Four Dead Queens by Astrid Scholte

Author:Astrid Scholte
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3, mobi
Publisher: Putnam
Published: 2019-02-26T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY

Keralie

Mackiel tipped his bowler hat as I climbed out of the incinerator. “Hello, darlin’ Kera. It’s wonderful you could join us.”

I recognized the woman next to him as the informant who worked on the wall to Toria. What was she doing here?

“You knew I was in there the entire time,” I said to Mackiel, keeping the table safely between us.

The woman asked, “Is that true?”

“It’s what I would’ve done.” Mackiel shrugged. “And I thought it would be more fun to smoke her out. It was more fun, wasn’t it?” He grinned.

Talking about my accident had never been about getting Varin to betray me. Mackiel wanted to remind me about my father. He wanted to remind me how I’d hurt the people I loved the most. But why? If he was planning to kill us both, why waste his time?

“What now, Mackiel?” I spread my hands wide. “Shoot us, then shove us into the incinerator to ensure no one finds our bodies?”

Mackiel tapped his lip. “Thank you for the suggestion, but I’m not planning to be rid of you.” Yet, his words promised.

“This isn’t our normal business, Mackiel,” I said.

He brushed invisible lint off his black coat, which I’d stolen for him over a year ago. Was anything actually his? I looked down at my gaudy Ludist outfit. Was anything mine?

“My business,” he said, “is anything and everything lucrative. You know our world, darlin’. You know only the most cunning survive. And in these times, we have to be more ruthless than ever.”

He was right. We had to be ruthless to survive. I had to be ruthless.

“We don’t involve ourselves with quadrant politics and palace laws,” I said, stalling.

“The queens got involved with us first,” he replied. Then this was about the Jetée? I still couldn’t imagine Mackiel, the young boy I’d grown up with, to be the mastermind behind the murders of all four queens.

“Why did you make me steal the comm chips in the first place?” I asked. “If they were always intended for you?”

The woman beside Mackiel stiffened. He replied, “Who said the messages were intended for me?”

“If they weren’t, then who were they meant for?”

“I would hate to speak on someone else’s behalf, but I’m afraid the intended recipient can no longer speak for himself,” he replied. The woman beside him grinned manically.

“You killed him,” Varin said.

“I did nothing of the sort,” Mackiel replied. “But the henchmen might’ve got a little carried away. You know what they’re like.” Again, he blamed the henchmen. Did he even realize the darkness he’d invited into his life? While his father had been treacherous, devising a plan to murder the queens was a step too far. Something he could not come back from.

“Why are you doing this?” We’d come here to find out more about who was pulling the strings, but now I wanted to know why Mackiel was involved and why he’d dragged me into it. “What have you been promised for the comm chips?”

“What it’s always about.” He rubbed his fingers together.

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