The Prince's Wedding (The Erik Midgard Case Files Volume 3)

Chapter 10

Back in the lounge, Benjamin Washington-Allah was offering a wine glass to Artemisia Erecura.

"Atalanta Planitia. 2877. It really is a very good vintage..."

"Thank you, no. I never drink alcohol," said Erecura. "And you shouldn't either. Do you have any idea how many parts of the body it can affect? The liver is the least of it."

"I'm sure he can manage without the list, Artemisia," said Peter Dionysus, who hadn't taken a glass himself. "Though I'm afraid it won't compare to what we grow at home. Shangri-La has best vineyards in the moons."

"Oh, really? It must be wonderful to have them on your doorstep," said Washington-Allah. "I hope I get to see them myself someday. I'd love to visit Shangri-La and Ching-Tu..."

"I'm afraid I can't recommend it," said Dionysus. "A large proportion of my constituents hold your family's company just as responsible for our predicament as the Justinians. You wouldn't receive a very warm welcome."

"Oh," said Washington-Allah. "Well, maybe in the future..."

I took this in from the side of the room without feeling anything. I absorbed it passively, like trying to watch a movie while I was exhausted. For the first time in my life, I understood how all the suspects I had ever dealt with who had lied to protect loved ones had felt.

Megan was on the other side of the room, talking to Oannes, as she and Ishtar helped the film crew prepare. Mirabi was there as well, chatting to the crew members without revealing that she was fishing for clues. Neither of them knew yet that I'd been to the past, so I was seeing them as if nothing had changed.

I resisted the temptation to lean against the wall, listening to my own breathing, as I wrestled with the choice I had to make. The choice that every part of me was recoiling from in horror, as if I would be fatally poisoned just by touching it. Did that mean I'd already made it? Was I about to do the same thing I had sent people to jail for?

There was a small chance that someone else had got their hands on Megan's boardcom and used it to try to access the library. But I knew better than to depend on or hope for that possibility. The logical thing to do, the legal thing to do, unquestionably the right thing to do, was to tell Thoth that I knew whose boardcom it was. But that could mean losing Megan. Every part of me screamed at that prospect, in a completely different way, but just as strongly, as the prospect of losing Mirabi. If that happened, Megan was going to be all I had left. I could not face losing either of them. Losing both was intolerable.

"It's brand new," said Chernobog, keeping her voice low, as she came to stand next to me. "She brought it two weeks ago. I helped her choose it."

I glanced at her. She also looked torn, but in a different way. My heart sped up as I saw what she was thinking. While I'd never particularly liked Chernobog, she was one of Megan's closest friends. But I could tell from her expression that she recognised that this was the best, and possibly the only, opportunity she was going to have to get back into Thoth's good graces. Showing she was prepared to put duty above friendship would be a near-sure way to save her dream career.

"You can't tell him," I said.

"You think I want to?" said Chernobog.

"Actually, yes," I said.

"Shav you," said Chernobog. "She's been my friend longer than she's known you. But I'm a lady of the Nobilita. I have responsibilities. My family swore oaths to the Imperia. We've kept them for centuries. I have to report a threat..."

"She isn't a threat," I said. "She can't be working with the J.R. or the Free Martians. Unless she's being blackmailed..."

"You're not stupid enough to believe that," said Chernobog.