Page 43 of Last of Her Name
Zhar taps the table, studying me. Then she turns to the doctor. “Give us the room, Luka.”
He nods and heads out, pausing only to give me an inscrutable look before closing the door and leaving me alone with the commander.
Zhar turns back to me. “I’m afraid you don’t have a choice in this matter. There is a reason we risked everything to smuggle you out of Alexandrine sixteen years ago. Anya, you’re the key to this whole war.”
“Why?”
“Because ‘when she is ready to rule, the Firebird will guide her.’ ”
My patience is wire thin, and I feel on the verge of snapping again. “Is that supposed to mean something to me?”
A shadow passes over Zhar’s face. “Those were the words your father, Emperor Pyotr Leonov, said to me the day he placed you in my arms. The palace was under siege. He knew it would fall. So he gave you to me, to keep you safe. You’re our hope for the future. You are the custodian of the Leonov legacy, and it’s time you learned what that means.”
She rises and walks to a cabinet and takes out a small metal box. This she places on the table and opens to reveal a glass case with a Prism spinning inside. The crystal shimmers with iridescent tones, pearl and gold and silver. Light flashes along its edges, beautiful and strange.
“Anya, what do you know about Prisms?”
I shrug, staring into the crystal’s mesmerizing dance of color and light. “They power everything. Ships, cities, pretty much the whole galaxy.”
“Do you know where they come from?”
A dozen heated replies crowd my brain. What does this have to do with anything? If this is some kind of object lesson, like her trick with the kids and the Zemlya story, and she’s just wasting my time while Riyan is dying downstairs and Pol’s ashes are spreading through space …
But my hand goes to the little vial of antidote. If she wants to play games, then I have no choice but to go along, for Riyan’s sake.
“I always heard they were harvested from deep space,” I say. “That they just drift out there.”
She nods. “Prisms are the foundation of our civilization. They are the reason the planets are united, and for our advancements in technology like the Takhimir warp drive and cross-system communication. And the Leonovs were the original discoverers of the Prisms, the only people in the galaxy who knew where they could be found. This was the base of their power. The secret upon which they established an empire.”
She leans across the table, her long fingers extending to tap the case. The Prism’s light glows on her skin, casting pools of shadow above her eyes.
“Somewhere out there, Anya, is the mother crystal, the source of all the others. The Leonovs called it the Prismata. And it is the key to everything—defeating the Committee, ruling the Empire, and guarding against future threats.” She lifts the box with the Prism inside and holds it between us, staring at me intently over its spinning light. “Through the Prismata, we can connect with and control every Prism in existence.”
I stare at her, wondering if this is all some elaborate story to make me fall in line. But the zeal in her eyes seems real enough. “What do you mean,control?”
“You’ve heard of Emerault’s third moon?”
I picture Riyan’s hologram, the blue threads of light reflecting on Pol’s eyes. “The emperor blew it up, trying to stamp out the Unionist’s secret base. That’s what started the rebellion. Everyone said Pyotr had used some superweapon …” I look down at the Prism. “You’re saying it was this Prismata?”
She nods. “Pyotr used it to send an enormous surge of energy into the moon’s Prisms, causing them to overheat and explode.”
An icy tentacle slithers down my spine. I gape at her. “But … that’s a terrible power to have! Prisms areeverywhere. On every ship, in every city, keeping the lights on. That means anyone could be targeted by whoever controls this Prismata.”
“Exactly. Which is why we cannot let it fall into the Committee’s hands. Its location is the greatest kept secret in the galaxy, one the Leonovs guarded with their lives. All I know is that the location of the Prismata is hidden inside a device called the Firebird, but when the Empire fell, the Firebird was lost. And I believe you might be the only person who can find it.”
She leans forward, handing me the case. I take it stiffly, staring down at the little crystal.
“That’s why you want me,” I whisper. “And that’s whytheywant me.”
I was right in thinking no one would follow a girl from the fringe into battle. The Loyalists were never interested in me leading a revolution—only in using me to reach the Prismata. Whoever finds it, this source of all the galaxy’s energy, will control everything, just like the Leonovs once did.
To Zhar and Volkov, I’m not just a lost princess.
I’m the key to the greatest weapon in existence.
“Alexei Volkov has been seeking the Prismata for years,” Zhar says. “The only reason we’ve lasted this long against the Committee is because they too have been unable to find it. Oncewecontrol it, they’ll be forced to comply with our demands.” She leans forward, eyes aflame. “Work with me. Tell me where the Firebird is hidden.”
I shake my head, setting down the Prism as if it were poisoned. “How would I know that? I don’t even know what it is.”