"Matthew," I said. "I should have known you’d turn up. You never could bear to miss out on anything important. But I honestly can’t say I was expecting to see you again, Alex."
"You of all people should know I don’t give up that easily." Alexandra’s voice was sharp and pointed. "And you really should have expected to see Matty and me here together, at the last. But then you never were very quick at figuring out what was really going on, were you?"
I frowned first at her, then at Matthew. There was something about their smiles, their easy confidence, their air of I know something you don’t know. I’d missed something. And I couldn’t afford to make mistakes, not when I was this close to the Heart and its destruction…What could I have missed? Neither Matthew nor Alexandra was wearing the armour, even though they both had good reason to see me as a threat. Something significant was happening here. I could feel it. They had to be planning something…I risked a quick glance with my Sight. Both Matthew and Alexandra were carrying concealed weapons radiating enormous amounts of power, but so were Molly and I. I checked the room around us. No booby traps, no hidden assassins. Just Matthew and Alexandra, with their cold calculating smiles. I looked straight at Alexandra.
"What did you do to the Armourer, Alex?"
She shrugged easily. "You didn’t really think you could take me out that easily, did you? I maintain a constantly updated protection against all forms of poison. Basic security measure. And he really should have known better than to turn his back on me…But he’d got old and soft, like so many of the family today. We’re going to change all that."
And with that we, the penny finally dropped. "You, and Matthew…you’re part of the Zero Tolerance faction! The hard-core family fanatics who want to change everything! Kill all the bad guys, and to hell with the consequences!"
"Yes," said Matthew. "That’s us. Only we prefer to call ourselves Manifest Destiny."
I must have made a shocked sound. Their smiles widened, and Molly grabbed on to my good arm and hung on tightly. Perhaps she thought I’d attack them. I was too stunned. Matthew and Alexandra laughed at the expressions on our faces.
"Truman only thinks he runs things," Alexandra said lightly. "But he’s just our front, our public face, so the rest of the world won’t realise that the Droods are actually bankrolling and running Manifest Destiny for our own reasons. Won’t realise until it’s far too late."
"But…you fought their troops," I said to Matthew. "I saw you, in London…"
He shrugged. "A necessary deception. And occasionally the troops have to be put in their place. It keeps Truman from getting too uppity if we slap him down hard now and again."
"Working behind the scenes has always been the Drood way," said Alexandra. "Kingmakers rather than kings. Zero Tolerance is the only way forward for the Droods, Eddie. The family’s got very old-fashioned, very set in its ways, and far too complacent. Too content with the way things are in the world…Most of the younger generations follow us now, impatient to change the world for the better instead of risking their lives just to maintain the status quo. And after all, why should they? Look around you. The status quo sucks. It’s time we take the lead, stamp out all the bad guys once and for all, and make a better world for everyone."
"But who gets to decide what’s better?" I said. "The Droods? Manifest Destiny? You?"
"The family will decide," said Matthew. "And who better? We’re the only ones who know what’s really going on in the world."
"I thought you of all people would understand, Eddie," said Alexandra. "You were always the great rebel…the renowned freethinker of the family. You opened my eyes. Showed me there was more to life than just duty and responsibility. After you left, I waited and waited for you to do…something. But you settled for being just another field agent. Such a disappointment."
"Funny, Alex," I said. "That’s just what I was thinking about you. I thought you were smarter than this. Matthew; he’s always been out for himself, but you…You’ve become the very thing this family has always stood against. Just another would-be dictator with delusions of grandeur."
"Oh, they’re not delusions," said Matthew. "Not anymore. We have followers, weapons, and far-reaching plans. It is our time, our destiny. Tomorrow belongs to us."
"The family’s spent far too long at war with the supernatural," Alexandra said briskly. "Spending our lives in their countless secret wars just to maintain their precious status quo. The time has come to put an end to all the wars, by winning once and for all. We will wipe out everything that isn’t human, isn’t natural. No more magics, only dependable, rational science. We’ll make the world a cleaner, simpler place. A human world, where human destiny is controlled only by humans."
"No more magic?" said Molly. "No more miracles, no more winged unicorns, no more dancing on moonbeams or laughter in the wild woods?"
"Oh, we’ll probably keep a few of you around," said Matthew. "As pets."
"With the Drood family in charge," said Molly.
"Of course," said Alexandra. "No more hiding our light in the shadows, doing good from a distance. We’ve earned our time in the spotlight. We’ve been planning this for so long…Only you came so terribly close to derailing everything, Eddie."
"I did?" I said. "How very like me."
"We were the ones who found and reprogrammed the Karma Catechist," said Matthew. "We planned to use his accumulated knowledge in the coming war. Only the process went wrong…He’d been through so many hands, you see, down the years. So many different groups with their different views and aims. I have to tell you, Eddie, the inside of his head was a real mess. So we slipped the poor fellow into Saint Baphomet’s very secretly to be repaired. By certain medical experts sympathetic to the cause of Manifest Destiny."
"And then you came along," said Alexandra. "What were you doing in his room anyway, Eddie? It wasn’t part of your mission. You weren’t even supposed to be on his floor! But you never could be trusted to just do the job…We couldn’t risk what he might have told you about us and our plans. He knew our names, knew everything. And we just knew you wouldn’t go along with what we’d all worked so hard to bring about…So we whispered in the Matriarch’s ear, told her you deliberately murdered the Karma Catechist because you were a part of Manifest Destiny. It really wasn’t that difficult to convince her. You always were the black sheep of the family. A rogue in all but name. We persuaded her that you were a clear and present danger to the family, and Eddie…she signed your death warrant without even hesitating. Terrible old woman."
Matthew grinned broadly. "We always knew the way to power was through her. So we…cultivated her. Fed her paranoia. We might not have been council members, but we were her favourites for years, and she kept nothing from us."
"He never told me anything," I said harshly. "The Karma Catechist. He killed himself first. This…everything that’s happened…it was all completely unnecessary. All for nothing."
Alexandra shrugged. "We gave him the poison tooth and programmed him to use it if he felt at all compromised. Perhaps we shouldn’t have given him such a hair trigger on the thing. But it doesn’t make any difference. You’ve actually been very useful to us, Eddie. You made such a wonderfully visible scapegoat, holding the family’s attention while we quietly put our plans into operation."
"We would have had to destabilise and weaken the family first anyway before we could take control," said Matthew. "But now you’ve done that for us! You’ve demoralised the family, taken out most of their heavy hitters, and destroyed the Matriarch by destroying her beloved Alistair. James is dead, Jack is dead—"