Maya nodded slowly. “That seems … more plausible, at least. You said the Core Analytica was probably ghoul arcana—I can’t imagine the Council would let him keep that around. But I don’t understand what he was going to do with it. And I still don’t see a connection with Jaedia.”
“Maybe there isn’t one?” Beq suggested. “Maybe that part is just ordinary Order politics.”
“It seems unlikely. Even Basel was surprised at how far Nicomidi was willing to go. It’s beyond the usual Council sniping.” Maya shook her head. “It doesn’t matter for now. We have to find Jaedia. Everything else comes after.”
“Right.” Beq gave a firm nod. “Do we know where we’re going to start?”
“Grace,” Maya said. “Basel promised to send the files with details on where Jaedia was last seen.”
“Grace?” Beq’s voice was a squeak. “Really?”
“Is that a problem?” Maya said. She didn’t know much about the notorious Splinter Kingdom city, other than that it was famous as a smugglers’ market.
“Oh no.” Beq grinned. “I’ve just always wanted to see it for myself.”
“It’s a long way from the nearest Gate, unfortunately,” Maya said. “A couple of weeks or more by wagon. We’ll have to join up with a caravan at Uqaris, near the border.”
Beq nodded and got to her feet. “I should start getting ready. I’ll need to make a list for the quartermasters.”
“Me too.” But …
Maya swallowed the last of her water and set the mug aside. As Beq turned to the door, Maya rose abruptly. Her heart thumped loud enough that she was sure Beq could hear it.
“Wait a minute.”
Beq hesitated, then half turned. “Is something wrong?”
“I just …” Maya swallowed. Forcing the next few words out was nearly as hard as charging Tanax head-on without a panoply. “I want us to be clear on something.”
“I should really …” Beq murmured. At the look on Maya’s face, though, she trailed off and took a deep breath. “Okay.”
“You kissed me,” Maya said. Her hand came up automatically to brush the Thing. “I kissed you. We kissed each other. Whichever.”
“We … did.” Beq’s freckled cheeks were flushing.
“And then you …”
“Ran away.” Beq’s hands twisted the hem of her shirt between them. “I know.”
“You don’t need to explain.” Maya closed her eyes. “I just want to know if … if you would be interested in kissing me again. At some point. When you’re ready.”
Silence. Maya waited, trembling, not daring to open her eyes and look at Beq’s face.
She nearly started at the feel of hot breath against her cheek. Then Beq’s lips pressed against hers, hesitantly. Maya stood stock-still, frozen, until Beq pulled away.
“Oh,” she said. When she opened her eyes, Beq was already facing the door. “Okay.”
“Okay.”
“I’ll see you.” Maya’s brain didn’t seem to be working quite right. “Tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow.”
Beq moved forward, mechanically, and nearly bumped into the door when she missed the latch. She grabbed it at the last minute, swung around it like they were partners in a dance, and stumbled out into the corridor. Maya could hear her drunken footsteps receding into the distance.
Okay. Maya touched her lips, which still tingled from the contact. Okay.
*
Jaedia should have been at the top of her mind. Her mentor was in danger. Maybe hurt, captured. Not dead. Maya refused to even think that, refused to admit the possibility that she wouldn’t arrive in time. But she felt that she should be going into her rescue mission with nothing on her mind but worry for Jaedia (and Marn, when she remembered him) and grim determination.
And she could summon those emotions, when she tried. When she wasn’t trying, though, her mind … wandered.
Two weeks on the road. The Gate wasn’t far from Uqaris, on the border between the Republic and the Kingdom of Grace, but it was a long, slow trip north, even along the old Chosen road to the kingdom’s eponymous capital. Two weeks’ riding on the back of a wagon as the loadbirds plodded along, keeping watch for plaguespawn, concealing her true identity. Two weeks sharing a tent at nights with the most beautiful girl in the world, with whom she’d reached an agreement that they wanted to further investigate this kissing business.
It was this last thought that had made it hard to sleep. Maya wondered if she was the only centarch of the Twilight Order to spend the night before her first mission masturbating until she was sore. On reflection, she decided, probably not.
Now she stood in the Gate chamber, going through her pack one more time as she waited for Beq. The three arched Gates were empty and silent, but she could still feel the potential of them, the power awaiting her commands through deiat. An armored centarch guarded the door, as always, with two Legionaries flanking him. Maya felt his eyes on her, though it was impossible to tell if under his helm he was really watching or not.
Focus. She touched the Thing, trying to calm herself, and looked down at her open pack. It was stuffed to bursting, tools and food fitted intricately into the available space in a way she’d never be able to replicate. Fortunately, as her supplies were used up, it made more space—
“Maya?”
Her head snapped up, adrenaline flooding into her veins at once. Tanax stood a little ways off, posture formal as always, his expression uncomfortable. He cleared his throat.
“My apologies,” he said. “Centarch Maya Burningblade, I should say.”
“Centarch Tanax Brokenedge.” Maya forced herself to meet his gaze. Her hand itched to go to her haken, which hung once again in its usual place on her hip. She kept it still with an effort. “I didn’t expect to see you before I left.”
“You’re certainly moving quickly. The tailors can’t keep up.” He gave a weak smile at the joke; they both still wore the uniforms they’d had as agathia. “I wanted to offer my congratulations.”
“Thank you,” Maya said stiffly. She hesitated for a moment and then forced herself to add, “And thank you for what you told the Council.”
“I only told them the truth.”
“I know,” Maya said. “But you didn’t have to.”
Tanax was silent, and Maya had no idea what to say.
“I would have killed you,” he began, haltingly. “On the arena floor. You came at me, and I knew your panoply was broken, and I would have killed you if I could. My master had told me … that I had to win. That you were a traitor.” He swallowed. “It was a lie. Everything he told me was a lie. He was …”
Maya felt a pang of sympathy. “You weren’t the only one he lied to.”
“I wish I’d had the chance to talk to him before he left. I just want to ask him …” Tanax shook his head. “Many things, I suppose. But I’m not sure what I expect him to say.”
“You were doing your duty as a centarch,” Maya said. “I don’t hold it against you.”
“I was doing as I was ordered,” Tanax said. “That is not the same as my duty.” He paused again, then spoke all in a rush. “I want to come with you.”