The Psy now understood that it was on the shoulders of anchors that they all stood. That many As required high-level care from those around them didn’t alter the fact that they were critical to the PsyNet’s survival.

“I’m glad we are all in accord on this point.” Payal’s voice was as crisp and detached as always—yet Ena had mentioned that Payal had bonded with Canto. A little piece of family information dropped into the conversation, a quiet statement that Payal was now part of the wider Mercant family.

Just like Kaleb.

Do you think anyone realizes the Mercants are slowly growing into the most powerful family in the Net? asked the woman who’d been with him throughout this meeting. Silver runs EmNet. They call you family and have claimed the bears as kin. Now they have within their ranks the leadership of the anchors.

I don’t think it’s a pursuit of power, Kaleb said. I think it’s the other way around. I pursued them because of who they are. Loyal. Intelligent. Relentless. If they become an even bigger power than they are now, the Net has nothing to fear.

Warmth along his bond with Sahara. Admit it, you have a crush on Ena.

The twisted darkness in him laughed, delighted with her. I will take that secret to the grave.

Her laughter filled him to the brim, even as the Coalition meeting broke up. As Payal’s face blinked out, he was certain he saw her wince. Likely another Net rupture, but nothing echoed to him along the pathways of the Net, so it couldn’t have been a significant one.

He teleported home to Sahara.

PAYAL’S nose was bleeding, and a pulse pounded at the back of her skull. She cleaned up the blood with quick efficiency. This had happened a few times before, when she’d waited too long before taking her dose.

She had about two more days before things went critical.

Canto entered her office, the two of them having come up with a residence schedule that worked for their anchor points.

Two weeks in one zone, two weeks in the other. Both anchor points would remain stable, and they could live together. They could do that for a lifetime. Karishma had asked to stay at her school for the time being, since it was familiar and comfortable, but when she came to Vara for the holidays—which she was excited to do—Payal would stay in Delhi for the duration.

All these plans they had.

Because she was going to survive. Payal was a survivor. So was Canto. “Any word from the Aleines?” she asked, making no attempt to hide her pain.

He knew. He always knew.

White lines around his mouth, he said, “Ashaya says it’s an incredibly complex piece of work. They will break it down and be able to engineer it backward, but it’s a question of how long it’ll take.” He came around her desk. She swiveled her chair so she faced him. “The Aleines are working all possible hours. They know we’re fighting a ticking clock.”

“Two women who I’ve never met are fighting for me. I would’ve never imagined such a thing possible before you.” She touched her hand to the bristles of his jaw, the wildness in her angry at the shadows under his eyes, the tension across his shoulders.

Put there by a man so in love with control that he’d rather his heir die than live without him. “I’ve sent word to every branch of the Rao empire alerting them to the transfer in power—and the circumstances of my father’s death. It’s possible his scientists might reach out to me.”

Payal hadn’t expected such family-defeating arrogance of her father—he’d always been about building an empire, an unbroken line. But he’d also thought he’d hold on to power forever, so dying with the secret of the drug might not have been a purposeful decision.

Payal might die because her father had believed himself immortal.

FORTY-EIGHT hours later, with pain a constant throb in the back of her skull, Payal continued on with putting a line of succession in place. Too many lives and livelihoods depended on the Rao empire for her to leave it to flounder. She hadn’t yet notified any of the parties, but she had taken up Canto’s offer to have Arwen in the room when she had meetings with various people.

She let it get around that she was interviewing him for a possible secondary assistant position, and he played the part, taking notes and fetching documents as needed. Ruhi, sure of her position since Payal had made it a point to tell her that she was to remain the most senior member of the office staff, had taken him under her wing.

One thing was non-negotiable: the succession could not be put on Karishma’s shoulders. Payal’s sister was an artist, a gifted one. She no more understood business than Payal understood how to put paint together in such a way that it came alive on the canvas. But ownership of all Rao enterprises would remain hers, to be passed on to her children if she so wished.

Payal intended to leave the oversight of her plan in Canto’s hands.

He refused to discuss it with her, gritting his jaw and changing the subject anytime she tried to bring it up. But she knew that should the worst happen, he’d take care of it, take care of Kari. Because he was in her corner. Always.

“Payal?” Arwen hesitated in the act of rising from the chair across from her own.

The two of them had finished their final meeting of the day, and he was now free to do as he wished. He’d mentioned going to see the art that lined the walls of the lower floor of Vara.

Her headache dull rather than sharp thanks to medication, she looked up. “Yes?” Protectiveness was a pulse in her veins. There was a gentleness to Arwen that made her want to wrap him up in cotton wool.

Eyes of clear silver searched her face. “You’re not mad with Canto for how he’s acting, are you?” He swallowed. “He loves so hard—and the idea that he might lose you, it’s making him act angry and grumpy. He feels helpless and he hates that beyond anything.”

“I know.” She still touched their bond compulsively, felt it grow stronger with every hour that passed. “I don’t know how to shield him from this, Arwen.” It devastated the feral girl in her that Canto would hurt after she was gone.

Because it turned out even a survivor couldn’t outrace this clock.

Eyes shining with wetness, Arwen shook his head. “You can’t shield from life—that’s what got our race into trouble in the first place.”

She was still thinking of his words when Canto rolled his chair into her office. Darkness was falling outside, the lights of Delhi beginning to flicker to life. Stopping her work the instant he appeared, she rose to go over to him.