Fated

I sat thinking for five minutes. Morden didn’t rush me, waiting patiently while I worked out what I was going to say.

‘What are you offering?’ I said at last.

‘Consider the position that of intelligence officer,’ Morden said. ‘I think it’s a role to which you’d be well suited.’

‘What’s in it for me?’

‘Come now, Verus. I know money doesn’t motivate you.’

‘I wasn’t talking about money.’

‘Ah.’ Morden tilted his head. ‘Well, for one thing, you’d get to stay alive. You listed that as your primary goal, I believe.’

‘You’re going to have to do better than that.’

‘You are aware I could kill you at any time?’

‘Very,’ I said. ‘But you haven’t, which means at the moment you’ve got a reason not to. You could tell me to follow your orders or die, and I’d have to do as you said. But threatening a diviner doesn’t work out very well in the long run. Not if you’re planning to rely on the information he gives you.’

Morden studied me for a moment. I knew from looking into the future that he wasn’t going to follow through on his threat, but something in his eyes still made my skin crawl. Suddenly he smiled. ‘Very well, then. What I can offer you is safety. As long as you’re working for me, neither you nor any associates you bring with you will be harmed, by either side. I think you’ll find my security quite impressive. You’ll also have whatever you can find from the site, bar the fateweaver itself. Of course, your team members will have their own shares.’

‘Team members?’

‘So then.’ Morden leaned back in his chair. ‘Tell me how to open that relic.’

I felt the futures shift into a series of forks. I took a long look at the options ahead of me, and saw the consequences of answering one way or the other. ‘With a key,’ I said at last.

‘What does the key look like?’

‘A cube of red crystal.’

‘How does it open the door?’

‘You place the cube in the statue’s hand.’

‘Do you have it?’

I paused. ‘Yes.’

A beat, then Morden nodded, and I felt the flicker of a minor spell. A second later, the far door opened and a young man walked in.

He couldn’t have been older than his early twenties, but no one looking at him would call him a boy. He was tall and slender, smooth-moving in a way that suggested speed, and his eyes were cold. I’d never met him, but I knew exactly what he was: a Dark Chosen, a selected apprentice. He would be fast, ruthless, a combat veteran despite his youth, deadly with his magic or without it. He was holding something in one hand, and as he came and stopped by Morden’s chair I saw what it was. It was Luna’s red crystal cube, the same one I’d left locked away in my shop.

‘Let me introduce you to Onyx,’ Morden said. ‘He’ll be looking after you during your stay. Do feel free to approach him if there’s anything you need.’

I looked at Onyx and he looked back at me. The expression on his face suggested anyone who approached him could expect to have their throat cut. ‘I’ll keep that in mind,’ I said.

‘Excellent. Onyx?’

Onyx stepped forward and held out the cube. I lifted my hand and he placed the cube into it. Morden nodded to him and with a final glance back at me Onyx turned and left, shutting the door behind him as he went. ‘A gesture of good faith,’ Morden said with a smile. ‘I’m afraid the defences on your shop need some work. We’ll have to look into getting you some better accommodation once this is over.’

I looked at the cube, feeling its presence in my hand, patient and still. ‘So as you can see,’ Morden said, ‘I now have everything I need – with your assistance, of course. We should be moving within a day or two; please consider yourself my guest until then.’ He rose to his feet and moved to the other door. ‘This way.’

I slipped the cube into my pocket, then got up and followed Morden into a long hallway. Pictures and rugs lined the walls, but I was too busy looking ahead to notice. Morden had known about the cube from the start; his questions had been traps. If I’d lied, the consequences would have been ugly. But I still had one edge, a secret that I was almost sure Morden didn’t know. The cube would only work for Luna. If Morden tried to open the door with the cube, he was going to get a nasty surprise.

It would be a very good idea for me not to be around when that happened.

‘You’ll be working with Onyx on this assignment,’ Morden was saying. ‘Along with three others.’

‘These others,’ I said. ‘They wouldn’t be Cinder, Deleo and Khazad, would they?’

‘As a matter of fact they would.’

‘Ah.’

‘I’m confident you’ll be able to resolve your differences.’

‘We’re going to meet them?’

‘Just Deleo.’

‘And the other two?’

‘Unfortunately they’ve proven … less accommodating. They should be in good condition by tomorrow.’ Morden smiled. ‘However, I’m sure you and Deleo will have plenty to talk about. First, though, I think a re-introduction is in order.’ He opened one of the doors.