So I let them lead me down the narrow corridor and into the den of my enemy.

TWENTY-FIVE

“I’M SURPRISED TO SEE YOU CAN CONTROL yourself,” Cormac says to me when Hannox shoves me into his office. Hannox and his men force us into chairs and tie our hands behind our backs. I don’t even struggle. All I need is for Cormac to talk, and maybe he will if he thinks I’m incapacitated. Cormac shares a few quiet words with his right-hand man as one of the officers finishes tying us to our chairs. Hannox casts one long look at me before he orders his men to follow him out of the room.

We have Cormac alone. This should feel like a victory.

“I didn’t try to escape this time,” I remind him now that Hannox is gone. “I was taken.”

“And yet I notice you aren’t wearing my ring,” he snarls. “And there is a glow about you. Spending time with young Erik? Or is it Jost? I can’t keep up with you.”

“We took Adelice,” Dante says. “She convinced us to bring her back.”

“Sell your lies elsewhere,” Cormac says, tugging at his bow tie. “I was heartbroken to learn young Alixandra is a traitor. I can’t wait to get my hands on her—now that I’m through with her.”

Through with her? I glance at Dante to see if he caught it, but his eyes are distant. Plotting.

“You came in veiled after rebounding into every remaining sector in Arras,” Cormac continues. “You have someone very talented working with your group.”

I keep my face stony. I’m not sure what harm it would do to admit Cormac is right, but I also know he hoards information, keeping it to twist for his own purposes later.

“Tell Loricel I said hello,” Cormac says. “Unless…” He leaves the unspoken words in the air, niggling at me like an itch.

“Unless?” I can’t help prompting him.

“Unless you came from the Eastern Sector.”

“And if we did?” Dante asks.

“Then I’ll be offering condolences soon.”

I bite back a cocky smile. Cormac doesn’t know that we know about his plan. He doesn’t know that there was time to evacuate.

“Don’t hide your smile, Adelice. I’ve always loved that smug grin,” Cormac says. He strides over to his desk and pours himself a drink. “I especially love the moments when I get to wipe it off your smug face.”

“Not this time, Cormac,” I say.

“Do you think I didn’t know Alixandra was going to betray me?” he asks.

He succeeds at wiping the amusement from me.

“You didn’t set the Eastern Sector to self-destruct,” I say in a flat voice.

“Of course not,” Cormac says, “but by now your people will have herded themselves into a nice flock of sheep ready for the slaughter.”

Erik. Jost. Sebrina. The list of people currently evacuating flashes through my mind. “Don’t. I will do anything you want.”

“But you’ve already done everything I wanted,” Cormac says. “You rid me of a troublesome sector, put the rest of Arras into a panic, and managed to hand deliver the leaders of the Kairos Agenda. Do you think citizens will listen to strangers screaming that the sky is falling? Arras will look to me now and I am more prepared than anyone expected for the tragic events of today.”

“You never wanted to marry me,” I realize.

“Now you’re catching on.”

I wasn’t a distraction for the citizens of Arras, I was a distraction for the Kairos Agenda. Because of me they walked right into Cormac’s trap in the Eastern Sector. But worst of all, I’d been so caught up in guessing Cormac’s next move in our staged plan, I never saw any of this coming.

“Pryana? Alix? You knew they were Agenda,” I guess.

Cormac’s lips curl as he nods. “I figured it out. They both proved quite useful. They were too busy thinking they were clever—”

“To realize you were feeding them information,” I finish for him. That’s why Pryana hadn’t heard anything about Cormac’s order. He had purposefully slipped the information to Alix, knowing she would pass it on to the rest of us.

“It was simple. Feed one rebel rotten information and she’ll poison the rest of the group. Watch the lie spread and ferret out the traitors. Soon there will be no more Agenda infestation.”

“And now the whole of Arras will believe you’re their hero,” Dante says. “Because there will be no one to tell them any differently.”

“You’ve done a good job cementing yourself in the minds of the people of Arras,” Cormac says to me. “When I share my heartbreak over your rebellion, they will feel the outrage that only betrayal can cultivate.”

“And who will keep your looms running?” I ask. “What will you do when the Earth fails to produce your precious raw materials?”

“Once we remove the threat left below there, I won’t have to worry about the interference of scum like you.”

“And what if there’s a singularity?” I challenge.

“That’s a theory,” Cormac says with a wave of his hand. “My men don’t believe it’s a threat.”

“Albert does,” I say in a low voice. “Keep harvesting and you’ll destroy Earth and Arras.”

“Aren’t we taking our Whorl role a little too seriously?” His lips press into a thin smile. “There’s no Whorl. It’s only a legend passed between desperate men.”