"Congratulations on your new command," said Finlay. "First Campbell to make Captain in three hundred years."
"I'll do my best to do the Family honor," said Robert. "You're… looking very sharp, Finlay."
Finlay shrugged. "You want to play with the big boys, you have to dress the part. It's been a while since I fought my battles with sharp words and barbed bon mots rather than cold steel, but I think I'm getting the hang of it again. We've… been too distant, Robert. Friends and allies come and go, but Family is forever."
"You're the one who never had much time for the Family."
"I'm trying to change that."
Robert looked into Finlay's steady gaze and then nodded slightly. "You were the one who kept a distance. And I was too busy holding the Family together and serving in the military to search you out."
"I know that. I'm grateful for what you've done. We were on opposite sides during the rebellion, but that's all over now. We need to stand together, or our enemies will drag us down."
Robert raised an eyebrow. "And what enemies might we have in common, exactly?"
"People like Blue Block maybe. People who want to turn the clock back, make things the way they used to be again. You've no reason to love the old order. You suffered under it more than most. Blue Block stood by and did nothing to stop the Wolfes when they butchered our Clan."
"And my Letitia died on what should have been our wedding day. Murdered by the Shreck in the name of Family honor. While you stood by and did nothing to stop him."
"I was wrong," said Finlay. "I still believed in the Families then. In the honor I thought held us together. I had to learn I was wrong the hard way. But I didn't fight and bleed in the rebellion just to see the Families take control again behind a different mask. I'll do whatever I have to to stop them. Can I count on you to help? Parliament may not be much, but it's the only hope we have."
"I never thought of you as a politician, somehow," said Robert.
Finlay shrugged. "It's the new battlefield. And I had to learn a new form of fighting, or die of boredom. So, will you stand with me?"
"I'll think about it, and we'll talk further. See if we have as much in common as you think. If we do… I think I'd be proud to have the legendary warrior Finlay Campbell at my side."
"Same here," said Finlay, smiling for the first time. They shook hands again.
"God help us, they'll be bonding next," said Adrienne. "Getting drunk in disreputable bars and telling each other those jokes that only men think are funny."
"I think it's very sweet," Evangeline said firmly.
"Hello, Adrienne," said Finlay, putting on his best polite face and voice. "You're looking… very you."
"I suppose that's the nearest you'll ever get to a compliment," said Adrienne. "I see you're still using the same tailor. Did I hear he's got himself a new guide dog?"
"You're so sharp you'll cut yourself one of these days. You and Evangeline have a good gossip, have you?"
"I hear you're trying to get into mainstream politics, Finlay. One word of advice. Don't. I've no doubt you mean well, but the last thing we need is another enthusiastic amateur raising everyone's hackles and muddying the waters. Especially someone with your temper. You can't kill your opponents just because you're losing the debate. They have laws against that sort of thing now. Though admittedly that might add a little excitement to the budget debates… Look, Finlay, I know you, though I often wish I didn't. You're too soft-hearted for politics. It would mean too much to you. You couldn't bear to lose one argument so you could win another later. You get out of hand in this business, and I won't be able to save you. Nor will anyone else, for all your great exploits in the rebellion. Heroes are ten a penny these days."
"You're sounding very you as well, Addie," said Finlay. "One of these days you'll say something nice to me, and I may faint from the shock. I survived everything the Empire could throw at me, and the horrors of Haceldama. I think I can handle a few politicians. Don't worry, if I have to kill anyone, I'll be sure and do it when no one's looking."
"The trouble is, he means it," said Adrienne. "That's his idea of being diplomatic."
"In the meantime," said Finlay, "I want to see our children."
They all looked at him in surprise, including Evangeline. Adrienne shook her head slowly. "Finlay, you've never wanted to see the children. Not even when they were born. I have to remind you to send them birthday presents. They only know what you look like from watching the holos. And where the hell were you when Gregor Shreck was threatening to have them killed to get at you? Give me one good reason why I should let you anywhere near them!"
"I've been… feeling my mortality lately," said Finlay. "When I'm gone, all that will be left will be my reputation and my children. I look at what the news people and the docu-dramas have made of my past, and I don't recognize myself at all. That just leaves my children, and I'd like them at least to have some idea of who I really was. I know I've done… questionable things, but I always thought I had a good reason. In the past I was busy living two lives at once, and I told myself there was no room for children in either of them. They would only have got hurt. They were safer with you. Besides, I didn't know what to do with children. Not sure I do now. But I'd… like to try to get to know them now. If they'd like to see me…"
Adrienne was taken aback for a moment. In all their years of marriage, she'd never heard Finlay open up like that before. "I'll ask them," she said finally. "But it's up to them. I won't put in a word one way or another."
"That's all I ask," said Finlay.
The four of them talked a little more, but they didn't have enough in common for small talk, and they'd taken care of all their business. Eventually Adrienne and Robert made their excuses and moved off into the crowd, and Finlay and Evangeline were left together.
"We've never talked about… children," said Evangeline quietly. "Given the lives we were leading during the rebellion, it just wasn't possible. We were always racing off into danger and sudden death, never knowing for sure whether we'd live to see the morrow. And afterward… you never raised the subject."
"I've been thinking about a lot of things I never did before," said Finlay. "I never wanted children with Adrienne, but my father required it for the Family. Things are different now."
"I couldn't bring myself to raise the subject," said Evangeline, not looking at him. "I was always afraid you never said anything because I was just a clone. You're an aristocrat, but I'm not. Not really. Some would say I'm not really human. And even in our marvelous new order, the marriage of an aristocrat and a clone would be a scandal, their children an outrage. If anyone found out…"
"You're more human that most of the people I have to deal with," said Finlay. "You're worth a hundred of them. A thousand." She sank into his embrace, her face pressed against his shoulder so he wouldn't see the tears in her eyes. He knew they were there anyway, but carried on as though he didn't, his voice carefully steady. "I can't marry you, Evangeline. Not because you're a clone, but because divorcing Adrienne would distance me from people I need to be close to. Politics in our circles are still largely dictated by old Family connections, and my position is precarious enough as it is. But you are my love, my life—the only woman I've ever cared for. Of course we can have children, if that's what you want. People will make allowances. They always have."
Evangeline hugged him so tightly she thought she must be hurting him, but he never said anything. When she was sure her eyes were dry, she let go of him and stepped back. And then someone came and called Finlay away on urgent business, and Evangeline was left alone again. She watched him go with a brave little smile on her face, but inside, her thoughts were churning furiously. Before she could even think of starting a family with Finlay, there was a lot she had to sort out in her life, most of it things Finlay didn't know about, and must never know.
Finlay knew Evangeline had been cloned from a dead original, but he didn't know why. Gregor Shreck had loved his Evangeline a
s a man rather than a father, and finally murdered her in a fit of rage when she tried to run away. To cover up his crime, and have his daughter in his bed again, Gregor had the clone made in strictest secrecy, and she became the Evangeline that Finlay came to know and love. He rescued her from her father and helped her make a new life of her own. But he never knew just what he rescued her from, and Evangeline could never tell him. If he ever found out, he would murder Gregor, not giving a damn for the consequences. She couldn't let him do that. She wanted Gregor dead, wanted it with a deep, despairing sickness of the heart, but Finlay must never know. Because it would hurt him so much. And perhaps because, deep down, she feared he'd never feel the same way about her again once he knew the truth.
Besides, Gregor Shreck was a powerful and dangerous man, even if he had fallen from favor just lately. He surrounded himself with an army of private guards, and even Finlay Campbell couldn't take on a whole army single-handed.
She couldn't risk losing him. Not now, not after they'd gone through so much to get here.
Secrets. So many secrets between two people.
And there were more. Before Gregor had disappeared behind his private army and enough corrupt influence to keep even Parliament's hounds at bay, he'd contacted Evangeline to let her know he'd taken her best friend, Penny DeCarlo, as his prisoner. And that dear Penny would die in horrible agony if Evangeline didn't return to him. Finlay didn't know about that, either. She hadn't told him. Because once again he'd go rushing off to be the hero for her sake and get himself killed. So far she'd kept Gregor at bay by various strategems, but they'd mostly run out now. Soon she would have to find a way to rescue Penny that didn't involve Finlay, or go back to Gregor and hope to sort out some kind of deal. Either way had its dangers, but her time in the rebellion had hardened Evangeline. She was no longer the weak, helpless victim that Gregor remembered. And just maybe that was a weapon she could use against him.
Not far away, someone else was watching Finlay Campbell. The esper Julian Skye had been Finlay's friend and disciple ever since the Campbell rescued him from the torture cells of the Imperial interrogators. Julian still carried the scars, mental and physical, from the things that had been done to him, but he owed his life to Finlay, and dedicated that life to the Campbell's service. The Campbell didn't get a say in the matter. But now that Finlay had found a new life in politics, he didn't need a warrior at his side anymore. And Julian understood nothing of politics, and cared even less.
He was currently occupying himself by portraying himself in docudramas of his times during the rebellion. He'd never seen himself as an actor, but people had really liked watching him in the news footage Toby and Flynn had shot, and apparently that was enough to make you a star, if not an actor. He'd never be a major attraction, but he had an audience and a faithful following, and he made more than enough money to indulge his few vices. It helped that the memories he'd dictated to the screenwriters had been almost entirely fictional. The public wanted the legend, not the facts, and there was still so much of his past that he couldn't bring himself to talk about. Very definitely including the woman who was standing not so far away from him, that petite, dark-haired oriental beauty BB Chojiro.
He'd loved her once. Loved her, and she betrayed him to the Imperial torturers. Because he was a rebel, and because the BB in her name stood for Blue Block, the secret inner circle of young aristos conditioned to be loyal to the Families to the death and beyond. She still loved him, but she had to follow her conditioning. She had said that to him in the cell of the torturers.
But now Blue Block was running the Families for their own good. And BB Chojiro was the pleasant public face of that inner circle. She had come to Parliament, as usual, to stand quietly at the back to listen to all that was said. Everyone knew that when she spoke, she spoke as the voice of Blue Block, and everyone listened. If they knew what was good for them.
This was the first time Julian had dared to come to the Chamber. To be so close to BB Chojiro… Part of him still desperately wanted to kill her for what she'd done to him, for what had been done to him because of her. For the betrayal of everything he'd thought they had between them. And part of him wondered if even now he'd forget all that, forgive her everything, if she would just take him in her arms and kiss him and love him once again.
So, frightened, he stayed away. But now here he was, not ten feet away from her, and damned if he knew why. Perhaps it was just unfinished business, as simple as that. Either way, he had come to Parliament to see her and perhaps talk to her. And if he didn't kill her, he might just learn how to be free of her. If that was what he really wanted. Julian had to smile. He was so messed up in the head where BB Chojiro was concerned that it was either laugh or go mad.
She stood at ease among her advisers, smiling and listening and saying little. A tiny little doll of a woman in a bright scarlet kimono the exact shade of her lips. Dark, straight shoulder-length hair. Huge, dark, lustrous eyes. The most beautiful woman Julian had ever seen. He ached to hold her in his arms again, a physical need like a hunger or an addiction. To feel her lips on his, her warm breath in his mouth… And then maybe he'd kill her, or maybe he wouldn't. He didn't know. He hadn't decided yet.
Standing beside BB Chojiro, unnoticed by the obsessed Julian, stood Stephanie Wolfe, sister to Valentine, stepdaughter to Constance. Tall, blond, boyishly slim, brimming over with barely suppressed resentments. When her late father, Jacob, had been the Wolfe, the Clan had been one of the most powerful Families in the Empire. Then Jacob died and Valentine took over, and it all went to hell. Now Valentine was on the run, Jacob's dead body had been transformed into a Ghost Warrior by the rogue AIs of Shub, and her beloved brother Daniel had gone off in search of it. Which meant only Constance and Stephanie remained to represent Clan Wolfe in the highest circles.
"I should be the Wolfe," said Stephanie, not for the first time.
"Of course you should," said BB Chojiro, flashing her a smile that meant nothing at all. "And you will be. Blue Block has promised you this."
"You talk and talk, but nothing changes." Stephanie scowled. "Constance cannot be the Wolfe. She has no right. I am Jacob's blood. She just married him."
"Have I mentioned recently how obsessed you are on this subject, Stephanie? Just one of the reasons why so many of your peers currently prefer Constance as Wolfe. They see her as more… approachable. We meet as little as I can arrange, but still I know your refrain so well I could practically say it along with you. Let us please change the subject, before my ears begin to bleed. Any sign of Daniel yet?"
"No." Stephanie's scowl deepened, as honest concern changed her mouth from its sullen pout to a flat, compressed line. Daniel was the only person apart from herself she still gave a damn about. "He was last seen heading into the Forbidden Sector. No one seems to know how he got past the Quarantine ships. The only thing left before him now is Shub. Poor damned fool."
"Yes. Let us wish him the comfort of a quick death."
"No! He's no threat to Shub. They'll see that and send him home again. What could they hope to gain by hurting someone as harmless as him?"
They hurt us because they can, thought BB. Because they are artificial, living metal, and have only hatred for all that is flesh. "Yes," she said aloud. "Let us hope for a miracle. Hope costs nothing."
Stephanie sniffed. "Whatever happens, Daniel will survive. He's a Wolfe, after all. But if the Clan is to survive, I must lead it. As you suggested, I have been moving, through the lower orders of the Clan, gathering support. Many are unhappy with an outsider, not of the blood, as the Wolfe. They would support me if I found it necessary, for the good of the Clan, to take… certain steps."
BB turned to Stephanie for the first time, and fixed her in place with her dark, unwavering gaze. "I have said before, you are not to kill Constance, or have her killed, in any way that might be traced back to you. The deal we made with Random prohibits such measures."
"We may have no choice," Stephanie said stubbor
nly. "You saw Constance talking to Owen. You know as well as I what they were discussing. A marriage between her and the Deathstalker could put the whole House of Wolfe under their joint control. Clan Deathstalker might even consume Clan Wolfe, and then our name would vanish forever! That cannot be allowed. We must strike at Constance while we still can. With Owen guarding her, we'd never be able to touch her."
"As always, you think too small, Stephanie. With Constance and Owen married, it shouldn't be too difficult to control Owen through threats to Constance. He might not love her, but as his wife he would be obliged to protect her, or suffer much loss of face before Society. Owen is practical enough to understand the realities of the situation. He will cede control of Clan Wolfe to you, and then we will control both the Wolfe and the Deathstalker Clans."
"Wait a minute," said Stephanie. "What do you mean, control Clan Deathstalker? There is only Owen. He's the last of his line, the last Deathstalker."
"You really must learn to think of the future, Stephanie. If he marries, eventually there will be children. In Blue Block we always think in the long term."
"I hate it when you lecture me," snapped Stephanie. "I'm not a child. I'm not stupid. I just don't care about anything but rebuilding my Family. Everything else has to wait. But then, you wouldn't understand that, would you? You had all the pride in your Family brainwashed out of you once you were given to Blue Block. Hell, they even took your name away from you."
BB Chojiro smiled gently. "I lost little and gained much. Blue Block is the sum of all the Families. Through it we shall all attain greatness. BB is who and what I am, who and what I have made of myself, and I take pride in my achievement."
"Yeah, well, that's because you're a mind-wiped, totally conditioned zombie who wouldn't know an original thought if you fell over it. What did the Families think they were doing when they created Blue Block? You were supposed to be our ultimate weapon, to give us control over the Throne. And now we all bow down to you. We made our own collars and fastened then around our necks without even realizing."