Page 108 of Retrograde

Not knowing how to answer, I watch Rafael—because it must be Krane’s son—take a few ragged breaths before he brandishes a knife, cuts the rope and stalks off without a word, shutting the door behind himself with a bang.

“Let’s sit,” Krane suggests, completely unfazed.

“Over there.” I indicate a wooden bench as far away from the spectacle we’ve just witnessed as can be, trying and failing to ignore the reek of sex.

“I need your help,” I tell him once we’re seated next to each other awkwardly.

“Spiritual help?”

“Try again,” I snarl, picturing the satisfying ‘plop’ his eyeballs would make if pushed to the back of his skull.

Krane smirks, completely unconcerned. If I didn’t need him, I’d tear him apart just to show him how misguided his arrogance is.

“I’m guessing this help has to do with that girl you captured and then lost. News travels fast around here. Secrets even faster.”

It has to do with the girl I punished for making me fall in love with her, I think, but don’t say out loud—I don’t respond at all, just keep my eyes on him, letting him draw his own conclusions.

“You sure you still want her?” he asks, sounding bored. “Days will have passed. The girl you’ll get back won’t be the same girl you had before.”

I still don’t respond, counting to ten, then to twenty, and then to a hundred to stop myself from shoving the nearest candelabra up his ass.

It’s not self-control that stops me. Fuck knows that hardly ever stopped me from doing anything. No. It’s knowing that he’s completely wrong. They haven’t broken her. They will not break her. That woman cannot be broken. I tried. And I failed.

And she’s broken me instead.

“That’s a bit too much that you’re asking me to do just out of the goodness of my heart,” Krane remarks.

“You’ll be compensated,” I assure him dryly.

His cocked eyebrow is urging me to convince him, while his eyes mock me, the sardonic lines around them making it clear he has no confidence I’ll manage. That’s when I know I’ve got him. The moment your opponent underestimates you is the moment you’ve won.

“You’ve set greater goals for yourself since I last saw you.” My face is inches from his, teeth bared in a humourless smirk. “You want influence. Power. I’ll give you both.”

The last time I saw him, he was on his knees, begging me to spare his life, pleading ignorance of his peers’ crimes. I liked him better that way.

“How?” he scoffs. “By pissing the Consuls off? You have no power! How can you give me something you don’t have?”

“Easily. By giving you something I do have that you’ll then exchange for power.”

“And what could that something possibly be?”

“Retrograde.”

His face goes white. All air around solidifies into a crushing weight. The kind of cold creeps in that will stay in my bones forever.

“The precise location of their latest hideout. I’ll throw in the locations of a few resistance bunkers, too.” My voice is flat and emotionless. “Even Tristan Horvath if you move fast enough. He’s currently with my ... with Retrograde men.” I square my shoulders before delivering the coup de grace, “I’ll give you the Rifterland. All you’ve got to do is hand it to the Consuls. Gregor and Anton are pissed off at Volker for the whole mess with you and Daria. Ingratiate yourself with them, and they’ll keep you around just to get back at him. And then you’ll be as good as god in this new, fucked up world they’re building. Which is exactly what you’ve wanted all along.”

No matter how many times I remind myself that all the Retrograde men stayed here knowing they would die fighting one day, saying the words is like swallowing glass. Their faces flash through my mind, the memory of telling them I was stepping away heavy like a stone in my gut, remorse I would not have felt only a few weeks ago tightening my chest.

“Bullshit,” he gasps, eyes wide with disbelief. “You’d give up your life’s work for a pussy?” Krane shakes his head. “No, I don’t believe you,” he says, but the measuring look full of twisted awe contradicts his words.

“Yes, you do. You wouldn’t be talking to me otherwise.”

I explain the full plan to him. I’ll lead him to a few resistance weapons storage points right away, to prove to him I’m for real. He’ll smuggle Daria away from his compound in the Continuum. We’ll take her hostage and keep her on a boat that my contact is readying for a voyage as we speak. We’ll go get Riley—Krane’s access will get me into Everrise and into Volker’s building. Once we have her, we’ll drive to the coast. I’ll return Daria to his custody along with the promised information, leaving him to use both to pacify Volker. By the time he does, I will have taken Riley away from this godforsaken land.

Seconds tick by. My heart is punching against my ribcage. Krane’s breath is shallow and excited for the worst of reasons. Our gazes are locked—his full of calculating scrutiny, mine full of grim determination.

When he next speaks, his voice rings like a blade flying through the air, as triumphant as it is damning,