Page 25 of Cage of Starlight
“Supervising our food intake?” Tory winces.
“The higher-ups want to make good use of both of you and will work you especially hard given your aptitudes, so they’ve made allowances regarding your allotment of tokens. We’ll be packing your diet with nutrients. Can’t have you getting ill before we have our fun with you.”
Prentice smirks. “Degrading, ain’t it? You’ll get used to it.”
That’s what he’s afraid of.
“Hey, I’m Prentice.” The guy extends a sun-darkened hand. “Teleporter. Had a cushy gig in the priority mail service up in Maran—folks don’t like to wait for their packages there—but they called me back to the Box to train for the battlefield. Desperate times, you know?” He grins. “Anyway, you’re in good hands . . . probably.Just watch out for needles. Our doctor here has ideas about how the Box should categorize and organize Seeds. Revolutionizing the process one experiment at a time.”
“The current process serves,” Kirlov grits out.
Helner laughs, flat and brutal. “If losing thirty percent of your shield corps every time they run into a Legion unitservesyou.”
There that word is again. Legion. Before Tory can ask what it means, the last few sleepy stragglers pace into the mess hall, and that must be their cue to enter. Nearly everyone else is seated when Helner leads Tory and Prentice through the lines, talking loudly about nutrition and wise choices. By the time she finishes, Tory has studiously ignored at least three calls of, “Hey,Special Diet!”
At least he has a heaping tray to show for his humiliation. There are a few times in his life Tory would have killed for a meal like this. A whole room of full plates, and the food’s not even gone. He could go back for more. He starts stuffing his face before he’s seated.
Vantaras and Kirlov settle in at the same table. Vantaras begins to daintily cut into his own food with his knife and fork held just so, and a plan hatches in Tory’s head.
He needs bedding, anyway. Carving a rift between Vantaras and his stickler overseerwill be a satisfying byproduct. He doesn’t need that scalpel to draw blood.
He leans in, pitching his voice bright and curious. “Hey, where should I get blankets and pillows and stuff? I made do with the mattress last night, figured maybe you just forgot when you ran off to deal with those intruders and left me in the hall.”
He offers Vantaras a sweet smile with all the poison he can inject into it.
The fingers of Kirlov’s right hand drift over his watch, tapping the dial with sharp notes like gunshots.
Oh, yes. He’s hit a nerve.
Kirlov speaks first. “Yes, I believe we need to have a conversation about you leaving your supervisee unattended last night, Lieutenant.”
Vantaras swallows, a dry click. “It was an oversight. I apologize.”
Kirlov frowns. “Lieutenant.”
Vantaras’ spine straightens. “Sir! It won’t happen again. I’ll be sure to prepare bedding for the Worldseed after breakfast.”
A stickler indeed. Tory suppresses a grin. The more fraught they are, the less effective information exchange will be between them. Little drips carve rifts in mountains—wide enough to escape through, if Tory’s lucky.
He chirps, “I’d love that. I don’t want to be an inconvenience.”
“Not at all,” Vantaras grits out.
Kirlov turns to Tory. “The lieutenant’s negligence aside, I believe the Grand General has decided to train you for Concussive Force Redirection.”
Seedbait.Gavin was right.
Helner stabs her fork into a pile of eggs. “Against my explicit recommendation. There’s so much more we could learn about the Sources if we took the time to test them.”
“That time is better spent defending our borders. Arlunian incursions have increased as their holy holidays approach, and the Channeler’s abilities could turn the tide of the war.”
“You’rewastinghim in CFR! Next week he could be a smear on some minor battlefield, and all the things we could have learned from him will be gone.”
“The Grand General feels the risk is worth the potential reward.”
“Yourgeneralknows nothing about how to make proper use of the Seeds here.”
Kirlov arches an eyebrow. “Your many failed experiments say the same of you.”
