Age of X01 - Gameboard of the Gods

by Richelle Mead

  “Same knot work they’ve got all over the house.”

  “No…it’s a very slightly different style.” He frowned. “I’ve seen this before. Where have I seen this before?”

  Tessa obviously didn’t know. She started to put it back, but he took it from her, trying to dredge up an image from the files of his mind. Suddenly, his breath caught. He took out his ego and pulled up the video that still continued to baffle the RUNA’s best technical minds. The display was smaller than a true screen, so it was more difficult to make out the details as he watched the red-haired Erinian woman take off her jewelry for the night. But there it was—he was certain of it. The necklace she removed was the right size and shape, and he knew if he looked at a larger screen, he’d see a replica of the one Tessa had found.

  “It’s Celtic knot work, not Norse,” he murmured.

  “Why would Mae have Celtic jewelry?”

  “Why would Mae have this at all?” he asked. His mind was reeling, and for all his cleverness, he couldn’t find a way to make this work into any of his theories. It tore them open.

  Mae entered just then, her angry expression suggesting her parting conversation with Claudia hadn’t gone well. “Are you guys ready to go?”

  Justin held up the necklace, still stunned. “Where did you get this?”

  “I don’t know. Half that jewelry’s been around forever. Heirlooms and stuff.” She did a double take, picking up on his state of shock. “Why?”

  “The Erinian woman in the video had one just like this.”

  “What? I don’t remember that.”

  “Well, I do, and I just replayed it to check. Why would you both have this?”

  Mae shook her head, nowhere near as blown away as he was. “I don’t know. Because it was mass-produced by some designer that castals like? Coincidences like that happen all the time.”

  “But it’s Celtic! Why would you have Celtic jewelry?”

  “Because sometimes we visit other castes. My mother has Celtic friends. It’s probably from one of them.” She was starting to get irate. “What are you getting at here? Because obviously, there’s something.”

  “‘Something’ is that you’re part of this!” He set the necklace down and began to pace as he organized his frantic thoughts. “We were wrong. Somehow we were wrong. You’re tied to them, Mae. The other eights and nines. I knew it was too big of a coincidence.”

  She looked aghast. “We already went over this, and Leo told you I wasn’t a match. I wasn’t worked on.”

  “You were,” he said slowly, fully realizing his next words might cause considerable damage. “He…he said you showed signs of genetic manipulation. It wasn’t the same kind as the victims’, but it definitely wasn’t natural.”

  Wide-eyed, she opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out right away. “He never told me that. You never told me that.” It was a small detail, but Justin noticed she had a greater expectation that he would tell her the truth than that the person who’d actually run the test would. “There’s a mistake. I wasn’t part of any illegal genetics.”

  “Were you not there at dinner?” he asked. “Do you seriously think you came out of that bunch without some sort of serious intervention from science?”

  “I’m not a match,” she said through gritted teeth. “Leo said so.” He could see the panic rising in her, a panic that wasn’t so much just about illicit practices. It was the fear of being part of something she’d had no say in, a future that others had chosen for her. If he wanted to keep any of her regard for him, Justin knew he should back off…but he couldn’t. Not when he knew he was right.

  “Maybe you were a trial or something. I don’t know. But look at the facts! You have the right score, the right age. You had some kind of work done. And now there’s this ‘coincidental’ necklace, which I’ll bet anything you want has some sort of religious meaning—and which I also bet we’ll find with some of the other victims.”

  “Which is it?” she demanded. “A vindictive geneticist or a crazy cult?”

  “I think it’s what Callista said: both.”

  “Right,” said Mae, scoffing. “Because she’s an authority. Don’t drag me into your fanatical theories of—”

  She stopped abruptly when she saw her mother standing in the door. Judging from her shocked expression and Tessa’s paleness, he and Mae had gotten pretty loud. He’d been too caught up to notice.

  “Is everything okay?” Astrid asked.

  “Everything’s fine,” said Mae. “I apologize for the disturbance.” She was the ice princess again, but there was fire in her eyes.

  “Everything is not okay!” Justin said. “You guys are so caught up in your polished images and passive-aggressive comments that no one ever comes right out and says anything. Well, I’m going to.” He stared Astrid straight in the eye, uncaring if she thought he was a plebeian savage. “Mrs. Koskinen, was there or was there not genetic manipulation used when Mae was conceived?”

  Mae gasped, probably as much from someone actually speaking openly in this house as from the topic itself. He kept his gaze on Astrid, looking for any telltale signs of lying in that impassive face. She was clearly someone who’d perfected controlling what she revealed to the world years ago. Her whole life was built on appearances, and while Mae was good, she was a novice compared to her mother. As it turned out, though, Justin didn’t have to read through any lies.

  “Yes,” said Astrid. “Yes, there was.”

  CHAPTER 28

  HER DRUG

  For a moment, Mae couldn’t breathe. She stared at her mother, waiting for something else, some explanation or—preferably—the revelation that this was all a joke. But Mae should’ve known better. Her mother wasn’t the joking type.

  “You…you can’t be serious.”

  “Oh, I’m perfectly serious.” Her mother strolled with complete ease into the room, settling down on the plush, satin-covered bed as though she were at tea. “Dr. March’s observations were very astute. Did you really think you were the result of some freak chance? After your siblings?”

  “They aren’t that bad. They’re your own kids!” Mae frantically tried to remember how much of the case she and Justin had inadvertently discussed just now. Tessa had been hearing pieces of it for weeks, but it wasn’t her discretion Mae was worried about.

  “Yes, Maj. They are. And I love them, just as I love you. I loved you enough to give you your best fighting chance in the world.”

  Mae swallowed, still unable to believe this conversation was taking place. “What you’re saying…you broke the law. It’s illegal. It’s unethical.”

  Her mother shrugged. “Is it unethical to want healthy children? The government’s too paranoid. What harm was done? You’re here, you’re healthy. Mephistopheles wasn’t unleashed on the world again.”

  “I can’t believe Dad would’ve agreed to it.”

  “He didn’t need to. You were all in vitro. It was as simple as giving the lab what they needed and letting them do their business. It was what we did at other places for your brother and sister. Your father had no reason to think any more than normal fertilization was going on. I got pregnant, and we got you.” She made it sound so nauseatingly easy.

  Justin crossed his arms and leaned against a wall, thoughts churning behind his dark eyes. “He must’ve suspected something later when he saw this perfect face and athletic skills that’d be mind-blowing in a plebeian, let alone a cas—patrician.”

  Her mother didn’t deny it. “What was he going to do? Return her?”

  Mae felt dizzy and rested a hand on the dresser, steadying herself. That her father had had no part in this was the only piece of sanity in this increasingly unbelievable tale.

  “You know the name of whoever did the work?” asked Justin.

  “I don’t remember.” Mae’s mother waved a dismissive hand. “I’m sure I could find it in our records somewhere, though they’re not in business anymore.”

  “I’m sure they aren’t,�
�� said Justin. “And I’m sure whatever name you’ve got will be untraceable anyway.”

  “You should’ve told me this,” said Mae. It was all she could manage.

  Her mother actually seemed to find that funny, though there was venom in her voice. “Why? Would that have changed anything? Would you have stayed behind and done your duty? Married respectfully and helped us recoup our losses instead of sleeping around with plebeians?”

  There was a lot of Astrid’s response that was out of line, but one word caught Mae’s attention. “Recoup…that’s not why you ran out of money, is it?”

  “I took out a number of loans to pay for you,” her mother said, confirming it. “Loans that came due around the time of your disastrous debut. It cost a lot to make that ‘perfect face.’”

  “Did you pay in blood too?” asked Justin.

  Mae’s mother seemed to have momentarily forgotten he was here. Her defensiveness and contempt faltered at his words, and astonishment crossed her harsh features. “What on earth are you talking about?”

  “I’m talking about the cult you signed on with to create Mae, the one that requires human sacrifice.” Justin watched her so, so carefully, on guard for any twitch. Mae’s mother, however, looked floored. It wasn’t something Mae saw very often.

  “That is…” Her voice trailed off as though she needed to replay Justin’s words in her mind and make sure she had them right. “That is absurd.” A few moments later, her bafflement turned to outrage. “Is that supposed to be some kind of sick joke?”

  “Where did you get”—Justin walked over to the jewelry box and held up the necklace—“this?”

  Her mother squinted as the pendant caught the light. “How should I know? It’s Maj’s. Ask her.”

  Mae didn’t want to play into Justin’s madness but couldn’t help elaborating. “It’s nothing I ever picked out. It’s just been around.”

  “Then it was probably part of your grandmother’s collection.” Frowning, her mother glanced back and forth between their faces. “What’s this about?”

  “Nothing,” said Justin, snapping a picture of the necklace with his ego.

  Mae had no doubt it’d be sent off to the other land grants’ law enforcement offices in an attempt to find a match among the various victims’ possessions. They wouldn’t find one, though. Mae was certain of it. I have no connection to the rest. Leo said so. Of course, maybe she shouldn’t have put that much stock in Leo, seeing as he had yet to explain the shadowy figure in the video. Justin wasn’t coming out and saying it, but she knew he no longer believed the video had been manipulated.

  “It’s late. We need to go,” said Mae. Justin’s head swiveled toward her.

  “But we—”

  “You’re not going to find out anything else useful,” she told him. “Because this—as ludicrous as it all is—has nothing to do with our work.”

  He opened his mouth to protest again, and she shot him a hard look that finally made him back down. Tessa looked all too relieved, and Mae’s mother had recovered herself enough to act as though it were all no big deal. Mae hesitated by her before walking out the front door after Justin and Tessa.

  “Why tell me all this now?” Mae asked.

  “Because your ‘friend’ caught me off guard. That, and it’s all in the past. Nothing to be done for it now, and there’s no hard proof of my guilt if you were going to turn me in.” She crooked Mae a smile that held no warmth. “And I don’t believe even you would sell your own family out.”

  It was ironic she’d mention that, since Mae, before going up to her old bedroom, had had a heated argument with Claudia about the baby they’d smuggled away. Mae had demanded to know if Claudia knew her child had ended up with the savages in Arcadia. Claudia had been aghast—but not because of the girl’s fate.

  “What are you thinking looking into this? Do you think you’re actually going to find her and bring her back?” Claudia had exclaimed.

  “I don’t know,” Mae had admitted. “I’m just looking.”

  “You’ll ruin my marriage if this gets out! Not to mention get me arrested. Are you really cold enough to do that, Mae?”

  Mae hadn’t had an answer. The little girl seemed too far away, too impossible to ever find. With no proof of her existence, there was no proof of a crime.

  The car ride back to the hotel was full of tension. Justin was too smart to say anything more in front of Tessa. And Tessa was too smart to push on something she knew she probably shouldn’t have heard in the first place. She was also tactful enough to ask if she could go for a walk when they got back to their hotel. No doubt she assumed Mae needed some quiet time.

  “Stay around this block,” Justin told her. “It’s getting late.” It was still well lit and full of people out for the evening’s entertainments, especially since the rain had held off. Across the street from their hotel, a band was having an outdoor concert in a small park. Tessa assured him she’d stay safe, and once she was gone, Justin beckoned Mae upstairs. “Let’s talk.”

  Mae trudged along beside him. “I don’t want to talk.”

  “Yes, you do.”

  She followed him up to his room. He immediately turned toward the minibar, then caught himself and took a seat on the bed instead. He patted the spot beside him.

  “Haven’t we done this before?” she asked morosely, sitting on the bed’s edge. “Except last time you were confessing to believing in the supernatural.”

  “Well, now it’s your time to shine. How do you feel? What do you feel?”

  “Nothing. I feel empty.”

  “That’s impossible after what you just heard. You have to feel something.”

  She stared bleakly ahead. “Mostly I feel that I should’ve figured all this out on my own. Maybe I was naïve to think I could really be a natural nine and a professional castal athlete.”

  She spoke as calmly as she could, even though she felt sick on the inside. Knowing she’d been conceived in a petri dish had never bothered her. Knowing someone had altered her DNA was an entirely different matter. Everything about her own body took on a sinister edge. Looking at her hands, she had a surreal sense that they were not truly part of her, as though they were foreign objects.

  “Everything about me is a lie,” she told him.

  “That’s not true.” He put an arm around her. “The beginning doesn’t matter. Where you are now is what counts.”

  She leaned into him. “You do self-help now? In addition to prying into others’ secrets?”

  “They’re one and the same.” She didn’t know if she agreed with that, but at least when someone knew almost everything about you, they could understand where you were coming from. It still didn’t change the awful truth.

  “I was a commodity. Born for her own gain.”

  “Not much different from being a stipend baby,” he pointed out.

  “Oh.” She felt stupid for her misstep. “Sorry.”

  “Don’t be.” He looked her in the eye with that intensity that seemed to peer right into her very essence. She fell into it. There was no scam here, no schmoozing. “Look, I meant what I said. It’s where we end up. My mom had me to get some extra cash for her drug habit, and I became an academic turned government agent. You were intended to be some pretty, compliant little creature who could be sold off to breed the highest bidder’s children. Instead, you answered your country’s highest calling.”

  “Guarding you?”

  “That’s the second highest. I meant the part where you fearlessly walk into danger to further the RUNA’s glory. You turned it around, Mae.” He gently touched the side of her face. “You’re the one who took control of your life.”

  His words wrapped around her, reaching a part of her that few ever acknowledged. The pain of what she’d learned still remained, but there, sitting with him, it lessened slightly. And like that, one of those boxes she kept her emotions locked in burst open. It was where she’d swept away all that desire from Panama, all the longing and infatuati
on for a magnetic man who’d made love to her with an assurance that wasn’t so much dominance as it was the claiming of something both of them sought.

  Before she could change her mind, Mae leaned forward and kissed him. She’d intended it to be a sweet and simple gesture, but it hit her with the same intensity as their first kiss, sending fire through her from head to toe. It also lasted a lot longer than she’d expected. A lot longer.

  “What was that for?” he asked when they broke away.

  “Really? There’s something you can’t figure out?” She stayed close, close enough that she could see the individual lashes that framed his eyes and smell his cologne, which was probably the latest and greatest creation of some trendy designer.

  He pondered for a few moments, unable to resist the challenge. “Is it because after a lifetime of having men fawn over you and promise devotion, I’m one of the few who actually doesn’t try to control you and even acknowledges that your own self-control is actually a positive thing?”

  Mae shoved him away. “Damn it! Why do you have to ruin everything?”

  He laughed and caught her hand, pulling them back together. “Does that mean I’m right?”

  “Of course you’re right. You’re always right. Although, admittedly, I wasn’t really thinking of it in such clinical terms.”

  His smile grew as he leaned toward her, and despite the anger and hurt she still carried from the aftermath of their last liaison, the feelings that had burst open within her remained. Suddenly, Justin faltered and let go of her hand. He averted his eyes and shifted away. “Well,” he said, voice neutral. “Glad to know my skills are still razor-sharp.”

  Mae was at a loss. He wanted her, she knew it. Then, a smarting truth hit her, and she felt like an idiot. “Justin…I need to apologize for what I said a long time ago. The whole thing about ‘someone like me’ and ‘someone like you.’ Obviously, you know now about my nonexistent Nordic dating habits. I just lashed out at you then because I felt hurt and humiliated over what I thought was some scheme of yours. I don’t believe that anymore. I know you weren’t using me.”