Kiem groaned internally. He was almost sure this wasn’t another loop, but of all the things not to be a hallucination. “Thanks,” he said, to buy time. Jainan was on the bed, but his eyes were closed, and he was slumped and still. The technician was unconscious on the floor. At least both of them were breathing.
Bel stood uncomfortably against the storage rack opposite, her hands behind her head. Her capper was on the floor by Aren’s feet. She looked ruefully back at Kiem. “Sorry,” she said. “He got the drop on me while I dealt with her. I was never a combat specialist.”
“Now,” Aren said conversationally, keeping the capper trained on Kiem. “I don’t mind admitting that I’m in a bit of a hole, here. No, don’t move,” he added, “I will absolutely fucking shoot.”
“You might have been able to cover up Jainan’s death in custody,” Kiem said, “but no way are you going to be able to cover up mine.”
“I don’t need to,” Aren said. “If you don’t start cooperating, I can get rid of you, and the Tau field will convince Jainan he did it. Don’t talk to me about sunk costs. Don’t move.” He swung the capper back and fired a ray in front of Bel, who had shoved herself off the wall and was halfway to her own weapon. He’d shot too fast: it only hit her outstretched hand, but even that was enough for the shock to run through her. She choked and fell to her hands and knees as she fought for consciousness. Kiem started toward her instinctively but pulled back, raising his hands, as Aren turned the capper on him.
Aren got to his feet, still aiming at Kiem, and kicked the extra weapon under the nearest pile of hardware. “Why is everyone an idiot?” he said. “Your Imperial Highness, do me the favor of getting the fuck away from that machine. I’ve put a lot of effort into tying up this loose end, and you’re ruining my technician’s hard work.”
“So you can try brainwashing Jainan again?” Kiem said. “No thanks. Wait, have you used the Tau field before? You must have. Actually, I know you have—you used it to make Colonel Lunver forget what we told her, didn’t you?” That must have been a less drastic adjustment than the one Aren had just tried on Jainan, but Kiem felt a chill about how well that had worked. “Why? Did she find out what you were doing?”
“Listen,” Aren said, his patience visibly fraying, “It’s the middle of the night. In about six hours, I have to walk into General Fenrik’s office and give him proof that Jainan was behind Taam’s accident or I’m finished. I’d rather keep the number of dead royals to a minimum, but I don’t have to. Step away and let my technician back in.”
A coughing sound from the bed made both Kiem and Aren look over. Jainan had opened his eyes and now raised his head with what looked like painful effort. “Let Kiem leave.”
Aren swung the capper toward Jainan, then back at Kiem. “Thought that might have an effect,” he said, sounding more cheerful. “It took me a while to understand what was going on with you two, but now I get it. Your romantic mountain trip, this quaint rescue mission—you’re attached, aren’t you?” Kiem didn’t hate easily, but he was starting to now. “So this whole thing becomes easy. You’re staying here until the Thean invasion has started. And Jainan cooperates with the Tau field, or I shoot you.”
Jainan’s hands were still cuffed in front of him, but he had managed to push the helmet off his head and was now painstakingly using both hands to try and remove the wire patch from his forehead. A trickle of blood was forming around it. His face was a corpse-like mask.
Aren was part of the plan to invade Thea. Cooperating wasn’t an option. Kiem tried to catch Jainan’s eye without Aren noticing and somehow communicate that it was all right, he knew Jainan would let both of them die before he helped Aren, but Jainan wouldn’t look at him.
“I’ll do it,” Jainan said hoarsely. “I’ll help you. Leave Kiem out of it.”
Kiem choked. “Wait—”
“Kiem.” Jainan grasped the guardrail and pushed himself up as far as he could with the wire still attached to his head. “I need you to understand.” He took a breath, as if it was hard for him to speak. Then he turned his head to meet Kiem’s eyes and snapped, “Five!”
Kiem felt the word settle into his brain. Jainan yanked the guardrail out of its sockets and threw it awkwardly at Kiem’s feet. Kiem’s thoughts ran slow as treacle as he watched the rail clatter to the ground, and then it clicked. Five. The quarterstaff lesson with Gairad. He grabbed the rail.
Aren started to realize what was going on, but it was already too late. Jainan shoved himself off the bed so violently the wires ripped out of his head and his arm. His falling body crashed straight into Aren’s legs, just as Kiem brought the rail whistling around to smack into Aren’s wrist. It wasn’t a good blow, but Aren wasn’t prepared. The capper skittered across the floor. Aren fell heavily and sprawled after it, smashing into one of the metal crates. Jainan’s body landed on top of him.
Kiem abandoned the loose rail. He fought down the sick terror and crouched to scoop up Aren’s dropped capper. Aren was on the floor halfway between Kiem and the bed. Kiem aimed the capper at his chest. “Don’t move.”
By this time Aren had managed to sit up. Jainan was no longer conscious, but was still a dead weight on his legs. “That’s a lot of blood,” Aren said. He touched the dark patches on Jainan’s scalp.
Kiem kicked Aren’s hand away and stepped back again. “Don’t do that,” he said. Jainan’s eyes were shut. How much bleeding was too much? Kiem aimed the capper very carefully with both hands. He had never shot one of these at a person. He couldn’t risk hitting Jainan, but Aren was at an awkward sideways angle to him. Would hitting Aren’s arm be enough to knock him out? It had worked on—
Bel. The space where she had been lying was empty.
Aren saw the look. “Where’s your raider friend gone?”
“I don’t know.”
Aren gave him a rueful smile. “So much for loyalty, eh?”
Kiem leveled the capper at him. He wasn’t going to shoot lethally; he just needed to put him out. There was no reason for his heart to be hammering this hard. His finger closed on the trigger.
“Careful,” Aren said. He wrenched Jainan’s body up to cover him. A wave of terror went through Kiem and made his arms spasm up. The capper ray passed over Aren’s head.
Aren had Jainan by the shoulders, cradling him in front of him. Jainan’s eyes were closed and his head hung down on his chest. Kiem recovered his aim, but his hand was shaking now. Aren smiled at him. “You wouldn’t want to hit someone you don’t mean to,” he said. “A capper ray would probably be really bad for Jainan right now.”
“Let go of him,” Kiem said.
“Or you’ll … shoot me?” Aren said. “No. Let’s talk.”
Kiem took a long, slow breath. The capper felt heavy in his hand. “I’m listening.”
“If you’re still trying to salvage some kind of treaty from all this, you’ll need my cooperation,” Aren said. “Let’s just say, you need to convince the Auditor that Thea really wants to be part of the Iskat Empire. I have some stories on you and Jainan that could tank both your reputations and sink any chance at a treaty. The Thean newslogs always love stories about their representatives.”