Sean didn’t move. The lava below the open trapdoor smoked and crackled. “I think I’ll keep it.”
Naomi caressed the cage over the trapdoor handle before lifting it up and pulling the lever that shut the door. The fans blew loudly for a few moments, clearing the fumes. “You really thought that you could come in here and destroy the virus just because somebody told you to?”
“We don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said.
“Save your lies, my dear, because Gemmee’s already dead.” Naomi gave me a cruel smile. “She played you two like the gullible fools that you are. She was no lowborn. In fact she’s a Tarkwin. She spent her time scurrying around in the walls like an Earth rat just waiting for someone naive enough to do her bidding. We’ve had her under surveillance for decades. We were watching, waiting for her to make her move. Had you touched her, Lady Darcy, I’m sure you would have felt the difference in her energy.”
“I don’t believe you,” I said. “How could a Tarkwin be here?”
Naomi pushed open wide the door to the passage she’d used and I saw Gemmee’s body on the floor. A pool of blood circled her head. “She needed you to get the virus out of the force field. She lay in wait in this very passage prepared to kill you both when you got here so she could give the virus to the Tarkwins and deprive us of two Sworn Assets. You should thank me for getting her before she got you. This foul creature wanted to slow down our plans to leave Earth so they would have time to bring their full force here and destroy Geminay.”
Suddenly I understood. I rubbed my temples and then shook my head. Naomi’s scheming filled me with disgust. She had used me and Gemmee to get the virus. “You wanted me to kill the missusan, didn’t you?”
Naomi gave me a coy smile. “Maybe.”
My heart beat faster as it filled with fury. “You knew his special talent. You wanted me to get his memories so I would know how to find the virus in this building. You knew that with Sean’s help I would have enough strength to get the virus past the force field. That’s why you allowed me to keep Sean here. And then you tricked Gemmee, didn’t you?”
“I may have known she was listening.”
“This is messed up,” Sean cried.
I kept shaking my head. “Your plan was to tell everyone how you saved the virus from Sean and me. You would call us traitors and use Gemmee as your proof. Then Sylvan would feel compelled to renew his marriage contract with you, the heroine who saved Geminay. Isn’t that what this is about?”
“Don’t be stupid. My marriage contract would have been renewed! I didn’t need you,” Naomi snapped.
“And what about Remy?” Sean asked. “He was part of this too, wasn’t he?”
“Smart boy.” Naomi kept her hand on the lever. “Remy, come down here.”
Remy appeared on the stairs and grinned when he saw us. “How did you know?”
“I thought it surprising that you knew how to get on the balcony of the throne room of a Great House you’d never been in before. I also thought you knew an awful lot of about the Protocol. No one else was so open about the murder of Earth. What did Naomi promise you to make you turn traitor?”
“She promised me the future.” Remy moved languidly toward Sean. The light from the torches made his auburn hair glow red. His eyes were wide with a strange intensity.
“The Earth is so yesterday. Once the Original People came here, we were history. The strong deal defeat to the weak. It’s the way of the universe. They’re the strong ones, and Earthlings are already dead. When the Original people leave Earth, I’m going along. It was never big enough for me.”
“Or your ego,” Sean said.
Remy snorted. “Give me the virus.”
“No!” My voice was magnified by the stone walls around us.
Remy pulled from under his tunic the crystal I had filled earlier. It was now white and completely drained. “Naomi gave me this in case you two became difficult. You have a choice. You can hand me the virus or I can take it away from you.”
“You can try,” I said recklessly.
Remy lunged at Sean. Sean swung at him with a ferocious punch, but the energy from the crystal had given Remy snake-like reflexes. He spun past Sean and came for me, giving me a tremendous shove that sent me flying into the wall. My head banged against the stone and for a moment everything went black. My ears rang. I fell to the ground and opened my eyes long enough to see Remy plunge a stone knife into Sean’s back. Sean’s legs folded and he went gracefully to the ground. He lay without moving. Blood trickled from his mouth, and his long body covered the container holding the virus.
“That was quick,” Remy said. “I’m almost disappointed.”
“Don’t be so impressed with yourself. They were weakened by going through the force field. I counted on that,” Naomi said dismissively. She pulled the lever. The lava doors fell open and the room filled with stinging hot air. She pointed at Gemmee. “Give this Tarkwin to the lava. Its stink fills my nose.”
Remy gave her a sort of salute. “As you wish, my lady.”
He went over to the passage, picked up Gemmee, and tossed her tiny body across the room into the open lava door as easily as if he were throwing an apple core into a garbage can. The lava took her without even a hiss of steam.
In the meantime, Naomi approached Sean. She knelt next to him and tried to move his body off the container holding the virus, but he was too heavy. She gave up and went back to stand by the lever. The open lava door roared with heat and fumes like a dragon’s mouth.
“You’ll have to get the virus container,” Naomi said to Remy. “I can’t.”
As Remy came toward Sean, I flung myself on his body. It took nearly all my strength to reach under him and pull out the container holding the virus. I held it in my arms as I lay over Sean.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Remy asked, his tone pleased and mocking.
“If you come any closer, I’ll throw the virus in the lava. You know I can,” I said.
Naomi reached for the lever to close the lava door.
“Stop!” I said. “Touch that lever and I’ll throw it in now.”
“Now hold on,” Remy said, never taking his eyes off of me. “You don’t know what you’re doing here.”
“I’m giving humanity a chance.” I watched him carefully. My head was pounding, and I knew how fast he could be. “You’re an idiot if you think this woman will let you come along when they leave Earth. They never take the Sworn Assets or the Discards.”
Naomi barked a laugh. “Who told you that? The Tarkwin? She lied. All they do is lie. When did she ever tell you the truth?”
“When have you?” I shot back. “Remy, don’t do this. Don’t turn on humans and play Naomi’s game. It’s not too late.”
Remy arranged his handsome face into something like concern. “Funny, but I was going to say the same to you. You’re strong and beautiful and it would be a waste for you to stay here and die. We’ll leave Earth together. Forget Sean. Forget all this.”
“Sean’s not a waste! Earth isn’t a waste!” I cried hoarsely.
Remy held up his hands and took a step toward me.
“Sean’s never been worthy of you. He’s nothing without you. You have so much power. You’re the hybrid we’ve all been waiting for. You should hear the Mechanics talking about you. Everyone says you’re the link that the Original People need so they can live on the surface of planets with yellow suns. You’re the culmination of years of work. You’re the hybrid we need to defeat the Tarkwins. You could be the mother of an improved species. Don’t waste it here on Earth. Don’t waste it on him.”
“Shut up about Sean. You don’t know anything.”
“I know he’s dying. I can see his aura fading. And you can feel it, can’t you? Pull out the dagger and let him bleed to death. Let him go quickly.”
“No.”
Remy’s voice became wheedling. “I know what you’re doing, baby. You’re trying to heal him. I can see your aura fading. You’re giving him your energy. That’s buying him time, but minutes, only minutes. That dagger, that crystal dagger, is letting blood seep into his lungs and his mouth. Sad. So sad.”
Naomi became sympathetic. “The outcome here may not please you, my lady, but even you have to see that you’re just prolonging the inevitable. Keeping Lord Sean alive is weakening you. How long before you won’t have the strength left to throw that virus into the lava? Putting your hand in that force field took so much of your strength. You can’t win this.”
I thought she might be right. I started to cry. Keeping Sean alive was draining me so badly. It felt like I was trying to hold up a car and it was slipping from my grip. I had to do something now even if it was wrong. I pulled the dagger out of Sean’s body with one hand and tried to stem the gush of blood with the other. Then I dropped the dagger and flung the virus into the open lava door.
But I missed.
The container hit the far side of the opening and slid along, rocking on the brink of the hatch. It teetered, but it didn’t fall in.
Remy bellowed and rushed toward the container while Naomi pulled the lever and shut the trapdoor. He picked up the container and whooped in joy before handing it over to Naomi. I lay on Sean, weeping because I had failed him and humanity. Naomi and Remy would push Sean and me into the lava. The virus would be released on Earth. Everyone I loved would die. Remy approached. I held up the crystal dagger as if I could actually use it to defend us.
“Oh, honey, sorry about that pitch,” he crooned. “And you’re on the softball team.”
I held the dagger higher. “I will kill you before I let you touch Sean.”
“Fighting until the very end. I like that about you, baby.” He squatted down next to Sean and me. “That’s what they want, you know. The Original People have become so dry and logical that they can hardly feel any passion or courage anymore.” He easily grabbed the crystal dagger from my numb fingers and threw it across the room. It clattered against the wall with a sound like glass breaking. “You don’t die today, baby.” Remy caressed my hair. “Come on. Let’s go. I think you and I are going to have some fun before this is all over.”
“Don’t play with her,” Naomi said sharply as she clutched the virus. “A Sworn Asset like her is dangerous. I suspect she has abilities none of us know about, including her. She’s not a toy.”
I clamped my hands on his wrists to drain him, but he only laughed.
“Your vampire fingers won’t work on me, baby. Didn’t anyone ever tell you that you can’t drain another Sworn Asset? You can give energy to us, but you can’t take.” He clucked his tongue and gave me a mock frown of sympathy. “So, baby, it seems like you’re out of options. We’re going to have a good time.”
Naomi’s face twisted in disgust. “She’s going into the lava. They both are. They’re no better than that reeking Tarkwin. Put them to the lava and let’s get out of here. We’re running out of time.”
He kept touching my hair. “He’ll join the lava, but I want to take her with us.”
Naomi shook her head. “Why? We have her genetic material. The body she’s in now is irrelevant. We don’t need it to make another one. Now do as I say and put her in the lava.”
Remy shook his head. “I want her. This girl. This body and this mind.”
Naomi’s voice became cajoling. “Stop with your narrow human thinking. You don’t need this exact bag of flesh and bones. She can be remade for you on the ship as we journey to our new home. You’ll get a better, improved version. That creation’s imperfect body is too full of the memories of Lord Sean to make you a suitable mate.”
“I want the girl who has the same memories of Earth that I have.”
“And why is that? What have humans ever thought or done that the Original People haven’t done better? There’s no need to preserve a creature whose mind is polluted by human culture. Later on the ship, you can show the new creation an approved, sanitized version of who humans were.”
“Poor Remy,” I said as if I were consoling him. “To them we’re irrelevant. They don’t value anything about the human experience. And you’ll never be on that ship. These people value loyalty above all else and you’re a traitor to your own kind. To them that’s unforgivable. To them you’re worse than the Tarkwin you put to the lava.”
“Don’t listen to her,” Naomi said. “The defeated will say anything to bring you down to their level. Kill her. She’s a bore.”
“She’s the best of us,” Remy said.
“The best of humans, maybe, but not us. Look at her, the fool that she is groveling on the floor. She’s giving all her energy in a futile attempt to keep Lord Sean alive. Her ill-advised idealism will get her killed. She doesn’t know when to abandon a lost cause.”
Remy watched me as I lay with my hand on the stab wound on Sean’s back. Sean was still alive, though just barely. His heart beat weakly. My energy was a steady trickle from my palm into him. It was killing me, but I didn’t try to stop it.
“Get your hand off of him,” Remy ordered me.
“No, let her do that because she’s dangerous until she’s fully weakened.” Naomi’s eyes were on me, measuring my growing vulnerability. “This is a pity, really. She’s the most talented and powerful Sworn Asset I’ve ever seen. If she could be remade into one of us, an Original Person, she could be something really special. But her humanity holds her back. She thinks it makes her better than us, but she’s a dolt for wasting herself on a boy who’s about to die.”
“What’s she’s doing is noble.”
“Noble? How is dying for a lost cause noble? You can call it nobility, but I’ll call it and her vacuous humanity what it is—a waste. She’s going to meet the lava, yet here she is, draining herself, too righteous to let cool logic allow her see that she’s defeated.”
“Don’t scoff. She’s the best of humanity.”
“Really? I’ll take your word for it.” Naomi tipped her head as she looked at me. “She’s looks harmless enough. Put her to the lava.”
“No. I’m keeping her.”
“Why?”
“Do I have to say it again?”
“Can’t you listen to reason?” Naomi’s voice rose dangerously. “You don’t need the body of this foul animal on the floor. We’ll remake her, and this time the creation will be better. She won’t be corrupted by human ways. She’ll be perfect and she’ll be your reward once I’m Supreme Ruler.”