CHAPTER ELEVEN
Ren watched Sebastian fall, and the world stopped turning.
Everything stopped — his breath, his heart, every thought except a single no. It was a child’s thought, a wish to take it all back, but it was all Ren had.
Frozen, he watched Jaime run to the railing, was dimly aware of shouting within the mansion. There was something in his hand. Both hands actually — the Heart, which had caused this disaster, and a sword. He had a sword, broken though it may be. Sebastian had given him this weapon.
Ren shoved the necklace into his pocket and grasped the hilt with both hands. Ebba was there, just inside the shattered window, and he could try at least for some measure of revenge. He could do something.
He rushed at her, jumping over broken glass. He’d never been in a real fight, never struck anyone in anger, much less with a weapon, but as he raised the sword he wanted her dead so badly. Ren could picture the jagged blade cutting into her. There would be blood and there would be pain, but he knew it still wouldn’t be enough to drive the image of Sebastian falling out of his mind.
Ren drew up short, leveling his weapon at her. “Surrender.”
“Why?” she asked, and he saw that she had a gun pointed at him. He hadn’t noticed before, and he found that he didn’t care about it now.
What would Sebastian do? Likely throw the sword at her and make some sort of quip. It was one way to honor him, Ren supposed, shifting his grip on the hilt.
But before Ren could do anything, something small and fast flew at Ebba’s head and another at her gun hand. She dropped the gun, and Ren gave up on the sword and dove for it. Ebba staggered back — Ren could see Jaime coming back into the mansion, a couple of small messenger drones swirling around him.
Ebba looked past them and then abruptly turned to run farther into the mansion.
Ren spun around to see what had driven her away. Graven and four guards were coming toward them, guns aimed. Graven’s one eye socket was empty, but that remaining eye was fixed on Ren and Jaime.
Ren had a gun, but the men with Graven had larger ones.
“Every alarm you have I’ve already set off,” Jaime warned them. “Fortuna’s police force is coming by airship right now.”
Graven raised a placating hand. “I’m not looking for a fight, but, if I may, why don’t I send someone to prevent Ebba from doing more damage?”
Ren inclined his head with all the haughtiness he could muster. Graven snapped his fingers, and two of the guards set off in the direction Ebba had taken.
Graven smiled, unruffled, despite the gaping hole in his face where his artificial eye had been. “A drink then while we wait for the authorities to arrive?”
Ren opened his mouth, but a wave of nausea grabbed him. He put his hands on his knees, as his control broke and the image of Sebastian falling into the dark overwhelmed him. Jaime grasped his arm.
“Ren, it’s okay. They didn’t fall — I mean they fell part of the way, but they were hanging onto the cliff. The Prince, the ship, got them. They’re both safe.”
He stared blankly at Jaime, seeing only reassurance in the other man’s eyes. Ren managed to straighten up and adjust his clothing, trying to regain some semblance of calm. “I think a drink is in order,” he replied crisply to Graven.
Graven’s smile broadened without warmth. Ren saw, too, that his gaze flicked down to Ren’s pocket where the necklace hung halfway out.
“It is my property,” Ren said again, for what seemed like the hundredth time. “Anil Graven had this jewel stolen from my home.”
The Fortunan police had arrived quickly on sleek, fast-powered airships. Graven had talked to them in a familiar way, one that Ren expected spoke to years of bribes. Graven settled himself on one of the long couches, seemingly relaxed, as though the police sweeping his mansion were merely extra company at his party.
Ebba had not yet been found, having disappeared into one of the many tunnels that lined the cliff. Most of the other guests were briefly interviewed by the police and then allowed to leave, slipping gingerly past the cordoned off area where the inactive robot lay to get onto their own airships and disappear into the night.
The robot, and everything else that had been on display in the smashed open room, were illegal on such a scale that it seemed as though Graven’s bribes were not going to be enough to let him walk away, or get the police out of his home anytime soon. Ren watched Graven’s smile grow strained, and he overheard talk from the police officers that Commonwealth agents had been notified. Ren needed to get the Heart, and himself and Jaime, out of there before it was confiscated and he ended up in the midst of a diplomatic incident.
“You got proof of that?” the police officer, who’d been listening without much interest to Ren, asked. “Record of purchase for the necklace, maybe?”
“It’s been in my family for generations.”
“Look,” the officer, a tall woman, sighed, “it doesn’t matter who that choker belongs to, right now it’s evidence. You can make a claim after it’s been processed.”
The necklace in question lay on a low table in front of the couch, next to the broken sword, both tossed there casually after Ren had been relieved of the gun and searched.
Ren’s voice was as polite as he could make it. “And how long does this processing take?”
She hooked her thumbs in her wide belt. “Couple days. Maybe.”
Her partner, a younger curly-haired man, wrote something in his notebook. “Might need it for the trial.”
“That’s true. Makes for a pretty sad trial when there’s no evidence.”
Ren gestured around the wide room with the fallen robot just outside and the other officers exclaiming over various other contraband. “Surely you have more than enough evidence here already.”
“Not for us to decide. That’s not how it works.”
Ren bit back a sharp retort. His eyes fell upon the carving of the goddess Fortuna taking up most of one wall. “Yes, but your legal system here allows for an element of chance, does it not? Perhaps ownership of the necklace is something for fate to decide?”
She narrowed her eyes at Ren. “Tourists. You all come here thinking you can get out of anything. We do have actual laws, you know. If you or anyone else,” she jerked a thumb toward Graven on the couch, “wants to invoke the goddess, it happens at the end of the trial in front of a judge. And you know what? It ain’t gonna make all your problems go away.”
The other officer added, with mild reproof, “You’re talking about our religion there, buddy.”
“I meant no disrespect,” Ren said. “I only thought to save you the extra work of dealing with one small item. From what I understand this could all be resolved with something as simple as a coin toss.”
He reached into his pocket to pull out a few coins, selected one and handed it to the woman.
“You, of course, could conduct the toss, Officer.”
She studied the coin, her partner leaning in to look. They exchanged glances with each other.
Jaime moved closer to Ren’s side. “What are you doing?” he whispered.
Ren made a small movement with his hand, and Jaime fell silent, biting his lip worriedly.
The curly-haired officer nodded toward the carving. “Well, we are in the presence of Fortuna.”
She nodded. “Heads the necklace is yours.”
She flipped the coin in a glittering arc in the air, catching it on the way down. She stared down at the coin in her hand and then up at Ren.
“Looks like it’s your lucky day,” she said.
“Fortune favors you.” The other officer began to hand the necklace over to them. Jaime was nearer, but Ren reached over quickly to intercept it.
“Thank you,” he said sincerely, putting the jewel safely in his coat pocket.
The officer fixed him with a hard stare. “Probably a good time for you and your friend to be leaving,” she said.
Ren inclined his head to them. On impulse, he picked up the broken old sword from the table, as well. No one stopped him.
Jaime nodded at Ren. “I’m in contact with the ship. We can go out on the platform, and they’ll will send a cargo basket down for us.”
As they started to turn away, Graven got up from the couch. The police started, but he waved a friendly hand at them. “I only wish to congratulate my friends on their good fortune, and then I am completely at your disposal.”
Ren eyed him warily, but Graven merely raised his eyebrows, one over the empty socket. “I never did find out why that jewel was so important.”
“Sentimental value,” Ren said.
“Of course.” Graven smiled faintly. “But I suppose I do owe you for getting rid of Ebba. She was a lingering irritant.” He raised a hand toward his face. “So to speak. I’d like to give you something in return.”
“I assure you that’s both unnecessary and very much unwanted.”
“I’m not looking for revenge. This will be an expensive mess to get myself out of, but I will eventually walk away from it. Ebba though? She was a trickier problem, and now I can do my best to make sure Fortuna and the rest of the Commonwealth will be after her. So let me give you a piece of information as a thank you. It’s the only thing of value I have right now that isn’t about to be impounded.”
He leaned close to Ren, who made himself not pull away. Graven whispered into his ear for a moment and then smiled, waiting for Ren’s reaction. But Ren was too well trained to give anything away.
“Thank you,” he said simply. “Good luck with your legal troubles.”
He turned away and walked toward the platform.
Once they were outside and staring up at the night sky, Jaime let out a long breath. “That was — wow, I can’t believe you did that with the police in there.”
“It was worth it.”
“But to risk the Heart on a coin toss?”
Ren gave Jaime a sideways look. “The coin was a ten thousand credit piece. Which they pocketed. I’m not hopelessly naive. I do know how to bribe a person.”
Jaime blinked and then slowly grinned. “So what did Graven tell you?”
Ren pressed his lips together grimly, more shaken than he wanted to admit. “It was about the original theft of the Heart from Arcadia. According to Graven, it was an inside job.”