Between Burning Worlds (System Divine #2) - Jessica Brody Page 0,181

the trust of the Défecteurs either.

Her parents shared one of their silent exchanges that Chatine had never been able to decipher, and then Monsieur Renard turned back to meet her unwavering gaze.

“I have a counteroffer.”

Chatine smirked. “I’d expect no less.”

“We’ll go,” he allowed, and Chatine tried to keep the triumph from her face. “But … we’re not leaving empty-handed.”

Her mother gave a resolute shake of her head and added, “We’ve worked too hard and put in too much effort to leave without anything to show for it.”

Chatine narrowed her eyes. She didn’t like where this was going, but she knew the rules of negotiation. You never got exactly what you came for, but if you were lucky, you walked away with more than you were willing to lose. “How much is it going to take to get you to leave quietly?”

Monsieur Renard sneered. For a moment, Chatine believed that he was actually enjoying this. And Chatine supposed she would be lying if she said she didn’t get just the smallest drop of a thrill from it. She supposed all fathers and daughters had their thing. This was theirs.

“Ten blocs” Monsieur Renard announced. “That should give us enough to live on for a few years.”

“Five,” Chatine replied.

“Seven. And you have to steal it for us.”

Chatine considered. Could she really remove seven blocs of zyttrium from the storage chalet without anyone noticing? She’d have to be strategic, move things around a little to cover her tracks. Her breath hitched, and she felt ill at the thought of the task that stood in front of her, but then she returned her gaze to what was actually standing in front of her—the most hideous, vile, despicable vermin on the face of the planet—and all her hesitation melted away.

She could do this. She could figure this out. She had to. One last time. One final job.

It was the con of the century. Because, for her, it was the con that would end all cons.

“Pack up your things,” she said as she grabbed one of the handmade sacs from the table and turned toward the door. “I want you ready to go when I get back.”

- CHAPTER 51 - ALOUETTE

THE HARNESS SLOWLY DESCENDED OVER Alouette’s shoulders. There was a beeping noise as it snapped together and yanked her back into the seat. She could feel her blood running, fast and furious, through her veins. She didn’t like how trapped and constricted she felt. It made her mind run back to that horrible bordel. The needle buried in her arm …

“Gabriel, how are you doing?” Cerise asked, and Alouette reminded herself that she wasn’t the worst off in this situation. She glanced over at Gabriel, who was strapped into the seat next to her, the harness pushing down against his bandages.

He struggled to give Cerise a smile in return. “Titanique, Sparkles.”

Alouette could hear the tremor in his voice. She couldn’t even imagine how much pain he must have been in right now. Pain like she’d never experienced.

Despite his protests, they’d forced him to drink from the extra vial of the inhibitor that Dr. Collins had given them. So at the very least, Alouette knew Gabriel was safe from the general should he activate the TéléReversion program. But it did little to reassure her. His injuries were bad and getting worse by the hour.

“So does anyone know what this is going to feel like?” Marcellus asked in an anxious tone. He was strapped into the seat on the other side of Alouette.

Cerise shook her head. “I’ve never hypervoyaged before.”

“I’ve read accounts,” Alouette offered. “I think you enter sort of a fugue state. At least at first. Until your body adjusts.”

“What’s a fugue state?” Cerise asked.

Thinking back to the sisters’ Chronicles and the chapters devoted to space travel, Alouette tried to remember the descriptions that were recorded from the original settlers who had hypervoyaged from the First World to the System Divine. “I think you feel like you’re sort of detached from your body. Disassociated from everything around you.”

“Good,” Gabriel said weakly. “If we crash and die, I don’t want to feel it.”

Alouette swallowed down what felt like razors in her throat. She knew Gabriel was trying to lighten the mood, like he always did. But there was also something morbidly accurate about his remark. She understood Marcellus’s desperation to get back to Laterre quickly. She felt it too. But she knew the risks of hypervoyage. She’d read about them for years. And she couldn’t shake the feeling that