Age of X01 - Gameboard of the Gods (50 page)

“So,” he said. “Did you hear that the Comets made it to the playoffs?”

Justin didn’t care much for sports, but he’d learned long ago that other people did, making it an excellent topic to build rapport with. So, he kept up with all the latest headlines, something that came in handy now as he engaged the men in conversation. They warmed up to the subject and seemed to forget they were talking to a plebeian. The Koskinen women, however, remained quiet and sullen.

When dinner mercifully ended an hour and a half later, Mae offered to show Justin and Tessa around the house.

“Remember that this house isn’t a museum,” her mother warned her.

“Yes, yes,” said Mae. “We’ll stay out of your bedrooms.”

Maybe the house wasn’t a museum, but it was certainly dusty enough to be an artifact. Justin had always hired cleaners to do his housework but was on the verge of asking for a broom to lend a hand now. He found out that the family had once employed a large staff to maintain the house, though their numbers had dwindled as the Koskinen finances did.

“What happened to your family’s money?” asked Justin as Mae paused in front of the doorway to what looked like a cluttered office. A moment later, she kept going and showed them into a conservatory that could’ve been straight out of an old movie. He’d asked her a personal question, but Mae seemed too preoccupied with her own thoughts to reprimand him for it. That, or maybe she’d just accepted there were few secrets between them now.

“I don’t know. I think my mother just mismanaged it after my dad died.”

Mae ran her hand along the top of a piano, her fingertips leaving trails in the dust. Justin had a sudden and startling memory of that night in Panama when Mae, wet and bedraggled but still dazzling, had sat down and played Saint-Saëns. It certainly wasn’t an erotic image, but it triggered a reminder of that initial, burning attraction, when he’d looked at her and thought she was the most amazing woman in the world.

She still is,
said Magnus loyally.
You could have her, and your world would change.

Justin felt a pain in his heart and made no response.

Tessa joined Mae at the piano. “This is pretty. Nicer than ours.” Tessa played a few lines of something Justin didn’t know, reminding him that she too had taken lessons. He supposed it was something upper-class young ladies did.

“Where did you learn to play?” asked Claudia incredulously, standing in the doorway.

Tessa took her hands back. “At my house.”

Claudia’s face said she couldn’t have been more surprised if a cat had learned to play. “Mae, Marius and I are leaving.”

Something in Mae’s face sharpened. “I’ll walk you out. And I’ll show you guys my room.” She led Justin and Tessa down the hall and pointed to a doorway at the top of the stairs. “Right there. Probably hasn’t changed since I left. I’ll be there as soon as I talk to Claudia.”

Justin was astute enough to pick up that there was more than a good-bye involved, but he left Mae to her own affairs. Besides, he quickly became consumed by her old bedroom. It was another piece of her to collect. Like every other room, dust reigned. The décor was a mix of the two worlds that had always pulled on Mae. All the furniture was ornate and expensive, the kind of stuff a mother would pick out, not a child or teen. The partially ajar closet was filled with old evening gowns that made Tessa ooh and ahh. Juxtaposed with that glamour were old poster screens that, when turned on, displayed images of various athletes and teams. He even found what must have been a
canne
stick leaning against a corner. He really needed to look that crazy sport up.

Tessa found an open jewelry box on the dresser and couldn’t resist the curiosity of looking through it. “Wow.” She lifted a bracelet encrusted in sapphires that still glittered. “Mae left so much behind.”

“You see any engagement rings in there?” he asked. He smiled at Tessa’s startled look. “Never mind.”

“They’re awfully mean to her, though. I guess I’d abandon a lot to get out of here too.” She swapped the bracelet for a pearl choker. “Did she leave in a hurry?”

“How would I know?” he asked lightly.

Tessa glanced away from her treasures, giving him a wry look.
“How could you not know? You used to watch her with this look…it was hungry. Like you were going to die if you didn’t get inside her head.”

“Used to?” he asked.

She shrugged and returned to the jewelry box. “You’re still alive. I figured you must know everything now.”

Justin laughed in spite of himself. “You know, if I’d realized back in Panama that you’d—” He stopped speaking when he saw her next find. “What is that?”

Tessa lifted a silver necklace with a large pendant hanging on it. The pendant consisted of elaborate silver knot work shaped into a bird. “It’s pretty,” she said. “Looks like a raven.”

It’s a crow!
exclaimed Horatio indignantly.
Can’t she tell the difference? Some prodigy.

Crows are stupid,
said Magnus.
I hate crows.

“It’s a crow,” Justin told Tessa, stepping closer.

“Same knot work they’ve got all over the house.”

“No…it’s a very slightly different style.” He frowned. “I’ve seen this before. Where have I seen this before?”

Tessa obviously didn’t know. She started to put it back, but he took it from her, trying to dredge up an image from the files of his mind. Suddenly, his breath caught. He took out his ego and pulled up the video that still continued to baffle the RUNA’s best technical minds. The display was smaller than a true screen, so it was more difficult to make out the details as he watched the red-haired Erinian woman take off her jewelry for the night. But there it was—he was certain of it. The necklace she removed was the right size and shape, and he knew if he looked at a larger screen, he’d see a replica of the one Tessa had found.

“It’s Celtic knot work, not Norse,” he murmured.

“Why would Mae have Celtic jewelry?”

“Why would Mae have this at all?” he asked. His mind was reeling, and for all his cleverness, he couldn’t find a way to make this work into any of his theories. It tore them open.

Mae entered just then, her angry expression suggesting her parting conversation with Claudia hadn’t gone well. “Are you guys ready to go?”

Justin held up the necklace, still stunned. “Where did you get this?”

“I don’t know. Half that jewelry’s been around forever. Heirlooms and stuff.” She did a double take, picking up on his state of shock. “Why?”

“The Erinian woman in the video had one just like this.”

“What? I don’t remember that.”

“Well, I do, and I just replayed it to check. Why would you both have this?”

Mae shook her head, nowhere near as blown away as he was. “I don’t know. Because it was mass-produced by some designer that castals like? Coincidences like that happen all the time.”

“But it’s Celtic! Why would you have Celtic jewelry?”

“Because sometimes we visit other castes. My mother has Celtic friends. It’s probably from one of them.” She was starting to get irate. “What are you getting at here? Because obviously, there’s something.”

“‘Something’ is that you’re part of this!” He set the necklace down and began to pace as he organized his frantic thoughts. “We were wrong. Somehow we were wrong. You’re tied to them, Mae. The other eights and nines. I
knew
it was too big of a coincidence.”

She looked aghast. “We already went over this, and Leo told you I wasn’t a match. I wasn’t worked on.”

“You were,” he said slowly, fully realizing his next words might cause considerable damage. “He…he said you showed signs of genetic manipulation. It wasn’t the same kind as the victims’, but it definitely wasn’t natural.”

Wide-eyed, she opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out right away. “He never told me that.
You
never told me that.” It was a small detail, but Justin noticed she had a greater expectation that he would tell her the truth than that the person who’d actually run the test would. “There’s a mistake. I wasn’t part of any illegal genetics.”

“Were you not there at dinner?” he asked. “Do you seriously think you came out of that bunch
without
some sort of serious intervention from science?”

“I’m not a match,” she said through gritted teeth. “Leo said so.” He could see the panic rising in her, a panic that wasn’t so much just about illicit practices. It was the fear of being part of something she’d had no say in, a future that others had chosen for her. If he wanted to keep any
of her regard for him, Justin knew he should back off…but he couldn’t. Not when he knew he was right.

“Maybe you were a trial or something. I don’t know. But look at the facts! You have the right score, the right age. You had some kind of work done. And now there’s this ‘coincidental’ necklace, which I’ll bet anything you want has some sort of religious meaning—and which I also bet we’ll find with some of the other victims.”

“Which is it?” she demanded. “A vindictive geneticist or a crazy cult?”

“I think it’s what Callista said: both.”

“Right,” said Mae, scoffing. “Because she’s an authority. Don’t drag me into your fanatical theories of—”

She stopped abruptly when she saw her mother standing in the door. Judging from her shocked expression and Tessa’s paleness, he and Mae had gotten pretty loud. He’d been too caught up to notice.

“Is everything okay?” Astrid asked.

“Everything’s fine,” said Mae. “I apologize for the disturbance.” She was the ice princess again, but there was fire in her eyes.

“Everything is not okay!” Justin said. “You guys are so caught up in your polished images and passive-aggressive comments that no one ever comes right out and says anything. Well, I’m going to.” He stared Astrid straight in the eye, uncaring if she thought he was a plebeian savage. “Mrs. Koskinen, was there or was there not genetic manipulation used when Mae was conceived?”

Mae gasped, probably as much from someone actually speaking openly in this house as from the topic itself. He kept his gaze on Astrid, looking for any telltale signs of lying in that impassive face. She was clearly someone who’d perfected controlling what she revealed to the world years ago. Her whole life was built on appearances, and while Mae was good, she was a novice compared to her mother. As it turned out, though, Justin didn’t have to read through any lies.

“Yes,” said Astrid. “Yes, there was.”

CHAPTER 28

HER DRUG

For a moment, Mae couldn’t breathe. She stared at her mother, waiting for something else, some explanation or—preferably—the revelation that this was all a joke. But Mae should’ve known better. Her mother wasn’t the joking type.

“You…you can’t be serious.”

“Oh, I’m perfectly serious.” Her mother strolled with complete ease into the room, settling down on the plush, satin-covered bed as though she were at tea. “Dr. March’s observations were very astute. Did you really think you were the result of some freak chance? After your siblings?”

“They aren’t that bad. They’re your own kids!” Mae frantically tried to remember how much of the case she and Justin had inadvertently discussed just now. Tessa had been hearing pieces of it for weeks, but it wasn’t her discretion Mae was worried about.

“Yes, Maj. They are. And I love them, just as I love you. I loved you enough to give you your best fighting chance in the world.”

Mae swallowed, still unable to believe this conversation was taking place. “What you’re saying…you broke the law. It’s illegal. It’s unethical.”

Her mother shrugged. “Is it unethical to want healthy children? The government’s too paranoid. What harm was done? You’re here, you’re healthy. Mephistopheles wasn’t unleashed on the world again.”

“I can’t believe Dad would’ve agreed to it.”

“He didn’t need to. You were all in vitro. It was as simple as giving the lab what they needed and letting them do their business. It was what we
did at other places for your brother and sister. Your father had no reason to think any more than normal fertilization was going on. I got pregnant, and we got you.” She made it sound so nauseatingly easy.

Justin crossed his arms and leaned against a wall, thoughts churning behind his dark eyes. “He must’ve suspected something later when he saw this perfect face and athletic skills that’d be mind-blowing in a plebeian, let alone a cas—patrician.”

Her mother didn’t deny it. “What was he going to do? Return her?”

Mae felt dizzy and rested a hand on the dresser, steadying herself. That her father had had no part in this was the only piece of sanity in this increasingly unbelievable tale.

“You know the name of whoever did the work?” asked Justin.

“I don’t remember.” Mae’s mother waved a dismissive hand. “I’m sure I could find it in our records somewhere, though they’re not in business anymore.”

“I’m sure they aren’t,” said Justin. “And I’m sure whatever name you’ve got will be untraceable anyway.”

“You should’ve told me this,” said Mae. It was all she could manage.

Her mother actually seemed to find that funny, though there was venom in her voice. “Why? Would that have changed anything? Would you have stayed behind and done your duty? Married respectfully and helped us recoup our losses instead of sleeping around with plebeians?”