Deathstalker Return (17 page)

She hugged him, one magnificent breast pressing against the side of his face. He blushed bright red and sat very still, so he wouldn’t startle her and make her move away. James found Anne’s beauty disturbing in a whole bunch of ways he didn’t really understand yet. When Treasure Mackenzie had hugged him on the set of
The Quality,
he’d thought he was going to pass out from lack of blood to the head. It had all gone somewhere else. Anne knew the effect she had on him, and she loved to tease him. She could accept attention from James that would have made her uncomfortable if it had come from anyone else—perhaps because James had never known the old Anne. As far as he knew, she’d always been beautiful. She found it easier to be . . . feminine, with him. She still had trouble calling up the confidence to bring it off successfully with anyone else. She liked the effect her new femininity had on men, the way it distracted and short-circuited their thinking, but she didn’t trust it yet. Part of her still suspected they were secretly laughing at her.

And if they were, she’d make them pay. She’d make them suffer. Every damned one of them.

 

 

She took some time to get James settled, and then left him immersed in the latest files while she hurried after Finn. The Durandal hadn’t got far down the corridor. He was still trying to get rid of du Katt. The clone rep was as nervous as he was ambitious, and needed a lot of reassuring. As Finn said—more than once—if he’d known the little creep was going to be this clingy, he’d have approached someone else. But it was too late now. They were stuck with each other—for the time being. Finn saw Anne aproaching, and used that as an excuse to send du Katt on his way. The clone rep left reluctantly, still muttering under his breath. Finn smiled on Anne as she joined him.

“And how’s our dear child? Studying hard and bettering himself, I hope?”

“He’ll be ready for the interview. He always is. You’re too hard on him, Finn.”

“It’s for his own good. If he screws up in public, it won’t be just our necks on the chopping block. The public’s always had a special loathing for clone imposters. Especially now they’ve invested so much hope and faith in the return of dear James.” He stopped, considered her for a moment, and then spoke more gently. “Something’s bothering you, Anne, and I don’t think it’s James. What’s the matter?”

“I don’t know,” she said, looking away, unable to meet his eyes. “It’s just . . . I don’t feel right. This new me . . . I thought it was what I wanted, but now . . . It feels like a trick; a mask that everyone else can see through.”

“You’re beautiful now,” said Finn. “You have blossomed. This is what you always looked like, inside.”

“Then why can’t I ever relax? Why do I feel like a fraud all the time? Why can’t I ever just . . . enjoy it?”

Her voice was rising. Finn took her firmly by the arms and made her look at him. “Listen to me, Anne. You can be whatever you want to be. You can remake your life, your personality, and your destiny, just like I did. You just have to be strong enough to take what you want. Other people will believe what you want them to believe, if you’re confident enough and strong enough in your belief. You are what you can make other people believe you are. Trust me on this, Anne, I’ve had a lot of experience in this field. Soon, people will forget there ever was another Anne. Just . . . believe in yourself. I believe in you.”

Anne slowly nodded, and Finn let go of her. She managed a small, tremulous smile. “Thank you,” she said quietly. “You didn’t have to do that.”

“I know,” he said, smiling impishly. “But I did anyway. Because even monsters aren’t monsters all the time.”

They strolled off down the corridor together, comfortably close but not actually touching. People passing by bowed low to them both, and kept well out of their way. They had both become great and glorious and larger than life, and they looked very much like they belonged in the ornate corridors of the Imperial Palace. As though anywhere else would have been unworthy of them.

“You’re taking a lot on yourself these days,” said Anne, after a while. “Are you sure you can juggle all these groups you want to work with? Pure Humanity and the Church Militant are bad enough, but these others you want to bring in . . . They’re not stupid, and they’re very dangerous. How long do you think you can keep these fanatics from finding out that you’re just using them for your own ends?”

“As long as it takes,” Finn said airily. “All I have to do is play them off against each other, and they’ll be too busy trying to do each other down that they’ll never see what I’m really up to until it’s far too late.”

“But to approach the Hellfire Club and the Shadow Court . . .” Anne looked at Finn. “You watch yourself, Finn. These people are vile and treacherous.”

“So am I,” said Finn. “But I am smarter and sharper than they are, because I don’t share their obsessions. And because I’m the only one who knows everything that’s going on. I’m the only one who sees the Big Picture. I’ll always be able to outthink them because I’ll always be one step ahead.”

Anne thought about that for a while. “At least they all have their causes. They believe in something. What do you believe in, Finn?”

He smiled dazzlingly. “I believe in me.”

Anne decided it was time to change the subject. “Do we have any fresh news on the Terror?”

“Nothing new,” said Finn, tacitly agreeing to the change in subject. “Presumably, it’s still on a course towards its next projected target, Heracles Four. We can’t be sure until it emerges into our space again. But assuming it holds its course, even traveling at sublight speed it should hit Heracles Four in a matter of months. They’re still working on beefing up their defenses, and bankrupting their whole economy to pay for state-of-the-art shields and weaponry. The latest hot rumor is that the Swart Alfair of Mog Mor, those enigmatic bastards, have supplied them with some entirely new forms of weaponry, for an exorbitant price, along with a handful of observers to see how well they work. If I was Heracles Four, I’d be sure to keep the receipt somewhere handy. I’ve arranged for a few observers of my own, just in case this new weaponry really does do all the marvelous things Mog Mor claims it can; but I don’t think I’ll hold my breath.”

“Do you think these extra defenses will make any difference?”

Finn pursed his lips. “I don’t know. But whatever happens, it’ll be a learning experience.”

“Finn! That’s cold-blooded, even for you!”

“Stick to what you’re best at, that’s what I always say.”

“But . . . what if none of it works? Do you have any plans on how to stop the Terror?”

“Oh, yes. I always have plans.”

“You always say that! Why won’t you ever tell me what you’ve got planned? Don’t you trust me, after all we’ve done and achieved together?”

“Hush, hush,” said Finn. “You’re getting loud. I don’t want to raise false hopes, until I’m sure what I’ve got in mind will work. We have time. It’ll be ages until the Terror can penetrate this far into the Empire. Now, my turn to change the subject, I think. I need to know what’s in your heart, dear Anne. Do you feel at all guilty about removing Douglas from the throne and replacing him with James? I mean, you and Douglas were friends for a long time.”

“So were you and Douglas.”

“No, not really. Stop evading the question. Is deposing Douglas as King going to be a problem for you?”

“No,” said Anne, meeting his gaze firmly. “He let me down. He let us all down. He didn’t have the guts to be the kind of King he promised he’d be. To be the legend I would have made of him. I won’t back losers anymore.”

“And what about Lewis, the valiant Deathstalker?”

Anne’s gaze was very cold now, her voice unforgiving. “He ran away.”

“And your oldest and dearest friend, the lovely Jesamine?”

“I made her the perfect deal. She would have been Queen, and a legend alongside Douglas. I had it all worked out. And she threw it all away. We could all have been glorious, but in the end they were all too weak. Let them all die and rot. James will be King, our King, and we will rule through him. Until the time comes when we can have him safely put aside, and then you shall be King, Finn. You’re strong enough to rule this Empire. Strong enough to be a legend.”

“I could make you Queen,” said Finn. “If you wanted.”

“No,” said Anne, looking away. “I’ve always felt most comfortable operating from the shadows.”

Finn took her chin in his hand, and made her look at him again. “That’s the old Anne speaking.”

“I’m not afraid of the spotlight,” said Anne, jerking her chin out of his grasp. “If you like, and if you can find the time, you can come and watch me as I brief the media this afternoon. I’m going to destroy what’s left of Lewis’s and Jesamine’s reputations, and piss on the ashes while I’m at it.”

“I wouldn’t miss it for worlds,” said Finn.

 

 

It had to be said, Anne gave one of her very best performances at that afternoon’s press conference. She stood tall and proud before the assembled media pack, looked them straight in the eye, and lied. She spread her web of damning lies and half-truths with just the right mixture of forthright efficiency and diffident duty. As the reporters listened with widening eyes and dropping jaws, Anne thoroughly trashed Jesamine’s past with detailed evidence of the kind only an old and trusted friend could provide. Lovers were named and shamed, old scandals unearthed, long-standing rumors confirmed, and all of it carefully presented in the very worst light.

Anne had plenty of material to work with. She’d been Jesamine’s friend and confidante from the very beginnings of her career, and they’d kept no secrets from each other. Anne took everything she’d been told in secret, and added as many half-truths, distortions, and outrageous lies as she thought she could get away with.

And Jesamine had led a very busy private life, down the years. The fan magazines never knew the half of it. Jesamine’s many lovers had included men and women, before, during, and after her several marriages, and many of those favored had gone on to become prominent people in show business and politics. The sheer number of past lovers shocked the public, and the media happily fanned the outrage into open hysteria. Her recordings were destroyed, and she was burned in effigy in several cities. Many of the named lovers went into hiding to protect themselves.

Not all of those named were actually guilty, of course. Finn had provided Anne with a list of people he’d like brought down—people who had opposed him, or might prove a problem in the future—and Anne had nodded and said
No problem,
and added as many as she thought she could get away with. They denied it, but then, as Anne said to the reporters,
Well, they would, wouldn’t they?

One of those publicly named and shamed was the member of Parliament for Malediction, Meerah Puri. Finn had grown tired of her endless questioning of him in the House, not least because she was edging towards the truth. But this time, the mud wouldn’t stick. Meerah Puri was vehement and detailed in her defense, and Anne was finally forced to issue a retraction, if not an apology. Finn shrugged, in private. You can’t expect to get everyone. He’d just have to try harder, next time.

Anne didn’t have any real dirt on Lewis Deathstalker, so she and Finn made some up. Since no one knew anything about Lewis’s private life, they felt free to go to town, and really did a job on him. Lewis, they said, had faked most of his so-called triumphs, with the help of false agents from the Rookery. Anne produced as witnesses some of the very people who’d helped establish Finn’s recent reputation, and as a result they were very convincing. They clearly knew what they were talking about. Having delivered their damning evidence, they then disappeared back into the Rookery before they could be questioned or challenged by any of Lewis’s few remaining supporters.

The people listened, and the people believed, already so shocked and stunned by Lewis’s and Jesamine’s treason and flight that they were ready to believe anything. Anne kept on, adding more names and places and details, and the more outrageous the claims became, the more ready people were to believe them. Anne claimed that both Lewis and Jesamine had secretly been members of the notorious Shadow Court, and the public nodded wisely and said
Yes, of course, it all makes sense now.
On Virimonde, Lewis’s family denied it all on his behalf, but Clan Deathstalker no longer had the influence it once had. Indeed, Parliament was threatening to take the revered name of Deathstalker away from them, and bestow it on some more deserving branch of cousins.

Tim Highbury, who had once hosted Lewis’s tribute site, was found hanged. Anne was genuinely upset about that. She’d known and worked with the earnest young man in the past. She liked him. She angrily accused Finn of setting it up, but for once he hadn’t. He hadn’t had to. With his hero destroyed and fatally smeared, Tim Highbury hadn’t wanted to live anymore.

And so it went, for week after week. Anne fed dirt to the media, James appeared on all the right shows and charmed everybody, and Finn . . . went suddenly missing. It caught Anne by surprise. She went to him for one of their routine strategy meetings, and his office was empty. She found a brief note saying he’d had to go to Haden. Right away. Anne took that rather badly. How could he just swan off and leave her, right in the middle of things? What could possibly be so important that he’d had to leave her in the lurch without any warning?

The news broke a few days later, and then she understood at once. It seemed the scientists working on Haden, studying the Madness Maze from what they fervently hoped was a safe distance, had been keeping a secret. Ten thousand brave souls had passed through the Madness Maze some two hundred years earlier, only to die horribly—which was why the Maze had been placed off limits ever since. Only now, that turned out to be not strictly true. Twelve men and women had survived. Strangely gifted and completely insane, they were still alive after two centuries, confined to one special annex of the Maze.