Three of the city's systems converged beneath the Li tower: the Guild archive, the power grid and the repository of debt contracts. Kane had built his power so that money, law and the bonds with beasts all passed through a single building.
Leon suggested entering through the channel used to destroy old contracts. Every night, the paper originals were moved from the lower archive to the furnaces. The passage was narrow and filthy, and did not appear on the security plans.
"How do you know about it?" Lily asked.
"When I was a child, Father locked me in the archive if I handled the dragon badly. I found a way out."
For the first time, Leon spoke without arrogance.
Mira tested the consent key. The plate still had access to the external control circuit, but shutting down the network required a free queen. While Styx remained in the cage, there was no one on the other side to confirm consent.
"Can we break into the cage?"
"If we reach the local node and obtain her confirmation at the same time."
"She can't hear us."
"Then we'll have to remind her that we're close."
To establish contact, Mira built a pulse transmitter from Cole's beacon and a piece of my blood-soaked clothing. The device could not restore the control circuit. It merely repeated the rhythm the egg had heard before awakening.
Lily prepared copies of the archive and scheduled them for automatic release. If we did not return, the Li family's contracts would be sent through public channels.
Cole contacted two former subordinates. They could not enter the tower, but agreed to distract the patrols and hold our escape route.
Lily was giving up the academy for good, Cole was disobeying a direct order, and the dyers were risking their homes. Leon was renouncing his family's protection. Mira was returning to the laboratory of the man who had killed her beast.
I alone was still losing only what had already been taken from me.
"Once we're inside, Kane will seal the tower," Cole said. "Who makes the decisions if the broken bond with Styx hits you again?"
Before, the answer would have been obvious: me.
Now I looked at the others.
"Everyone has their own part. Lily handles the archives and doors, Mira the cages and seals, Cole the route, Leon the family access. I'm going after Styx."
"And if the objectives conflict?"
I remembered choosing the people in the burning dye works and losing the archive.
"We save the living. Documents and revenge come later."
Leon smirked.
"Not long ago, you threatened to feed my dragon to a mosquito."
"Not long ago, you left Lily under an avalanche."
He took the blow in silence.
We left after midnight. Each of us had a simple route and a fixed time after which we were to withdraw, whatever the outcome.
I put the girl's brass whistle in my pocket as a reminder: if I lost my voice again, someone might still hear me.
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