Between Burning Worlds (System Divine #2) - Jessica Brody Page 0,214

a large wood-paneled study and stopped in front of a framed painting of a peaceful First World landscape. She pushed the frame aside to reveal a thick PermaSteel vault embedded into the wall.

“Last chance to back out,” Cerise said. “Are you sure about this?”

Marcellus nodded, feeling the significance of such a simple gesture crash down around him. “The general must be stopped. It’s the only way.”

Cerise sighed and pressed her palm to the glowing panel beside the door. The vault clicked open, and Marcellus sucked in a sharp breath when his eyes fell upon dozens of silver rayonettes hanging from a wooden rack in neat, shimmering rows.

“Papa’s been stealing weapons from the Ministère ever since the last rebellion,” Cerise explained, and for a moment her eyes went glassy. “The truth is, I don’t think he’s one hundred percent convinced we won’t see another one.”

Marcellus reached inside the vault and delicately plucked a rayonette from the rack. Every nerve in his body caught fire as his fingers closed around the glittering handle. He’d held weapons almost his entire life. His grandfather had placed his first rayonette in his hands when he was only eight years old. But he’d never felt its true weight and power and responsibility until right now.

In his mind, he could still hear his grandfather’s words from that day ten years ago.

“Hold it steady, Marcellus. In the face of your enemy, a wavering hand can cost you your life.”

“Don’t hesitate. As soon as you have your best shot, you take it. Never give your opponent the chance to shoot first.”

“See this switch? This activates the lethal mode. Only use it in the most dire of circumstances.”

Marcellus rolled his thumb back and forth over the toggle. He couldn’t think of more dire circumstances than the ones they now faced. And when the time came, he would not hesitate. His hands would not waver. He would not give his grandfather the chance to shoot first.

The thought brought him a rush of terror, then sickness, and then finally, a rush of conviction.

Marcellus had waited a long time for this moment. Longer than he’d even realized. He had suffered, lost, grieved, raged, fought, froze, and traveled across the stars and back for this one chance to stop the general. A chance to make things right.

With a snap that reverberated throughout the room, Marcellus flicked the switch on the rayonette and tucked it into the waistband of his pants. “Your father is wrong,” he said gravely to Cerise. “Laterre won’t see another rebellion.”

Cerise blinked up at him with questioning eyes.

“Because no matter what happens tonight,” Marcellus said, “there’s going to be a revolution.”

- CHAPTER 64 - ALOUETTE

THE MINISTÈRE HEADQUARTERS WAS A cold and sterile place that made Alouette grateful she and Cerise had come here at night. The hallways were mostly empty, with the exception of a few patrolling guards who paid no attention to them in their uniforms and pushing their cleaning carts. Alouette couldn’t imagine what this place must feel like during the day, when the labs were bustling with activity and cyborgs roamed the halls.

They’d slipped in through the service entrance as the employees of the day shift were leaving. And now, as Alouette darted behind Cerise down another long, silent corridor, she swore she could hear her erratic heartbeat echoing off the spotless white walls. She’d never been more nervous in all her life. Not when she’d first snuck out of the Refuge. Not when she and Hugo had been kidnapped by the Renards. Not when the voyageur started to break apart. Not even when the escape pod had stranded them in the Terrain Perdu and she was certain they were all going to die.

There was just something about this place. This building, with its bare, austere hallways; swift, soundless elevators; and echoing, polished floors. They seemed to suck the courage right out of her. Like leeches on her skin.

Cerise pulled to a stop in front of an unmarked door and glanced over both shoulders before pulling out her TéléCom and unfolding it. Alouette looked at the screen to see a grid of squares, each one showing a different view of the Ministère headquarters. She immediately recognized the bottom right feed as the hallway they were now standing in, and the two figures dressed in black and blue uniforms as them.

“I can buy you about forty-five seconds. Sixty at the most,” Cerise said, tapping furiously at the screen. A dizzying array of panels and blueprints flashed by so quickly,