Page 9

The two female security guards stepped back from me.

They bowed again politely, their light exuding warmth.

One started to make the respectful sign of the Bridge, but the other stopped her, slapping her fingers down before she could complete the motion.

Only then did I realize they were seers.

The one who stopped her companion from saluting me gave me an apologetic look, along with a seer eyeroll.

Smiling, I waved it off, indicating that I understood.

I did, too. Revik told me the Legion of Fire’s official stance on the Bridge and Sword was that we were a “children’s tale.” To them, intermediaries were just ordinary seers with a few genetic anomalies. Unlike Beijing and most seers and humans in mainland China, Macau maintained a rigidly anti-religious stance.

Ironic in a way, since they treated their own leaders like God Kings.

As for me, I was totally good with that.

Our faces had been plastered all over the feeds for months.

Years really, and that didn’t include our fan clubs, the conspiracy-theory sites obsessed with us, black market bounties, religious cults, or whatever else. For years now, feed stations could bypass the ban on real-time imagery and show our real faces, since we were classified as terrorists by the World Court.

Everywhere we went, all it took was one gushing fan, one enthusiastic Myther-type, one housewife with a crush on Revik?and we were mobbed.

The female guard who appeared to be in charge made another apologetic gesture, still watching my face cautiously, as if trying to gauge my mood. I just looked at her, puzzled, until she indicated with another set of hand-gestures that I was to hold out my arm.

Unthinkingly, I obeyed.

Once I stretched out my arm, she carefully snapped a green-tinted metal bracelet on my left wrist. The ends immediately grew into one another.

I flinched, feeling it do something to my light.

I couldn’t pinpointwhatit did to my light… not at first.

I could still feel Revik.

I could feel the casino’s construct, traces of our mobile construct, the light of the seers patting down Revik, the female seers in front of me. Clearly, the bracelet hadn’t sight-blinded me, but it definitely generated some kind of Barrier field.

I retracted my arm, frowning down at the shimmering green band. It was warm against my skin, and had its own aura, like a living being.

I glanced at Revik right as they snapped an identical bracelet on him.

Then all four guards backed away, bowing.

Sensing movement to my left, I glanced over to find one of the suited figures holding open an elevator door. His partner stood to the side, watching us. I noted at least one bulge in each suit jacket that had to be a gun.

It occurred to me that, in all of that time, no one had actually spoken to us.

Even the humans on the pier relied on hand-gestures.

“They are being polite,” Revik murmured, leaning down to my ear. “The humans assume we don’t know Mandarin. The seers don’t speak to us due to our rank.” He kissed my cheek. “They can’t acknowledge the specific forms of religious rank for us, so they treat us like highly ranked seers within their own hierarchy.”

He lifted an eyebrow, glancing down the dress as he spoke in another murmur.

“…I thought Wreg was teaching you this stuff?”

I clicked softly. Even so, I felt it when the sideways look I gave him brought a shiver of pain from his light.

“Perv,” I accused. “Don’t think I don’t notice.”