Page 78 of Unraveling Fate

Text me the address. Reyna and I are going to come down for the debate. I’d rather talk in person.

Canon relaxed back in his seat, a smug smile spread across his face.

“You look like the proverbial cat with the canary.” Vasilios crossed the dressing area and pulled up a chair. “You haven’t won the debateyet, and you left these at the hotel.” He handed Canon a stack of index cards with notes. “Where’s your focus?”

Canon showed him last night’s text thread, and Vasilios’s eyebrows shot up in surprise.

“I see.” He stared at the phone another moment before handing it back. “Well done. I’ll try to find her in the audience and pull her up on stage at the end, get a good photo. In the meantime, you better get your head in the game, so she doesn’t drive two hours just to see you lose.”

Canon didn’t answer. In the audience. Cadenza and her friend would be in the audience, with hundreds of other people. Vasilios had told Canon he’d assigned a security team to tail her whenever she left Norroway Auto—Canon brushed aside the guilt over not telling her; it was for her own good—but there would be so many people here, and surely whoever was after Cadenza was also monitoring her movements.

“Vas,” he said, suddenly wary of the chaos and multitude of people backstage. “If Cadenza’s going to be here, I want you to triple check the building. Check the unused rooms in the hallway, check the balcony. Don’t miss anything.”

“Of course, of course,” his mentor said. “I care deeply about the state of Ms. Cavalieri’s welfare.” He looked over his shoulder and leaned closer. “Am I to assume this new development means you were successful with Mr. Learmonth?”

Canon’s elation dimmed. “No.” He busied himself with the index cards. “Thomas refused.”

Vasilios stared at him, eyes narrowed. Canon stopped fidgeting, Vasilios’s gaze pinning him in place. The noise of the green room faded into the background.

“He refused?” his mentor asked quietly.

“He said he had nothing else to give me,” Canon said.

A muscle twitched in Vasilios’s jaw. “He’s lying. He can still make you more. Go back again. Insist.”

“Why? I don’t need more. We have a strong?—”

“Thomas Learmonth,” Vasilios hissed. “Guards a seat of power—power I need you to get into.”

Canon blanched, taken aback. Backlit from the dressing table, Vasilios’s face loomed over him, fierce and shadowed.

“Youneed?” he asked. Power that Thomasguards? Vasilios’s language in the past had referred to gifts Thomas was able to give, not to things to be guarded, like some dragon hoard. Much like when Thomas had called Cadenza by her first name, the suspicion that there were plans at work Canon was unaware of—elements of a game he didn’t know was being played—sank into his stomach.

His mentor swiveled his chair, and the dressing table light caught his face fully, erasing the shadows. “Yes, of course, ‘you need,’” he said mildly. “You need every advantage. Politics is a vicious game.”

“No,” Canon said. “You said thatyouneeded me to get to what Thomas has, foryou.”

“Canon.” Vasilios smiled at him. “You’re nervous, this is a big debate. You simply misheard me. You know I don’t have the temperament for being in the spotlight myself.”

Canon searched his face, hunting for a trace of the shadows he’d seen. He found none, but the unease in his gut persisted. Keeping his expression neutral, he brought his gift to bear on his benefactor. What did Vasilios want right now?

Success. Victory. Power. Peace. All centered around Canon.

He relaxed. Vasilios was right, he must be nervous to imagine anything suspicious. Vasilios had only ever helped him pursue his dream. No reason to get jumpy.

Vasilios clapped him on the shoulder. “I will go attend to the extra security precautions and assign a volunteer to escort Ms. Cavalieri to the stage at the end. You focus on the debate.”

Vasilios left, and Canon went through breathing exercises. Took a long drink of water. Stared himself down in the mirror.Focus.Crush this debate, then be ready to do whatever Cadenza needs.

He studied his notes until a runner told him he had five minutes. In the wings, he scanned the crowd, searching for dark hair and an extraordinary face. There. He shot off a text.

Hey, thanks for coming.

He watched as Cadenza checked her phone and looked up to the sides of the stage. She took a selfie with Reyna that arrived a few seconds later.Good luck!

The debate flew by. His answers were on point, his rebuttals landed like punches, and three quarters of the way through, his opponent started to lose steam. Canon was in his element, and he stood taller at the thought that Cadenza was here to witness it.

Faster than he thought possible, the moderator was thanking everyone for coming and reminding people where to find their polling location information. Canon squinted against the spotlights, searching for Cadenza’s face, but the glare blocked his view, then the local reporters started in with questions and camera flashes. He and his opponent posed for a series of pictures on either side of a large vase upstage, before returning to the front to answer questions. A runner touched his elbow, and he turned to find Cadenza and Reyna at his side.