The Sleeper and the Silverblood

The next morning, though sorely tempted to stay behind with Storm, Kitara finally extricated herself and made her way across the AIDO to find Devika.

The Historian scribbled something furiously on her tablet with a stylus as Kitara entered the library office. “Hey.”

Devika looked up, surprised, then frowned. “What are you doing here?”

“I think we need to talk.”

“About what?” Irritation flashed through her friend’s eyes. “I can’t imagine you’ve got any other life-altering secrets, do you?”

“Dev…”

With a sigh, Devika motioned for Kitara to sit.

“I’m sorry,” Kitara said as she complied. “I wish you’d found out…differently.”

“Would you ever have told me?”

Kitara rubbed her forehead gingerly. “If it was ever safe enough. And…I don’t know when that might have been.”

“I get it,” her friend said. “I do. I mean, I don’t like it…but I get it.”

“I was just trying to protect you,” Kitara tried to explain. “Like I said, I don’t know what Cornelius would do if he found out anyone else knew…”

That hint of irritation sparked in Devika’s eyes again. “That only makes it worse. He’s deprived you of the ability to be…yourself with the people who care about you most.”

“I am sorry.” Kitara leaned forward on the table. “Truly. If we hadn’t been researching the Ninthëvels…”

“There wouldn’t have been any reason for us to figure it out,” the Historian finished for her. “Yeah. And maybe at some point you would have been able to tell me. I know.”

“I just hope you…don’t stay mad at me too long.” Kitara bit her lip. “I need you with me, Dev. Maybe now more than ever.”

“I’m less mad at you than I am myself,” Devika grumbled. “I mean…Declan figured it out. Declan. You’ve been my friend for years and he figured it out in less than two months.”

Kitara stared at her for a moment, then a laugh escaped her. “Wait, you’re not mad at me?”

Devika glanced up, startled. “I mean, maybe at first. But just because I have…feelings about it doesn’t mean it’s fair to project them onto you. I just needed a minute to…process it.”

Kitara laughed again as a knot in her chest loosened. “So…you’re mad at Declan?”

“He’s a meathead,” Devika insisted. “And I’m supposed to be the smart one.”

“Declan had the advantage of seeing me appear out of nowhere,” Kitara reminded her. “He put two and two together with information you didn’t have.”

“Still. I’ve seen you disappear silently and almost…invisibly for years,” Devika mused. “I just…thought I was spacey.”

“You’re not,” Kitara said. “And because I know you’re not, I’m more careful doing it around you than anyone else.”

The corner of Devika’s lips turned up in a half-smile. “Go me, then.”

Kitara rose and leaned down to hug her. “You’re my sister, okay? Nothing will ever change that.”

“I know. I always knew you were special, Kitara. Cornelius is an idiot for trying to keep you under his thumb, because if nothing else, it tells us there’s something about you he fears. I’m just annoyed I didn’t put it together sooner.”

They stayed that way a long moment before the Historian sighed, and Kitara released her. “It does explain why he’s been out to get you for so long. Half-Ninthëvel, his wife in a coma…”

“He doesn’t like me,” Kitara said flatly. “I can’t say I blame him, but it doesn’t make it easier.”

“What about Storm?” Devika asked, her voice heavy with implication.

“He says he believes me,” Kitara replied as a light blush crept up her face. “He doesn’t care what I am. He says it doesn’t matter.”

“It’s obvious he’s into you. And you’re into him, admit it.”

“It’s not that simple.”

“Do you like him?” Devika asked bluntly.

Kitara blushed.

“Like” is a mild term…

“Yes. But…there’s a lot standing between us. A lot we’re up against.”

“If you care about him and he cares about you, you can work through anything,” Devika replied mildly. “The guy strong-armed Alasdair into hacking a portal and charged headfirst into an unknown number of Netherlings to make sure you were safe. You two were inevitable from the moment you laid eyes on each other.”

The Sleeper’s phone buzzed, and she checked the screen for the ID. Only a few people had this number.

Bae

Kitara caught Devika’s gaze with a fierce expression, put a finger to her lips, and accepted the call.

“Hello?”

“I apologize for not returning your call sooner.” Baylen’s accented voice came through the phone. “Do you have a moment now?”

Kitara covered the mouthpiece on her phone. “Is Philemon in the library?”

Devika shook her head, her brow furrowed in concern.

“Yes,” Kitara answered the Netherling.

“What can I do for you?”

“There’s been a development on the…information you’re after.”

“That makes good timing, given the extent of the recent raids.”

“So you know about those.”

“Out here, who doesn’t? And you’re back in the AIDO, it sounds like.”

Kitara hesitated. “It seemed…safest.”

“Mm.”

“Did you hear what, exactly, Ostragarn did to our people?”

“Yes. A kind of brutality that hasn’t been seen in…decades.”

“Apparently, they kept trophies.” She hesitated. “‘My people’ are comparing it to the mutilation of our last Sleeper.”

“The Maker had nothing to do with the raids.”

“It’s hard not to draw comparisons, Baylen.”

Devika’s jaw dropped when she realized who was on the phone.

“You keep telling me he’s not involved,” Kitara said, “but from where I’m standing, he seems pretty involved. Like he and the General are working together.”

He laughed. “If that’s the conclusion your information led you to, you need to rethink your sources.”

“You’re my source!” Kitara snapped, annoyed. “You confirmed the Maker was responsible for our agent’s death! What other conclusion am I supposed to draw?”

“You’re so focused on the Maker, you’re not seeing the bigger picture.”

“Which is what, exactly? You’ve been dancing around half-truths for weeks, giving me half the ‘bigger picture’ and expecting me to just…figure out the other half. Maybe you only know half-truths, because when things get too hot, your only concern is your own survival!”

Baylen let out a low chuckle. “You underestimate me.”

“Enlighten me then.”

“Fuck, Kitara, open your eyes. At every turn, Ostragarn has been one step ahead. Haven’t you wondered why the raids were so successful? I told you it was coming, and I’m certain you passed that information along, and yet…it wasn’t enough. The Maker is powerful, and some say clairvoyant, but you and I both know that’s bullshit.”

“What are you trying to say?” Kitara asked, her voice tinged with frustration.

“I’m saying you’re looking in the wrong direction,” Baylen replied cryptically. “Some of what I’ve told you can only have come from certain sources, and inevitably would be traced back to me, and I’m no use to you dead.”

“You’re not being very useful alive either,” she retorted. “Did you know Jamal worked for the Maker?”

“…what?”

“You must have. That’s why you don’t like him, right? He was a rival. He was also probably your leak, since Scarlet told me the Maker killed our agent. She must have learned it from him.”

“That’s not—”

“I took care of that problem though,” Kitara talked over him. “Put out that fire for you, so to speak. So tell me the truth: is the Maker working with the General?”

“Kitara—”

“Yes or no, Baylen!” she snarled.

“I’ve told you, no! The Maker is as much an ally to Itzal as he was to Landon!”

For a moment, the sole sound in the library office was Kitara’s shallow breathing.

“What is it?” Devika hissed, panicked.

Kitara waved a frantic hand at her to be quiet. “What did you say?”

“Nothing, I—”

“I never said the name ‘Landon,’” she whispered.

Baylen hesitated. “Perhaps in passing—”

“No,” she interrupted again. “It’s ingrained in us. Part of our training. We never reveal the names of our agents—”

“Kitara,” Baylen sighed. “Landon hadn’t been ‘your’ agent for a very long time. He belonged to Ostragarn. He told them how to carry out the attacks against the AIDO facilities, where to find Phoenix—”

“It’s you.” Kitara sagged against the closest wall. “Of course it is. It’s always been you. You’re him.”

Devika got to her feet, fear shining clearly in her eyes.

“Listen to me. He shared what facilities most likely had vials of the Fallen serum, what information they should leak to root out actual Sleepers—”

Only the stillness of her surroundings kept Kitara from shouting into the phone. “It’s you!”

A beat of silence, then a sigh. “It’s me.”