Ashes of Candesce: Book Five of Virga

such as jail and imminent execution. Ironic, then, that she had ended up in a Guard prison herself after the events following the outage.

She'd become caught up in circumstances beyond her control, forced to kidnap Admiral Chaison Fanning of Slipstream under the threat that Telen would be killed if she did not. Antaea had been emotionally shattered by the discovery that her sister had died long before, and after the triumphant return of Fanning and the fall of Slipstream's pilot, she had left civilization entirely. For months she had flown through the near-infinite depths of Virga's skies, visiting countries she'd never heard of and basking in the light of nuclear-fusion suns glowing in every color of the spectrum. She'd been running as much from herself as from the Guard; but in the end, the Guard had found her.

She waited now for a few minutes until the warmth of the ship drove away the memory of ice. Then she flew to Jacoby Sarto's cabin and knocked. 'Come,' he said curtly.

He had taken off his jacket, and the white linen shirt emphasized his barrel chest. He held a helix glass of amber liquid, and as he saw it was her he gently lofted it over to her. Antaea took a cautious sip, and as the liquid slipped into her mouth, she almost coughed. It was rum, and very strong.

'Good, eh?' he said with a quick grin.

He'd found all sorts of ways to divert her attention over the past few days: with preparations, with plans, with the details of sailing the Page. Antaea had begun to relax around him, and he, it seemed, around her. She decided it was time to be blunt. 'When I first asked you how an exile like yourself could afford this ship, you told me that you'd taken over Sacrus's international network after the fall of Spyre.'

'Yes,' he said. 'What of it?'

'Your crewmen,' she nodded at the door, 'are little more than pirates. They're the cheapest of a bad lot. Hard to imagine you'd be buying men at bargain rates if you really had access to your country's assets.'

He wound some liquor from a small cask into another glass. 'I didn't lie to you,' he said before taking a sip. 'I did take over the network. Briefly. Long enough to extract those men who were loyal to me--and a goodly amount of money, to boot.'

'What happened?'

Jacoby tilted his head, frowning at her. He was obviously considering how much truth to tell her--so Antaea said in exasperation, 'I can hardly run out on you now. We're at the walls of the world.'

He grunted, and looked down. 'The Sartos were one of two great ruling families in Sacrus. The other was the Ferances, and they were in charge when Spyre broke up. My cousin, Inshiri Ferance, was the ruler of Sacrus--and never was born a more vicious, morally distorted human being.'

Antaea raised an eyebrow. 'Worse than Venera Fanning?'

'Venera's a good person.' He shook his head. 'Inshiri has ... hobbies. That you wouldn't want me to describe. Sacrus's product--what we traded to the world--was expertise in the art of manipulating people, and nobody's better at it than Inshiri. One of her proteges was her niece, Margit, who had a little run-in with Venera and came out the worse for it. Venera got the better of Margit--but Inshiri would eat Venera alive. Maybe literally.'

He said this so matter-of-factly that Antaea couldn't doubt it was true. 'You're afraid of her,' she observed.

'That's because I know her. And, because I know her, I didn't try to fight when she demanded that I give back control of the network. I cut my losses and ran.'

'I get it,' she said, nodding. 'This expedition we're on--you're doing this because it's the furthest thing from your cousin's interests you could find. You're staying out of her way.'

Now Jacoby sighed heavily. 'Oh, if only that were true. I'd be able to sleep a lot better if it were.'

'What do you mean?'

'Before Spyre fell, Inshiri made a political pact with an outsider--and by outsider, I mean an ambassador from beyond Virga. The same people--if you can call them people--who killed your sister, and who've been trying to take down Virga's defenses ... they're supporting Inshiri now.'

'Supporting--! Why didn't you tell me this before?'

He laughed. 'You wouldn't have signed up if you thought I had any connection at all with Artificial Nature.'

'Do you?'

He shrugged. 'I met one of their ambassadors once. He made Inshiri look like an amateur, not because he enjoys torment and terror the way she does, but because he doesn't seem to consider human beings as, well, human at all. But I don't know how much involvement he and his kind have with Inshiri. All I know is that she has plans.'

'To do what?'

'I don't know!' He glowered at her. 'All I know is that this friend of yours, Leal Maspeth, has Inshiri and her friends running scared for some reason. They're so afraid of her that they're stretching the network to its breaking point, sending spies and diplomats and courtesans to all the great nations. They're proposing alliances ... making friends. Getting ready for something.'

Antaea thought about this for a long while, and Jacoby watched her. The creak of the hull, the rumble of the Page's jets, and the distant murmur of the crew were the only sounds.

'When were you going to tell me this?' she asked finally.

'When I had some idea of what they're up to,' he said. 'That may be once we've had a look at what the Guard is doing at the center of that ice-free area.

'Anyway,' he added as he tossed off the last of the rum, 'I didn't know how far I could trust you.'

'Captain! City's in sight!' Jacoby and Antaea looked at one another, then both bolted for the door.

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