She looked young. I’ve seen a lot of Dark mages, male and female, and Vihaela didn’t really fit. It’s hard to say exactly what it is, but there’s something about a Dark mage’s looks that marks them. Maybe an apprentice . . . no, I wouldn’t even have pegged her as an apprentice. Not enough force. She looked like someone who’d had things done to her, instead of the other way around.
I thought back, remembering what I’d seen of the fight. In the few seconds I’d seen Vihaela alive, how had she looked? She’d looked afraid. Startled and frightened.
But looked at another way . . .
Yes. I couldn’t prove it, not yet, but I was sure I was right. I looked up. Slate was still arguing with Haken, something about giving the report to Rain. Cerulean and Lizbeth had been watching me; Cerulean glanced away, Lizbeth didn’t. I was pretty sure I knew who was working for White Rose, and I knew how they’d staged this. What was I going to do about it?
Accusing them openly . . . bad idea. I didn’t have enough status here, and I didn’t have any hard evidence. I could report what I knew up the chain of command. That was the dutiful thing to do, and what I was getting paid for.
Problem with that: I didn’t know who the people above me were working for either.
So let’s find out.
“It wasn’t Slate,” I said.
Slate frowned. Haken turned to look at me. “Say that again?”
I rose to my feet. “I know who killed her,” I said. “It wasn’t Slate.”
Slate gave me a suspicious look. This obviously hadn’t been what he’d been expecting. “Okay,” Haken said. “Then who?”
I glanced around the room, letting my eyes pass very briefly over everyone in turn. “You might want to hear this in private.”
Haken wasn’t stupid. His eyes narrowed as he realised what I was saying. “So who?” Lizbeth said.
I didn’t answer. “Rest of you, clear the room,” Haken said. “Wrap up downstairs.”
“Seriously?” Lizbeth said.
Haken looked at her. Lizbeth gave us both a disgusted look, turned on her heel, and walked out. Cerulean, Slate, Trask, and Abeyance followed. Abeyance lingered, looking curious, but when Haken waited pointedly, she shut the door behind her.
I listened to the footsteps going downstairs. Haken put a hand into his pocket and red light glowed. A shroud focus, possibly more . . . so that was why I’d had so much trouble eavesdropping on him. “This had better be good,” Haken said.
“It was Vihaela.”
Haken stared at me for a second. “You think it was suicide?”
“No. I’m saying Vihaela killed her.” I nodded down at the corpse.
“We don’t have time for—”
“Think about it,” I said. “What did we actually see? We saw someone who looked like Vihaela walk through the gate. Then the fight kicks off and there’s no time for anything else. She’s dead before she has the chance to talk.”
“You’re saying that wasn’t her.”
“You remember the briefing. Vihaela’s supposed to be the freaking death queen of White Rose. She shouldn’t have gone down this easily. White Rose uses fleshcrafters, remember? Perfect duplicates of whoever their clients want. If you were a Dark mage and you had those kinds of resources, wouldn’t you make some body doubles while you were at it?”
“She used magic—”
“Did she?” I asked. “Did your magesight actually see her cast any spells? Because mine didn’t. Yes, those green snake things looked scary, but they didn’t register as battle-magic, did they? Everyone was just so keyed up to fight that they reacted as if they were.”
Haken frowned at me for a second. “You’re saying they were faked.”
I didn’t answer. I didn’t need to. There had been exactly one person in the room who’d had the ability to create that convincing a show. I wasn’t openly accusing him, but there was only one way it pointed . . .
“What killed her?” Haken said.
“Here’s how I think this went down,” I said. “Vihaela’s on the other side of that gateway. She knows we’re waiting, and she’s got her body double ready. But she knows it won’t hold up under any kind of stress. So she makes sure the girl won’t be around to answer any questions. She uses some kind of spell before this girl steps through the gate. Time delay, maybe a triggered effect—but whatever it is, it was meant to make sure that this girl didn’t survive the encounter. She was dead from the minute she stepped through.”
Haken was silent for a few seconds. I knew he was going through what I’d just told him, checking it to see if it held up. “I’m going to make some calls,” he said at last. “Don’t tell anyone what you just told me. Understand?”
I nodded. Haken walked out.
I started to follow, then paused. I turned and looked back. The girl’s body was lying on the floor, alone in the room, still and lifeless. She hadn’t been involved in this at all, not really. She’d been a pawn, prepared and sacrificed. It was so utterly casual. They had treated her like one of my one-shot items, expended to produce a desired effect. Just like Leo.
Fuck these guys. The depth of my hatred surprised me. All of a sudden I didn’t care about the long-term consequences. I just wanted to see White Rose go down. I took out my phone and started making some calls of my own.
Haken called half an hour later, giving me instructions to meet him at the office where we’d planned the attack. He didn’t offer any explanations, and I didn’t ask.
The house was mostly empty now. Some Council forensics teams had arrived and were starting to go through the rooms, but most of the mages and security men had been called back to headquarters. It made sense really. The mission had been to bring in Vihaela, and now that Vihaela was apparently dead, things had ground to a halt. Outside, some yellow tape had been used to block off the alley, and bystanders were craning their necks to see if anything interesting was going to happen. I got a few glances, but no one challenged me on the way out.
I took a taxi to the office block and went inside. Night had fallen, and the building was dark and empty. My footsteps echoed up the stairwell as I climbed. When I found the door, I stopped and unslung my bag. I hadn’t worn my armour today, but I’d brought a light backpack. Reaching inside, my fingers brushed against soft cloth before closing on a stone attached to a chain. The item I took out wasn’t much to look at: a smooth-cut rock on a thin chain, teardrop-shaped and dull grey. But it wasn’t a rock, it was a fire-hunger stone, and I’d primed it before leaving the house. I checked to make sure it was still charged, then hung the chain over my neck, tucking the stone inside my shirt. I pushed the door open and walked in.
Haken was at the far side of the office, next to the windows. The lights were off and he was only a shadow in the gloom. Fire mages can see heat—it’s not quite the same as seeing in the dark, but it’s pretty close, and a fire mage can manage just fine with no light at all. Haken turned to me as I wound my way through the tables. The only light was the reflected glow from the street below the window: I could make out the lines of his face, but I couldn’t see his eyes. “Thinking something over?” I asked.
“Yes.”
I tilted my head. “Made up your mind?”
Haken looked at me for a second without answering. “Ready to go?”
“Where to?”
“White Rose’s base,” Haken said. “Maybe. I’m going to need you there to confirm it.”
I shrugged. “Easy enough. How do you know where to go?”
“Can’t answer that, I’m afraid.”
“Then mind telling me why we’re going there? Because it doesn’t seem like the safest possible vacation spot.”
“Our mission hasn’t changed.” Haken said. “If what you’re saying is true and Vihaela’s at their base . . .”
“Then we still have to bring her in?”
Haken nodded.
“If we’re doing something like that, wouldn’t it make sense to bring some backup?”