There were a few weeks of chaos after that. Figuring out how to get back to Amrinval, mostly, how to break the lease on the rooms Lady Halflance had rented out for us, how to make transportation arrangements, what to actually say to her and so on and so forth. We sent a letter to Halflance Manor, explaining that we needed to return urgently, and got a response from Sir Margaret. By the end of the month, the three of us were on a train together, down the river to Rasslock, then the multi-day journey down the coast to Amrinval itself.
It was a strange feeling, being back at Halflance Manor. It had been months since the last time I’d been, getting ready for the mission to Urcos. Technically speaking, this was the closest thing I had on Selene to an actual home base, though after staying there for so long I almost felt more at home in New Alderburg. The halls of the manor felt eerie, like a half-forgotten memory. Norma and Felicia were there to greet me, and Aisha the head of staff, and a half-dozen other people. I hadn’t realized until I returned there that the manor had its own distinct smell, the mixture of old metal, smoke, and oil that only a modern Selenian structure could have, all of the organic chemicals baked into its foundations by long use.
Once I was done receiving my welcomes from Miss Rook, from Doctor Charcharias, from Sir Margaret, the first order of business was to find Lady Halflance and beg for her help with the Tersine situation. Of course, she wasn’t around that particular day, gone on business, but we could wait for her return. It was the most nerve-wracking couple of days I’d had in a while.
Pretty much the moment she returned, it was all hands on deck. Fortunately for me, if there’s one thing that Lady Halflance is good at, it’s acting effectively under pressure. As soon as Anna informed her that there was important business, she swept along to one of the manor’s conference rooms, pulling myself and Anna in her wake. When she sat down at the table across from us and asked me to explain, she didn’t look like a woman who had been traveling all day. I explained what had happened with Tersine and what we knew about her activities, omitting anything to do with Laura, her relationship with me, or the massive fire I had started that killed several members of New Alderburg’s aristocracy. When I was finished, Lady Halflance placed her elbows on the table, folded her hands together, and stared into the woodgrain for a very long time.
“I had heard about a spy,” she said to herself, her voice carefully measured. “I had not realized the severity of the issue.”
“You already knew about this?” I said.
Halflance nodded. “As you said, the Blackbird reported Tersine to the police, who began a search. Such incidents are made known to Parliament. I look at reports of spy-hunts very seriously.”
Which confirmed, if nothing else, that Halflance must have known about the fire I had started. Had she known some of the people that I’d killed that night? It was a terrifying question to ponder, whether I had killed someone who Halflance had known on a personal level, and whether she had been friends with someone who spent her spare time feeding homeless people to ghouls. Almost as awful to think about as the fact that I’d had sex with her daughter.
I shook my head, turning my attention back to more important things. “Do you suppose that’s it, then? The proper authorities will find her, catch her…” I hesitated to say what I knew would be the next step. “Do whatever it is that you do with spies?”
“Normally I would leave spy-hunting to the spy-hunters. But if what you describe is true…” Lady Halflance shot a look at Anna, giving her the chance to contradict my story, “then Doctor Nika Tolva Tersinevka is no ordinary spy.”
“I’m not exactly experienced in the matter, but I’m going to assume that an ordinary spy doesn’t have an automaton assistant and a small army of wolf-woman hybrids at her command.”
“No,” Halflance said. “And I’m wondering how she was able to obtain such resources in the first place.”
Anna fluttered her eyelashes, brow furrowing. “I remember, when she had me kidnapped, mentioning something about the Svenhal labs?”
Memories came crashing back. “That’s right! Tersine is the former head of the Svenhal labs, that’s probably why the Cassandrans have given her such wide reign.”
Lady Halflance’s eyes went wide with interest. “You’re certain of that?”
“She tied me down to a chair and bragged about it repeatedly, I’m very sure.”
“That is useful information, I’ll have to relay it to counterintelligence,” Halflance said with a nod. “As for what to do about Tersine herself… Typically, when a spy is found, that is the end of the game. Whether they are caught or not, their role is done.”
“But Tersine isn’t a typical spy?”
“No, she is not. She has shifted from passive information-gathering to active pursuit of a goal, and that is very dangerous.”
I sighed. “You don’t need to tell me that she’s dangerous, Halflance, she nearly killed me half a dozen times over.”
“I do not merely mean her combat ability,” Halflance said, shooting me an irritated glare. “She is dangerous because she is in motion, which means we should treat this situation as being under time pressure, and assume the conventional authorities will fail to keep up with it.
Anna and I both mumbled something in agreement. There’s nothing quite worse than Halflance being correct. “I don’t know what Primary Control is, but I have to imagine that she’s so dedicated to looking for it for a very good reason. Tersine can be reckless, but she’s not stupid. So preventing her from reaching it has to be a priority.”
“Precisely. And while she has a head start in preparation, if Primary Control is in the Great Desolation, we have the advantage of home territory. Which means that we should begin making preparations as quickly as possible.”
“I mean, sure,” I said. “But first we need to decide what we’re actually doing, what kinds of preparations we actually need to make.”
“That’s exactly what I’ve been thinking about. Clearly she has some way of sourcing supplies, and she may have had to retreat to a staging ground for that purpose. We’ll need to locate that staging ground, gather a force, and hunt her down.”
“Nulla captivis,” I muttered to myself.
Lady Halflance bared her teeth. “I’m glad you understand my meaning.”
“Who exactly is ‘we’, though? And what do you mean by ‘hunt her down’?”
“You’re asking if you’ll be allowed to assist,” Halflance said, sounding very unimpressed.
“It’s a reasonable question! I have the most experience with her, and I have the best chance of not being overwhelmed by Falem or her wolves.”
“I could hire you on the military expedition as a civilian adjunct. Would that be enough for you?”
I nearly snapped at her, but Anna shot me a glance that reminded me of the situation. “Yes,” I said. “That will do very nicely. Who else?”
“If I present my case to Parliament, I could requisition a special army platoon for this purpose. Supplement that with whomever will volunteer as civilian adjunct,” Halflance glanced at me again, “And we will have a respectable force, capable of taking on head to head any force Tersine could conceivably raise.”
I didn’t like the idea of getting the military involved any more than I liked the idea of involving the cops. But, then, what else had I asked for when I decided to bring Halflance into it, if not governmental involvement and force of arms? “And then we lead them all on a mad chase across Imbrium, until Tersine is brought to justice or we all die.”
“That’s a very pessimistic view of things,” said Halflance.
That raised an eyebrow. “Are you accusing me of being pessimistic? You of all people?”
Halflance smirked very slightly. “I never said it was incorrect.”
There were a few more things to discuss after that, but in the end the case was that Lady Halflance had all the power to move forward with this, and Anna and I were just there to advise. She gave us a timetable for what she could do, and it was up to us to follow it. When I realized that there was nothing more to say, I left the room, hands shoved into my pockets, unsure about whether to feel good about what had just happened. Stopping Tersine seemed seriously plausible again, but at what cost?
A few more days passed. Lady Halflance handled all of the work, sending out letters and calling up appointments with whichever members of government were in Amrinval at that time. I fell back on old habits, relentlessly training my sword and gun hands with Miss Rook or helping Anna with daily tasks.
Then, a couple of days later, everything changed. I was in one of the sitting rooms, enjoying one of the few books from the library of Halflance Manor that I hadn’t already read through, when there came a burst of noise. It sounded like voices, shouting and screaming with intense emotion and shock, saying something muffled by distance. After the first instant of terror, I realized that the sounds weren’t screams of terror or pain, but outbursts of extreme emotion; nonetheless, I leapt out of the sitting chair, slapped down the book on the side table, and made a dash for the entry hall.
There was a commotion of voices and people waiting for me, mostly staff, all gathered around the cracked-open door. In the middle of that crowd was a face I could never forget. Laura.
She was standing her ground admirably against a swarm of maids all trying to get a word in, be it congratulating her on her return or asking where she’d gone, or in some cases just asking who she was and why all the fuss. But I wasn’t going to let the crowd stop me from getting to her. I shoved through them all, until I ended up face to face with her.
“Laura…”
“Shortcake.”
“What the hell are you doing here?”
Laura sighed. “Changing my mind, I guess. About you. I’m sorry for kicking you out like I did, I needed space to think and… Whatever. In the past now?”
“In the past now,” I said, nodding. “You know your mothers are here, right?”
“Yeah, I do.” Laura set her jaw. “I wasn’t just here to apologize to you. If Tersine is going under… we’re going to need some help. And this is the best place to find it.”
I took her hand, guiding her past the swarm of servants. “Anna and I have already explained the situation to Lady Halflance, she’s working on putting together an expedition to find Tersine and hunt her down. Now come on, you can stay in my room, or…”
Lady Halflance had arrived, cane held in one hand, the veins in her neck bulging as she stared at the two of us with barely-controllable distaste. “Parker Laura Halflance. Whatever are you doing here?”
I tried to snatch my hand away from Laura, but it was too late. She had already made her decision about exactly how she was going to handle this whole scenario. She grabbed me around the waist, pulled me in, and pressed her lips to mine, giving me the most passionate and sudden kiss I’d ever received in my life. Complete with one of her hands grabbing a quick handful of my ass.
When we finally pulled apart, my heart was beating so fast that I felt lightheaded. If it weren’t for the steel gaze of Lady Halflance from across the room, I probably would have felt some other, wetter emotions too. As it was, I was too busy being terrified of how Lady Halflance might react and what Laura had been thinking to do much more than stare.
“So, I see you’ve met my girlfriend, Emma,” Laura said. “She said she told you about our little Cassandran spy problem?”
Lady Halflance’s chest visibly rose and fell once each. “I have, yes. We were making arrangements for dealing with that.”
“Yeah, thought so. Let me explain something, alright: I’m not here to make amends. I’m not here to apologize. And I’m certainly not here because I want to be. I’m here for Emma, and I’m here to take down the bastard that murdered one of my friends and tried to murder me. Now let’s get down to business.”
aaaaaaaa f*ck yes Laura's back!! I was *so* worried she wasn't going to change her mind!
Yay, Laura came to her senses!