I wasn’t sure, and the only way to find out was to ask him. But I wasn’t ready to do that just yet—not with the feel of his lips still on mine, haunting me.
Coward, I told myself.
I must’ve been emoting, because Zoe seemed to pick up on my turmoil immediately, reaching out with a hand and gently touching my shoulder. “This isn’t your fault,” she said, her voice steady and certain.
“If I had just netted Maddox and Ambrose, they would’ve been with us,” I retorted angrily. “Quess wanted me to. I just…”
Zoe’s lips pressed firmly together. “I don’t think there was a right decision in this case, Liana. Ambrose’s enemies, whoever they were, were coming for him no matter what. You did what you could, given the circumstances. But these people are determined. They have resources that we don’t. This is not your fault.”
I heard the words, but I didn’t believe them. She didn’t understand; I had purposefully hidden Tian’s predicament from Maddox in order to keep her there with Ambrose, so she could protect him with a clear head. I had considered someone being after Tian an attempt to lure us out—but I had thought that meant out of the Citadel. I had assumed Maddox and Ambrose would be safe in the apartment, and that assumption had gotten Ambrose killed, and Maddox badly beaten. I knew Zoe was trying to help me, but there wasn’t any helping me. I had failed.
I needed to own up to that.
Zoe was waiting for me to say something, and I knew she wanted me to agree with what she was saying. But I couldn’t. I needed the guilt and failure. They’d make me stronger and smarter and more able to protect my friends.
I hoped.
“Zoe, I—”
The door chimed. “Knight Commander Astor Felix to speak with Liana Castell and Maddox Kerrin regarding the murder of Knight Elite Ambrose Klein,” it announced in an imperious tone.
My eyes widened, and I looked at Zoe. It seemed the investigation was about to begin.
5
Knight Commander Astrid Felix was here? And taking point on the investigation into Ambrose’s death? I was impressed; it meant the council had moved quickly, and had selected one of the most honorable Knights in the entire Citadel.
Of course, I knew her personally through my mother. Astrid Felix had been her commanding officer out of the Academy, and my mother had held dinner parties with Astrid and her husband, which my brother and I always attended.
I really liked Astrid. She had some of the best stories about being a Knight, many of which had inspired me to want to be one. But I hadn’t seen her since I turned fifteen, and received my adult net and initial ranking—an average seven. My mother and father had been so humiliated by the number that they had refused to invite Astrid over until I got my ranking up.
I gnawed on my lip, trying to think. She was a shrewd investigator, often referred to as the Hound of the Citadel, and had retired from active duty twelve years ago to start teaching at the Academy. If the council was bringing her out of retirement to act as lead investigator, they were sending a powerful message to whoever murdered Ambrose. They were coming for him—or them.
Nothing escaped Astrid Felix. Nothing.
I shuddered, thinking about our circumstances. We weren’t the murderers, but we were criminals, and had drugs in the apartment that could modify an individual’s rank. If she decided to perform a search…
They had to go. And someone had to take them. But how? And who? No doubt Astrid would want to talk to Zoe, Eric, and Leo as well.
Quess! Zoe had mentioned Quess being here! This was perfect. We’d made a point to keep our relationship with him a secret so we could use him to spy on any potential enemies. Which meant no one really knew about him—and Astrid wouldn’t want to talk to him. We’d just have Maddox lie and say Quess was her boyfriend, and then he could walk out the front door with the pills.
But as soon as I thought about it, a half-dozen possible outcomes played out in my mind, some of them revolving around Astrid ordering a search of the bag, others featuring Quess finally being noticed by one of our enemies as he left our rooms, and then singled out because of it. He would have to leave the apartment alone, which was dangerous right now, but the less exposure he got with us, the better. Even something as innocent as being Maddox’s boyfriend could get him caught in the crossfire, so any contact had to be kept secret.
But Quess and Zoe were both geniuses. If anyone could find a safe and unnoticeable way out for him, it was them.
The door chimed again, and Zoe, who had been watching me think with a worried expression in her blue eyes, turned to open it. I quickly grabbed her and pulled her to a halt. “Get the Paragon and take it into Maddox’s room,” I said quietly. “You’re going to have to wake them up. Quess needs to take the Paragon out of here now. And tell Eric and Leo to get dressed. We’re about to be interviewed.”
Zoe gave me a searching look, and then nodded. She darted over, grabbed the beat-up blue bag off the floor—a diver’s sack, completely waterproof and left over from her days as a member of Water Treatment—and slung it over her shoulder, then quickly raced off to deliver my messages.
I waited five more seconds, fixed an appropriately dazed and sorrowful look on my face (it wasn’t hard), and moved over to the door to open it. As I hit the button for the door, I realized belatedly I was still in my undergarments, but merely pulled my robe tighter around my body. Astrid could deal with it.
The door slid open to reveal an elderly woman with dark gray hair that was almost metallic looking, and warm brown eyes lined with wrinkles. And though I hadn’t seen her in five years, Astrid hadn’t changed all that much. The only noticeable alteration was the few extra pounds she had packed on—likely a combination of the sedentary lifestyle of teaching and the lack of physical requirements, which automatically stopped when a Knight made it to sixty.
Astrid looked tired, but the corners of her mouth quirked up when she saw me. “Hey, kid,” she said. “Long time no see.”
I smiled in spite of myself, and leaned on the threshold. “Knight Commander Felix,” I replied. I’d never been allowed to call her by her first name at home because it was unacceptable behavior for a child, so the rank and name came automatically. But in my head, I had always thought of her as Astrid.
I looked around the hall and saw that she was accompanied by two younger Knights—both males, probably in their mid-thirties. I did a double take when I recognized one. Lewis, one of the Knights I knew from the Citadel. He had been working internal security the last time I saw him, but now it seemed he had gotten a promotion. He gave me a nod, but kept his face carefully blank.
“Are they coming in?” I asked, suddenly nervous. We had five people in the apartment, so there wasn’t much room for any more.
“No,” Astrid said, waving her hand in the air. She paused for a second and then cocked her head at me, giving me a critical look. “Why do you ask?”
I bit my lip. “It’s a little crowded in here at the moment. Some of my friends spent the night last night.” It wasn’t a lie.
Astrid arched a slim eyebrow and crossed her arms. “Let me guess. Grey Farmless, Zoe Elphesian, and Eric MacGillis.” I nodded, and she sighed. “You know this looks like you stayed up all night to corroborate your testimonies, right?”
I hesitated for a fraction of a heartbeat and then shrugged. “If you want to take us in for separate questioning, that’s fine, but we weren’t here trying to get our stories straight. We were here because our teammate and friend was murdered in his own apartment, and my friends knew that I would need them for emotional support.”
Astrid’s face hardened into a careful mask. I knew that look from my mother’s stories. Astrid was angry. But given the unfocused state of her eyes, I knew it wasn’t at me. No—it was at the idea that someone had murdered a Knight inside the Citadel itself, a place that was supposed to be made safe by the Knights’ presence alone. I was certain every honorable Knight was feeling it as well.
“I understand,?
?? she said after a moment, her eyes coming back to touch mine, more focused. “And no, I don’t think you were actually corroborating. But I will have to note it in the report.”
I nodded and stepped to one side. “Come inside, and I’ll go see how people are doing with getting dressed.”
“Tell Ms. Kerrin not to worry about getting dressed. She had surgery only a few hours ago, so she’s allowed to be out of uniform. In fact, all of you are. This is your apartment, and I am interloping. Just have them come out.”
“We’re already on our way,” Zoe announced from the hall. I turned and saw her helping guide Maddox into the room, holding her gingerly. Maddox looked…
Well, there wasn’t an easy way to say it. Maddox looked like crap. Her black hair was disheveled and hung around her face in wild disarray. Bruises, some as bright as strawberries, others as purple as plums, were everywhere on her exposed flesh—her arms, her legs, her chest, and worst of all, her face. It was still slightly swollen, and although I could now see both her green eyes, they were dull and glassy. She’d broken several bones, it seemed, and was now covered in a specialized cast comprised of hexagonal cells that would help her bones heal faster. A small strip of the material was also over her nose, while a massive chunk wrapped around her ribs. Her hands were encased in gloves of the same substance, telling me that she’d broken several bones in her hands, and another cast covered her left ankle.
The bones would be healed in less than twenty-four hours, but it wasn’t her physical wounds I was the most worried about. I was concerned about her mental wellbeing. I had no doubt that she was blaming herself for what happened. What was worse was that Maddox had always had a confidence that bordered on arrogance about her fighting ability. The situation in which she lost Ambrose would be a serious blow to that, and I was apprehensive about how it would affect her moving forward. I didn’t want her to freeze up or panic should anyone try to attack her again.
Maddox nodded at Astrid with a grunt, but focused solely on getting over to the sofa. I followed behind her, hovering in case Maddox needed any extra support, but Zoe had it under control, and gently helped lower the larger girl to the sofa. Then she looked up at me, met my gaze, and gave me a slight nod to let me know that they had gotten Quess out with the Paragon. Undoubtedly, they had used the same technique Tian had before she was kidnapped, and slipped him through an air vent in Maddox’s bedroom.
Leo and Eric emerged next, Leo back in his uniform (thank Scipio), and Eric modestly covered in a shirt and shorts. Leo gave me a reproachful look as he passed, and my cheeks heated slightly as I remembered that kiss.
It may have been wrong, but that didn’t mean it hadn’t felt very good.
I squashed the thought, grinding it into oblivion. I did not need to go there right now. I needed to keep it together, answer Astrid’s questions, and then figure out our next move.
I offered Astrid one of the empty chairs, and sat on the other, Leo opting to lean on the wall next to the sofa. Astrid shifted around in her chair for a few moments, her mouth a grimace. “I do not miss the furniture in these apartments,” she said, resting one arm on the chair and leaning into it. She looked around at each of us. “I’ll try to make this as brief as possible. Engineer Green and several of her people confirmed that you were helping them search for a Cog child who had wandered off, and sensors show that your net was around Greenery 7 at the time. You as well, Mr. Farmless. But I need a statement as to everything that happened once you reached the apartment. Starting at the beginning.”
I spoke first, taking the lead. “There isn’t much to tell.” Astrid pulled out a pad and ejected a stylus from it, in anticipation of taking notes. “When we came back, we went to go see Maddox and…” I trailed off and swallowed. It felt wrong to say his name. I might not have killed him… but the blood was on my hands.
“It’s okay, kid. We can just say ‘him,’ if that makes it easier.”
Astrid was being kind, and I thanked her with my eyes. I wasn’t sure how she would interpret my difficulties in saying his name, but I didn’t care. I just needed to get through this as quickly as possible, using clinical language and trying to distance myself from the horrific scene that was still fresh in my mind.
“Grey unlocked the door, and I entered the room first. Initially, I didn’t see any signs of a struggle, but as we entered the common area, we saw that there had been a fight. I found Maddox first. She was in the kitchen area. She’d…” I trailed off and looked at Maddox, and found her staring at her hands with a deep, sullen anger that was marred by a great sadness. I longed to wrap my arms around her and tell her it wasn’t her fault, but if I stopped talking about it now, I’d never be able to start again. “She’d been badly beaten, and was possibly delirious. She tried to warn us about Ambrose, and Grey found him in the living area, already…”
My throat seized up around the word “dead”, and I stopped, blinking back the tears. Ambrose hadn’t been a bad person; he’d been raised believing that becoming Champion was his destiny, and had just let it go to his head a little bit.
“It’s okay. Mr. Farmless, do you have anything to add to Liana’s testimony?”
“I detected no signs that the apartment had been broken into through the door, and we didn’t see any people coming or going from the apartment as we approached. My guess was that we missed the attack by minutes.”
“By two, actually,” Astrid informed him, and he nodded, his face a grim mask.
“There were no alarms on the floor,” I added. “I’m not sure how Zale was notified and got up here so quickly without an alarm.”
Astrid gave me a sardonic look, her mouth twisting. “The alarm did go off, but someone disabled the speakers on the floor to keep any neighbors from checking it out. Not that many people were home to begin with, since the Tourney challenge wasn’t quite finished for the day. Scipio was still notified, and dispatched Zale, who decided he was the closest available Knight to handle the situation—even though he had just finished his round in the Tourney. It took him five minutes to reach Ambrose’s apartment—time that would’ve been better spent calling in an active Knight who was nearer than he was. In my opinion, his refusal to do so contributed to Knight Elite Klein’s death. But I can’t prove that. I can prove that Lieutenant Zale’s actions were misguided… but not nefarious. Hopefully, his incompetence will come out in the Tourney so I don’t have to die knowing that prat became the Champion.”
My eyes widened, and a surprised smile drifted across my lips. “You don’t like him?”
She gave me a look. “Sweetie, I mentored him. He’s a bootlicker and a sycophant—not a man you want running things. Good Knight, but not a good leader. But that’s off topic. Let’s continue.” She scribbled a few things on the pad before looking sympathetically at Maddox. “I’m sorry to ask you this, kid, but I need to know what you can remember about the attack.”
Maddox swallowed audibly, her mouth working. “I remember everything,” she replied, her eyes glittering with tears. “Ambrose and I had just finished having lunch with his friends, and they were heading off to watch the rest of the Tourney. Liana had asked us to stay in the apartments at all times—”
“Why?” Astrid asked her sharply, but her eyes flicked sharply to me, gazing at me through the suddenly impenetrable mask on her face.
6
My breath caught in my lungs for a second, and I felt a moment of fear. Maddox had made a mistake by letting that slip, and now Astrid was waiting for an answer from her.
Maddox shot me a helpless look, and I answered for her, not caring how it appeared to Astrid. The last thing Maddox needed was an interrogation, and if Astrid challenged me for answering, then I would call her out on it.
This time, I stuck to the truth—but only to an extent. “During our baton qualifiers, there was something off about the batons the opposing team was using. I was hit only once, but the charge on it was much stronger than it was supposed to be. I considered bringing my concern
s up to the officials, but—”
“But you were worried that if the investigation turned up nothing, you would be ostracized for trying to cast doubt on another candidate,” Astrid finished for me with a sigh. “That stupid rule.” She shook her head. “You should’ve said something, Liana. Scipio changed the rules this year so that all complaints and investigations would be sealed. His recommendation was based on a few different things, but the end result is the same: if you suspect cheating, then reporting it will not earn you a black mark.”
Scipio had changed the rule? That was weird, because as far as I knew, Scipio wasn’t in complete control of his own faculties. He was being manipulated. I had seen it firsthand during our trial, when Lacey and Strum planted a false memory in Scipio’s database to confirm my version of events, resulting in me being exonerated for the crime of murdering the former Champion, Devon Alexander, and my mentor, Gerome Nobliss. But if someone had created this rule through Scipio, then I had to wonder why they had. What purpose would it serve?
I wasn’t sure, and I made a mental note to ask Leo… once I felt comfortable with him again.
Meanwhile, Astrid’s stylus dipped up and down, and I watched as she swiped a finger across her pad, seeming to look something up. Her finger tapped the screen twice, and a moment later, a frown twisted her lips downward. She clicked another button, made a few notes, and then looked at Maddox. “I apologize for interrupting you, kid. I know this is quite hard for you, so I promise I won’t do it again.”
Maddox clenched her jaw tight, a look of fierce determination on her face. “Good, because I’m only going to be able to do this once,” she said, and Zoe reached out and rested a gentle hand over Maddox’s wrapped one. The taller girl gave Zoe a grateful smile—but it didn’t last.