I’m with Kian. Will be home for dinner.
Mom’s death had driven his concerns about whether I could be trusted back underground. Or shit, maybe if he didn’t believe me, maybe he felt like he had nothing left. Whatever the reason, he answered, I’m bringing home Japanese. You like yakimeshi, right? I smiled as I sent back, Yep.
I hurried through the front doors of Wedderburn, Mawer & Graf, where I found Iris in the lobby, working the reception desk. Today, everything was red and black instead of bisque. And as Kian had predicted, her look had shifted to match. Crimson hair cascaded past her shoulders, and her eyes gleamed like onyx. I didn’t think I was imagining the predatory light that shone in them.
“Do you have an appointment?”
“I do not. Ask if Mr. Wedderburn has time to talk to me anyway.” The honorific burned my tongue, as I’d much rather call him that asshole or that bastard.
“Have a seat while I check.”
She radiated disapproval and kept me waiting for almost half an hour. At last she said, “You’re a lucky girl. He’ll see you now.”
“Imagine my delight.”
I had never gone upstairs on my own, and I didn’t have an employee badge or security clearance, so she tapped on her keyboard, then gave me a slip of paper. “Don’t lose this.” Her tone implied I was an imbecile, likely to do precisely that.
Ignoring her, I hurried to the elevator before I lost my nerve. Remembering how Kian did it before, I entered the code and pressed my desired floor. The elevator accepted the security check and away I went. The motion pushed my stomach up into my throat, so I was queasy and cold when I stepped onto Wedderburn’s floor. I thought I’d find Kian in his office, but when I entered, there was only the cold man himself, lying in wait.
In a motion that crackled like icicles spearing into the snow, he came around his desk to greet me. He seemed … jolly, and that was one of the worst things I’d ever seen. “Before you begin your business, Edie, let me convey my condolences for your loss.”
That was an unexpected blow. On some level, I grasped that he was keeping tabs on me, monitoring his investment. But I hated knowing he had seen me break down so completely. The tears I shed for my mother belonged to me and me alone. I squared my shoulders, refusing to let him get to me.
“Do you know who did it?” That wasn’t why I had come, actually, but with the question posed, I waited to see how he would answer.
“It’s tragic, but sometimes terrible things happen. ‘To what serves mortal beauty?’” He lifted a shoulder in an eerie, crackling shrug. “From a poem, I think, about how man must fade. Sad for you, no doubt, but sometimes it’s simply … fate.”
“You’re saying it was just her time?” My tone sizzled with skepticism. If I hadn’t known about the old man with the bag and his awful children, I might’ve taken the words at face value.
“I may be terribly old,” Wedderburn said in an ominous tone. “But I don’t claim to know all things. For instance … where is your beloved this afternoon?”
DAMNED IF YOU DO
Kian burst through the door with a panicked look, as if Wedderburn might be doing something unspeakable to me. “I’m here,” he said, breathless.
I turned, aware we were on shaky ground. Without being sure where he’d been, I couldn’t even lie to cover for him. And Wedderburn knew it. Still, I put my hand out and Kian took it. His fingers were cold beyond bearing, and they trembled in my grasp.
“Sorry to trouble you. Are you done, Edie?” His urgent tug on my hand said I was.
In coming to headquarters, I’d intended to ask about Kian, but now that he was here, it was impossible. So I nodded. “Thanks for your kind words about my mother.”
As Wedderburn nodded in dismissal, Kian dragged me out of the office and toward he elevator. He was on the verge of a full collapse, something I’d never seen before, and I didn’t resist when he zoomed me past Iris and out to the car. He wasn’t parked in the underground garage; we speed-walked several blocks and he wouldn’t answer any question I asked until we were inside the Mustang.
“Seal it up,” I ordered.
Fortunately, he did, or we would’ve had our first real fight. I made a mental note to ask where he’d gotten a new tin of the stuff, but there were more important issues to discuss. He was shivering so hard that I wasn’t sure he should drive, but when I said so, Kian shook his head. “H-have to get you away from there. Give me five minutes.”
My trepidation increased with his silence, but eventually, he pulled over and rested his head on the steering wheel. Confused and feeling helpless, I rubbed his back. He was the stubbornest person I ever met, and the only solution was to wait him out. A few minutes later, he straightened and reached inside his jacket and silently passed me a packet of papers.
“What’s this?”
“It’s faster if you just read it.”
“Okay. But afterward, you have some serious explaining to do.”
“I will, I promise.”
These pages had the look of official documents, stamped and coded in a system I didn’t recognize. The words themselves were clear; this was a contract, ordering the death of one Mildred Kramer, signed by K. Wedderburn and witnessed by S. Mawer. I read it over three times, but it didn’t make any sense.
“Why?”
Kian handed me another file, marked Acquisitions. I understood now why he had been so eager to get out of the building. When he said he had something to do, he was spying for me. My stomach churned with sick dread as I skimmed this dossier. A lot of it was hard to interpret, having to do with eddies and currents, but this phrase seemed unmistakable.
In Edith Kramer’s optimum timeline, her mother dies. She works alongside her father to complete the project. All research shows that the outcome hinges on that pivotal event.
“It’s time travel,” I said, suddenly sure. “That was the project my mom and dad were working on when she—” I couldn’t finish the sentence.
But Kian was nodding. “I think you’re right.”
“But … that doesn’t even make sense. They’re using technology my dad and I develop right now. How can they use something I haven’t invented yet?”
“Wedderburn made a deal with an immortal who has temporal powers. From what I hear, it was expensive, so he wanted his own method of mucking about in the time stream.”
“So he went forward, stole our tech, and brought it back for his own use in the game.”
“Pretty much. And now he has make sure you stay on the right path, or this whole version of the universe will be wiped out.”
“Jesus. No pressure.” Now I was shaking, too.
“It’s not like the world would end, Edie. Not for everyone else. Things would just … shift, like two steps to the right or something.”
“After all the mystery, it’s a relief to know what’s waiting for me. But … to make sure he wins and I remain a viable piece in play, Wedderburn had my mother killed.” I curled one hand into a fist. “And then he said he was sorry.”
He looked as if he wanted to reach for me, but he feared how I would react. “I had no idea, I swear.”
“I know. You’re a pawn, like me.”
At that, he shook his head. “Not even that. Not anymore.”
“What do you mean?”
“The other night, you said you couldn’t take this. I know how much you want out. You remember how I said Raoul stole an artifact and disappeared?”