Storm (Swipe Series)

her mouth still full. She swallowed too quickly and choked a bit on the food as it went down just slightly wrong. “Sir?” she asked.
    “Dominic,” the chancellor corrected. And then he waited . . . and he laughed. “Well, if you won’t ask, then I will volunteer it: I need your help.
    Lily sat still. She held her breath. Indeed, Cylis said, lifting his eyebrows a bit and looking down in humility. “You? Helping me?” He laughed. “You don’t have to say it—the thought alone gives you pause. And why shouldn’t it? You and I have never met. You’re not the highest-ranking IMP I could have found. You aren’t even from my own European State. You’re foreign, young, inexperienced, and unfamiliar. It does not, as one might say, add up.”
    Cylis smiled. “Except that it does, Lily Langly. For I know precisely how exceptional you are. And I have not gotten to where I am today without being an exceptional judge of character myself.”
    Lily looked uncomfortably around the dining hall, from one Head-Marked servant to the next. They lined the halls, standing at attention between the sculptures.
    The chancellor leaned in.
    “I know about your brother, Lily. I know he went Markless. I know that he questions the Department and my government and the IMPS and everything I do. I know, full well, the trouble he has caused.
    “It is not generally my concern, of course, the day-to-day of DOME’s cases and findings and troubles. But when your brother found Acheron in December . . . when he ran in, headfirst, to pull you out of there . . . well . . . a thing like that will get a man’s attention.
    “And, Lily. I must say. What I saw in you on that day did not disappoint. The character you showed . . . the patience and the prudence you demonstrated in the way that you captured him. Marvelous! Where others might have acted in haste, you waited, biding your time, allowing him to come to you , instructing subservients to do the same . . . where others might have seen theirbrother and doubted, you remained steadfast, resolved. You put country above family that day. You put country above yourself.
    “You are, truly, Lily, the model of patriotism and excellence among the IMPS. And that is why I’ve chosen you. That is why I want you by my side.
    “And so, humbly, I ask that today you give me your loyalty once more. I ask, Lily, that you work with me, now, to stop a threat far greater than your brother could ever be or even imagine.”
    The chancellor sat back in his chair, assembling his thoughts. Lily was speechless and could do nothing but wait.
    “I hope you’ll forgive me for being quite blunt about it, since there’s no nice way to say this sort of thing. My own most trusted ally . . . has betrayed me.” Cylis allowed the shock of it to sink in before he continued. “General Lamson is, I am quite certain now, a partner of mine no more.”
    Lily couldn’t help stealing glances at the servants lining the room, seeking even some small confirmation or hint as to how she ought to react. “Dominic,” she said, somewhat clumsily. “How . . . how is that possible? The G.U. Treaty isn’t even a month old.”
    “A last-ditch effort,” Cylis said. “My final attempt to bring America’s general back onto my side.” He shook his head sadly, thinking of it. “It failed some time back, our partnership, I suspect. But only as of yesterday has it officially collapsed.”
    “But . . . what about Unity?” Lily asked. “What about living together, and all the talk of harmony and global community?”
    “None of that changes,” Cylis said. “So long as I can help it, the public will never know of any of this. We remain, Lamson and I, a symbol of those ideals. Regardless of the truth.”
    “So then the rumors were true,” Lily said to herself. “The IMPS’ greatest fears . . .”
    “There’s talk of this?” Cylis asked. “Controllers are aware, among the ranks?”
    “It’s being denied,” Lily said. “There’ll be no talk of it anymore. But yes, there was some speculation.”
    The chancellor nodded. He plucked a cricket from the dish in front of him and ate it in one distracted bite. “Then allow me, Lily, to get right to the point:
    “There is a weather mill in America. European technology, loaned ten years ago to the general, as part of our peace accord following the Total War. Surely you know of it.”
    “I know of it,” Lily said.
    “Then I don’t need to tell you how important it is for that