Between Burning Worlds (System Divine #2) - Jessica Brody Page 0,206

the field of genetics. Patriarche Claude wanted to safeguard the Skins and his family’s sovereignty over the Third Estate. The Rebellion of 488 was still three years away, but unrest was already rumbling. The kill switch was originally located in a bunker inside the Grand Palais, but Claude didn’t think that was safe enough. He worried about the Palais being stormed and the bunker raided. He wanted to make sure that, even in the face of a rebellion, no one could shut down the Skins. Because he knew, as I’m sure you do, that the Skins are the only way to keep the Third Estate controlled.”

Chatine scoffed, feeling a familiar hatred for the First Estate roll through her. Arrogant pomps.

“So,” Brigitte went on, “Vanessa and I built the Forteresse to protect the kill switch. And Patriarche Claude had a special tower erected to house it.”

“The Paresse Tower?” Cerise asked in astonishment.

Brigitte nodded. “It was a clever decision on Claude’s part: to hide the kill switch in plain sight but protect it by the most advanced lock on the planet. Most people think the tower is just decorative. A symbol of the Regime. But there’s a small chamber at the top that only a few people know about.”

“Who?” Cerise insisted. “Who else knows about it?”

Brigitte let out an unsteady breath. Chatine could tell that recounting this story was making her anxious, dredging up old regrets. “The current Patriarche, of course. General Bonnefaçon, who was there when the project was initiated. Vanessa—or Denise. Me. And now the people in this room.”

“The general knows,” Cerise repeated numbly, casting a glance at Marcellus, but he appeared to be lost in thought.

“How does a lock like that even work?” Alouette asked.

Brigitte wrung her hands together. “Well, as a cyborg, Vanessa had been a frontrunner in the field of gene editing—the process of modifying targeted strands of the human genome. It would have been easy to build a lock that opens to anyone with Paresse DNA, but the Patriarche didn’t want that. Most members of the First Estate have at least some Paresse DNA, and he didn’t want a disgruntled cousin or uncle shutting off the Skins. He wanted this lock to only open for his direct descendants. He also wanted to make sure that someone couldn’t just snatch a strand of hair from his head and use it to unlock the Forteresse and gain access to the kill switch. So Vanessa figured out a way to edit the Patriarche’s genetic code and create a modified gene. We called it the Sovereign gene.”

Brigitte seemed to shudder at the name. “This modified gene can only be found in certain cells of the brain, and the modification is only triggered once a Paresse heir has come of age. If she’d lived, little Marie Paresse would have eventually had the ability to open the Forteresse.” Brigitte paused, as though taking a moment of silence to mourn the lost child. “Once the creation of the Sovereign gene was complete, the DNA of Claude’s young son, Lyon, was also edited. And I started work on the lock itself. I was able to develop a technology that can not only read the modified Sovereign gene in the brain and confirm its validity, but also eliminate any chance of sabotage. The lock on the Forteresse, for example, can’t be accessed if more than one person is present, eliminating the chance of the Patriarche being coerced into opening it. The person accessing the lock must also be alive and not under duress.” She sighed and looked to Cerise with apologetic eyes. “In other words, we did our job too well.”

“So it’s hopeless, then.” Cerise collapsed back down onto the cot, a darkness seeming to descend over her. “The kill switch exists, but we can’t get to it. And now we just have to sit idly by and watch the general take control of the planet.”

“We don’t need the kill switch,” Marcellus said quietly. He was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest. It was the first time he’d spoken in several minutes.

Cerise peered at him. “What do you mean?”

Marcellus stood up straighter, as though waking from a dream. “Think about it,” he said, his gaze fierce and determined. “For the very first time in …well, forever, we’re not three moves behind him.”

“What?” Chatine asked.

“Don’t you see?” Marcellus’s face was flushed with adrenaline. “We know exactly what the general is going to do next. We know he plans to use the