Scarlet

a short period of time is quite remarkable. Unfortunately, I am no closer to determining the reason for Michelle Benoit’s ability. I tested her granddaughter an hour ago—she is as malleable as clay, so she has not inherited the trait.”
    Behind his back, Alpha Kesley’s fists clenched. Still, he couldn’t shake her scent from the room, the faintest breath of her dancing beneath his nostrils. So Jael had questioned her, and Ran must have been there too. What had they done? Had she been hurt?
    “Alpha?”
    “Yes,” he said, quickly. “I apologize. I thought I’d sensed the girl.”
    Jael started to laugh. A clear, amused laugh. It was Jael’s peculiar warmth that Ze’ev had always distrusted most—at least the other thaumaturges made no pretense of their ruthlessness, their haughty control of the lesser Lunar citizens … and of their soldiers.
    “Your senses are remarkable, Alpha. Without doubt, one of our best.” He tapped at his chair, before pushing himself up. “And your strength of character is unequaled. Your loyalty. Your willingness to make sacrifices. I’m sure none of my other men would have gone to the lengths you did to obtain information from Miss Benoit, gone so above the call of duty. That is precisely why I’ve chosen you to lead tomorrow’s attack.”
    Jael paced to the row of shelves and ran a finger along them, dust collecting pale and gray against his skin. Ze’ev kept his expression blank, trying not to think what sacrifices Jael thought he had made, so far above the call of duty.
    But she was there in his mind. The pad of her thumb brushing against his scars. Her arms wrapping around his neck.
    He swallowed hard. Every muscle drew tight against his bones in an effort to block out the memory.
    “Now it is only a question of what to do with the girl. How frustrating that we finally find someone who might lead us closer to Princess Selene, just when we no longer have use of the information.”
    Ze’ev’s fingernails bit into his palms. Frustrating seemed laughable. If Her Majesty had changed her focus away from the princess three weeks ago, Scarlet and her grandmother never would have been involved in any of it.
    And he never would have known the difference.
    A clamp squeezed in on his chest.
    “But I am optimistic,” Jael continued, speaking absently. “We may still find a use for the girl, if she can persuade her grandmother to talk. The madame tries to play at ignorance, but she knows why she is able to resist control. I’m sure of it.” He fidgeted with the cuff of his sleeve. “Which do you suppose will be more important to the old lady? Her granddaughter’s life, or her own secrets?”
    Ze’ev had no response.
    “I guess we will see,” said Jael, returning to his desk. “At least now I’ll have some power over her.” His lips parted, showing perfect white teeth in a pleasant smile. “You still have not answered my question, Alpha. Will you accept the role of leading our most important battle in the European Federation?”
    Ze’ev’s lungs burned. He wanted to ask more, to know more—about Scarlet, her grandmother, what Jael would do to her.
    But the questions would not be acceptable. His mission was complete. He no longer had any tie to Mademoiselle Benoit.
    He clasped a fist to his chest. “Of course, Master Jael. It would be an honor.”
    “Good.” Opening a drawer, Jael pulled out a plain white box and slid it across the desk. “On that, we’ve just received this shipment of ID chips from the Paris quarantines. I hope it won’t be too out of your way to take them down for wiping and reprogramming? I want them to be ready for the new recruits I expect to arrive tomorrow morning.” He tilted back in his chair. “We will want as many soldiers available as we can manage. It is imperative that the people of Earth be too terrified to even consider fighting back.”

 
    Thirty-One
    Cinder peered out the cockpit window at a crop of leafy plants. The fields stretched out in every direction, the view of the flat horizon broken only by a stone farmhouse nearly a mile away.
    A house. A lot of vegetables. And a giant spaceship.
    “This isn’t conspicuous at all.”
    “At least we’re in the middle of nowhere,” said Thorne, peeling himself out of the pilot seat and sliding on his leather jacket. “If anyone calls the police, it will take them a while to get here.”
    “Unless they’re already on their way,” Cinder muttered. Her heart had been