Fated Blades (Kinsmen #3)(22)

Drewery shrugged. “Child killers, devoted patriots. Our perception of things depends on the way they are labeled for us.”

“Why?” Matias asked.

“Money, of course. Why else?” Drewery glanced around his office. “My grandfather was a mayor. My father was a provincial senator. I am a federal senator. With each step, we climbed higher. And each step required an infusion of cash. Politics is my family business, and I am very good at it. Had you allowed Cassida to broaden your horizons, your child would have been a provincial governor.”

Quick steps echoed through the hallway. Cassida’s mother marched into the room. Lyla was past fifty, but her face was unlined, her golden tan perfect, and her makeup flawless. She wore a robe dress of pricy spider silk, and the nearly weightless rose fabric alternately flared and clung to her as she walked. She moved like a woman thirty years younger.

A C-class combat implant enhanced agility, reflexes, and hand-eye coordination. It shaved a few milliseconds off your reaction time and improved your accuracy. The caveat was you had to practice, preferably by sparring against a trained opponent. Lyla’s life was filled with charitable events and formal dinners, but she practiced religiously, several times a week, bringing in new opponents as she learned their moves.

“You!” Lyla pointed at Matias. “How dare you barge in here! How dare you destroy our house! After everything my daughter had to endure! You vulgar, immoral—”

“Your daughter is an adulteress and a thief,” Ramona said. “You have no moral high ground to stand on.”

“Be quiet!” Lyla barked.

Drewery smiled.

The rage that simmered inside Ramona flared into a blinding red inferno. Two marriages crushed, the efforts of so many people ruined, just for a bit of money, and the two of them dared to act offended, as if they were entitled to some outrage. She was so done with it. Just done.

“This has been fun,” Ramona said, “but I don’t think either of you fully grasps the situation. Let me help you gain some clarity.”

She rose and stepped toward Lyla. The older woman dodged left, yanking a small, elegant gun from under her clothes. Ramona struck, driving the heel of her palm from the bottom up into Lyla’s perfect nose. Cartilage crunched, the impact smashing two pressure points, one in the middle of the nose, the other in the philtrum, just above the upper lip. The secare rarely fought unarmed, but when they did, their attacks focused on knocking their opponent away so they could slice them to pieces.

Lyla’s head snapped back. The gun clattered to the floor. Lyla jumped back. She should have been out. Instead, the older woman spun around, snapping a lightning-fast angle kick. Ramona dodged right, but Lyla was too fast. Her shin bone smashed into Ramona’s ribs. A blinding flash of pain tore through her left side. If she hadn’t dodged, her ribs would have snapped like dry twigs.

Lyla lunged at her, throwing a devastating elbow strike.

Not this time. Ramona jerked a seco shield up. The elbow hammered the force field, and she smashed her right palm against Lyla’s ear.

The older woman’s eyes rolled into her skull, and she went down like a cut log. Her body hit the rug with a thud.

Drewery didn’t move.

Ramona sent her right seco out in a narrow spike, pierced the firearm, sliced it in half, and kicked the two pieces aside. A C-class implant would wake Lyla up in a matter of seconds. Ramona retracted her seco, flipped Lyla onto her stomach, grabbed her arm, twisting the wrist up, and stepped on her back.

Drewery still didn’t move.

There, I took out your not-so-secret weapon, and her head is still attached.

Lyla gasped. Her arm jerked, but Ramona gripped her wrist. Lyla bit off a curse.

“Your daughter took something of mine,” Ramona said, keeping her tone light. “She can have my husband. That’s his choice. She can’t have my research. That belongs to me and my family. Your spoiled brat has no right to benefit from it. Tell me where she is, or I will start shaving slices off your wife.”

“I’m a federal senator!” Drewery roared.

“I don’t give a fuck.”

“Do you honestly think that you can get away with a direct attack on an officer of the Senate?”

“I’d start with her nose,” Matias said.

“Hand is better,” Ramona said. “Hands can be reattached. It leaves them with hope.”

“You ignorant, stupid bitch,” Lyla snarled.

Ramona twisted Lyla’s wrist half a centimeter. The woman screamed. Ramona smiled and released her left seco as a short straight blade.

“New Adra,” Drewery said, enunciating each word.

“Theo!” Lyla snapped.

“Cassida is well protected,” he said. “We can do nothing for her until we get them out of here.”

“Where and when?” Matias demanded.

“The Summer Solstice Festival,” Drewery said.

Adra’s summer solstice festivities were famous throughout the planet. It started ages ago with a sect devoted to worshipping nature in all forms and over the centuries had grown into a celebration of all things Dahlia. Five days from now, thousands of vendors would line the streets of Adra, offering everything from delicious food and trinkets to lanterns and packets of brightly colored glitter powder to be thrown during the dances. Tens of thousands would dance through the city in a joyous, loud, colorful chaos.