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Moreover, Terian was hooked so deeply into Shadow’s light, he might not even know if he were being manipulated. If he’d been anyone else living inside this construct, we would have assumed he was compromised?even if he believed with all his heart he was helping us escape. But the unique properties of Terian’saleimimade everything with him a lot more uncertain.

In both directions, really.

Revik squeezed my hand, walking tight by my side as we made our way down a floating walkway. Lined with bronze Art Nouveau lamps, the walkway looked otherworldly in the dark, even beyond the glass sculptures placed at strategic points, lit from within so they looked like glowing magical people, stones, sometimes animals or fairy-like creatures.

“Stop worrying, wife,” Revik chided me softly. “I felt it, too. Crazy or not, we need the bastard. And we can’t leave all the Listers he’s collected here. We can’t.”

“Which is exactly what Shadow would want us to think,” I muttered. “Moreover, he knows that’s exactly the kind of bait and ambiguity that would likely pull you and I in. Lily. Listers. Terian and his weird light. He’s got you and I pegged.”

Revik didn’t answer.

I saw Dalejem turn his head, though, staring at me.

Chinja gave me a glance, too, and a grim nod, enough that I knew she’d not only heard me, but agreed with me. I saw her touch her side in the area of her ribcage, and remembered that even though I was unarmed apart from the telekinesis, not all of them were.

Revik would have a weapon, too.

The thought didn’t reassure me as much as it normally would.

We continued to make our way down the deserted walkway, stopping only a few times to go through security checkpoints. Each of those more or less waved us through when they saw Terian with us, although I saw a few harder stares at the obvious infiltrators in our group, including Revik himself, and in spite of his measured, civilian-style gait.

Whoever these seers were, they weren’t low-level goons, like I’d seen at the club and the slave markets. I’d bet each of them had sight ranks in actual over a six.

I didn’t get close enough to confirm my impression, but I noted the multiple weapons strapped to their persons, including grenades and what looked like high-voltage stunners. Seeing one muscular, male seer with multiple tattoos and a semi-automatic weapon strapped to his back, along with handguns at both hips and another sticking out of a shoulder holster, I found myself reminded of Wreg, and by extension, Jon.

As we walked away from that set of guards, I wrapped my fingers tighter into Revik’s, drawing closer to him as I walked.

“Where’re the newlyweds?” I said, my voice a murmur.

“Not far.”

“Not inside the line?” I pressed.

Revik checked the old-fashioned watch he wore. I didn’t take my eyes off his face as he did it, but didn’t see any change in his expression as we continued to walk.

“Not yet.” He glanced at me, tugging me closer by the hand.

“Do we have a line out, still?”

He nodded, slowly. “No easy access right now, love.”

I grimaced, but knew what he meant.

If we tried contacting Balidor through the shield, chances were, the signal would be picked up and traced. I could tell Revik thought that possibility was even stronger down here, meaning at The Waterfront itself, given the added security. I got a fleeting glimpse through my proximity to his light of geometries in the air, like floating equations under the curved protective dome.

The construct was different down here.

I didn’t fully understand the differences, but clearly, Revik did.

I began to hear sounds other than those made by our small group.

Distant still, those sounds made me think of cocktail parties. I heard gentle laughter, faint music, clinking glasses and plates?what might have been splashing, as if someone or several someones had just jumped into a swimming pool.

My eyes searched past the glowing objects and Art Nouveau lamps of the path we were on, looking for their source.

A four-story house emerged from behind a grove of trees to our left.

In the dark it looked like an old plantation building, like one might find in the deep South in the United States?or perhaps a pre-war, colonial-style mansion unearthed from an old British neighborhood somewhere in India. It was a house that evoked servants, and wealth that had a lot of free time. To add to the air of unreality, the five-story building, as well as its sprawling grounds, looked as if they rested directly on the water.