gaze direct. “I think you’re right that the Ruling Coalition looked to the Forgotten, but it won’t have been the only factor.”
He paused to take a drink before continuing. “Per Sentinel, Kaleb Krychek would shift his mind into the initial experimental section and go with the broken piece—the island, so to speak. We all know he’s powerful enough to hold the piece together if it’s about to go into cataclysmic failure—but he’s not an anchor. He can only hold back a collapse, not create a foundation.”
“They taking an anchor with the island?” Arms folded, Arran leaned against one side of the open end of the shelter.
“That’s the plan, but there’s a problem that seems to have escaped everyone’s notice, probably because anchors just keep on with the job.”
He showed the others the graphic representation of Designation A in the Substrate that he’d already shown Payal—the lack of overlaps between anchor zones, the sheer thinness of the coverage. As Suriana, Arran, Ager, and Bjorn asked their questions, Payal sat back and distracted herself from obsessing over Canto by processing what she thought of the others.
Each had an element to them that could be dangerous if used against the group, but it was inescapable that the most dangerous person in the group was Canto, who held all their attention even now. He had that unknown quality that turned people into followers. It was a rare thing, but she’d seen it in both Devraj Santos and Ivy Jane Zen, the high-Gradient empath who was the president of the Empathic Collective.
She’d also seen it in a local human guru who used his charisma to leech money from his followers.
The difference between a user and a leader was what they did with the adulation.
Mercants had never had a reputation for selflessness.
Yes, Silver Mercant was head of EmNet, the largest humanitarian network in the world, but Silver Mercant was also mated to a changeling bear. She couldn’t be taken as an exemplar of the proto-Mercant.
He’d given her food. He’d remembered her.
Her fingers curled into her palms, her nails digging into her flesh.
“That isolated hub will crash and burn in weeks if not days.” Hands shoved into his pockets, Arran glared at no one and everyone. “How can they not know that we zone shift? It’s been getting harder and harder, but we can still do it.”
Payal had realized the latter, too. While the zones no longer overlapped in the vast majority of the world, one A could extend while another shrank back for a few days, and vice versa. Taking the pressure off in turns, to give all of them a chance to rest and recharge.
Canto’s scowl was dark enough that Arran focused all his attention on him, belatedly realizing what Payal already had: that Canto Mercant was the apex predator in this space. “They don’t know because there’s no A on the Ruling Coalition—and nobody on the Coalition is old enough to remember how As worked before Silence.”
“Probably didn’t even know back then,” Ager croaked out, waving a hand. “I don’t know if any political leadership has ever understood the mechanics of the A network, probably because our predecessors were less than generous with the information. A bit of mystery intended to protect us—no one can chain us if they don’t know how we work.”
“I can see the sense in that,” Bjorn muttered. “We all saw what Pure Psy did with the limited knowledge that is available.”
“Be that as it may,” Payal said, conscious her voice sounded flat and hard, “staying enigmatic is no longer viable or wise. Canto is correct: we need a voice on the Ruling Coalition.”
“What makes you the best choice?” Arran’s “smile” was nothing like Lalit’s, but neither was it anything akin to warmth. No, it was a thing of razors.
“You can volunteer, but your anger issues would cause you to strike out at the first meeting. As Kaleb Krychek is stronger and deadlier than you, you’d then be dead and we’d have one less anchor.”
Suriana sucked in a breath, Bjorn winced, Ager cackled.
Arran stared at her before inclining his head. “Point.”
“Canto is the only other viable candidate,” she added. “It’s not only about brute power, but associated power.” Because no matter if Psy thought themselves more advanced than changelings, they weren’t; power mattered, the sense of authority mattered. “I have the Rao group; he has his family.”
Canto’s eyes seemed to burn when he looked at her. “I’m not much better than Arran when it comes to patience,” he said, and