother is now a murderer.” One who was on tape, because she had zero doubts her father had a security system that recorded everything. Including Lalit’s vicious and mocking good-bye, and the way he’d just slightly raised his right hand at the exact moment Pranath was killed. A small tell, but one Lalit had developed young; it wouldn’t be hard to prove that, of the two of them, he was the one who’d committed the murder.

  “Call Enforcement and send out an alert that he is dangerous and wanted for the murder of his father.” Lalit’s plan must be to take her out, too, then seize control of the entire Rao empire. But the instant she made his crime public, she would throw a massive spanner in the works—and might just flush him out.

  Her father’s secretary coughed. “Are you sure, ma’am? This is family business.”

  “I’m sure,” she said, her voice arctic. “This is my family now. If I ever need to repeat an order again, you won’t like it.”

  No flinch, no reaction, but the middle-aged man began to make the call.

  His cooperation wouldn’t equal a position at Payal’s side, or even in the sprawl of Rao businesses. The secretary had seen far too much and allowed far too much. Payal would never trust him.

  Releasing the guards, she said, “Get out.” Safe in the knowledge that Canto was watching over her sister, she’d stand guard over her father’s corpse until the arrival of the investigators. She didn’t trust the secretary and others not to decide Lalit was the better option and attempt to help him by removing Pranath’s body.

  What she didn’t do was search her father. He would’ve kept nothing on him that would give her an answer when it came to the drug. No, he’d taken that secret to the grave with him. “Bravo, Father. You won this round.” But the game wasn’t yet over.

  Six more days before her tumor would begin to go active.

  * * *

  • • •

  CANTO made sure he had Karishma and Visha on his center screen.

  Around them were the feeds from the cameras in Vara. He’d also reached out to all his moles in Lalit’s camp. No one had spotted him, and the security cameras couldn’t see him, either.

  Then there he was, literally smashing his way into Payal’s suite.

  Payal, he’s broken through a wall into your apartment. I’m going to handle this. He’d fucking had enough. The man was a psychopath and a murderer, and Canto wasn’t about to allow him to skulk away and start hunting Payal from the shadows. Don’t stop me.

  Do it, she said. I don’t want Kari looking over her shoulder all her life. That’s why he’s in my apartment—trying to find some way to get to her.

  There was his 3K. Thinking about someone else rather than herself. But all that mattered was that she wouldn’t stand in his way. I need to get into your private organizer. She’d messaged him from it last night, but she hadn’t had it with her when she exited the apartment, which meant there was a high chance it was in her bedroom.

  Payal telepathed him the necessary information.

  “Thank you, baby,” he muttered, his fingers flying over the keyboard. “It’s time to take out the garbage.” He pinged her organizer; he’d already turned off the screen control remotely and upped the volume.

  As if Payal had made a mistake and left it unlocked.

  His message was simple: Hi, Didi. Payal had shared what Karishma called her, told him the import of Karishma’s chosen form of address.

  Lalit spoke the same language, would recognize it.

  If Payal’s brother had already teleported out, it wouldn’t work, but Canto didn’t think that was a possibility. Lalit wanted to destroy Payal—and he’d somehow worked out that Karishma mattered to her. He was in that apartment, searching.

  A reply pinged on Canto’s screen: Hello, Karishma. What are you doing?

  Adrenaline pumping, Canto messaged back: Waiting for you to visit. You said you’d come today.

  I keep my promises. Just send me a photograph of where you are—I’ve been distracted, seem to have misfiled the image.

  Canto’s lips curved. While waiting for Lalit’s reply, he’d pulled up a number of suitable images and edited out the people in them. Leaving only the location. Then he sent the message: Oh, okay! Here’s a picture. Can’t wait to see you!

  A second later, he heard a step upstairs. Right where he’d wanted Lalit to ’port in.

  The man had raised a telepathic shield and was moving with care.

  Switching on his recording equipment, Canto turned his chair to face the door into his comm room, his mind calm and the weapon he slid into his hand as cool as glass.

  “Kari, oh sweet Kari.” Lalit’s voice was singsong as he came down the stairs. “What are you doing in this place with so many trees? I’ve come to take you home, little sister.” A small laugh. “I’m going to send you to see Father.”

  Canto didn’t take his attention off the door.

  Lalit’s surprise at coming face-to-face not with his youngest sibling but with an armed Canto was almost comical. His eyes flared.

  That single moment of indecision was all Canto needed.

  Single shot. Center of the forehead.

  There was no other way to win against a powerful telekinetic.

  Lalit crashed to the floor, dead before he hit it, but Canto went across and checked to make sure he really was gone. “Grandmother,” he murmured, “you’d be proud of my accuracy.”

  Ena had made him practice as a teen until he could shoot a fly off an apple. Today, that training had ended one nightmare for Payal. Now they had to figure out the answer to the second one—because even the Aleines weren’t magic. They couldn’t come up with answers in a matter of days.

  He and Payal had to locate Pranath’s stash of the medication, buy her time.

  Canto, Lalit’s mind just disappeared from the PsyNet.

  Sliding away his weapon, Canto said, He came here. I took care of him. Where do you want his body? Lalit couldn’t vanish; people had to know he was dead.

  Sounds from upstairs, feet flying down the stairs. The woman who appeared in the doorway was his 3K, fury in her face and determination in her body. “You’re okay.” Ignoring her dead sibling, she crossed over to brace her hands on his shoulders, her chest heaving. “Canto, you’re okay. He came here to kill you.”

  “No. He wanted to kill your sister.” Canto felt no guilt whatsoever.

  Gripping her nape with one hand, he kissed her hard. “I think you need to reappear with him so no one doubts your power. Tell them the truth—that he invaded the home of a Mercant and was shot as a result.” No one was going to come after Canto for eliminating a man who’d already committed one murder this day. “Because the two of us? We’re in the open now.”

  Payal frowned. “You don’t like being in public.”

  “I like being by your side.” Then he scowled. “Baby, you’re exhausted. Your fucking cheekbones are like glass. Let me get you some food, then you can teleport home.”

  Payal just looked at him for a long time, before giving the smallest smile. “Okay, 7J.”

  Chapter 45

  The NetMind feels like a kitten in my head toda
y, Max. Excited and jumpy and so very young. As if it can sense something on the horizon that makes it happy.

  —Sophia Russo to Max Shannon

  THE FALLOUT FROM her father’s murder and Lalit’s death took Payal less time to handle than she might’ve predicted. It turned out Lalit had very few loyalists, and those she fired off the bat. As for her father’s people, that was more complicated—many were highly skilled and necessary to the business.

  In the end, she kept most of them. Not the ones like the secretary, but there were very few in that innermost circle. As for the others . . . while they weren’t people she would ever trust as she’d trust those who’d been loyal to her when she had little power, they were now hers. They knew she hadn’t murdered the man to whom they’d been faithful, and thus they’d transferred their loyalty from father to child.

  She was also planning for a certain level of attrition. The Rao family was never again going to function as it’d done under Pranath. For one, her sister was coming home—after Payal cleared Vara of anyone who might make Kari feel flawed or like a mistake or in any way less.

  As for Lalit, Enforcement had interviewed Canto, decided he was telling the truth after viewing the surveillance footage from the standoff, and that was the end of it. She’d had the feeling the entire thing had been nothing but theater, the decision already made behind the scenes.

  “So much power, Canto,” Payal said to him in the aftermath, as she stood beside him on the highest external vantage point in Vara, Delhi cloaked in the first flush of night around them. “Aren’t you afraid it’ll corrupt you?” Mercants had tentacles everywhere, could conceivably pervert any system.

  “Arwen lived inside me for ten years of his life. I couldn’t be evil if I tried my hardest.” He placed one hand on her lower back, the contact as familiar as the touch of their bond.