Black Marion

29

"So you knew."

In the black marble meeting room of the Imperial, six chairs full and all sharp eyes on him, Vaughn confronted the collapse of his world with a numb calm. With his head upon the executioner's block and his heart chained in the Imperial interrogation chambers, the helplessness consumed all his fury and madness. He felt exhausted. Afraid. A man straddling a wire between the towers of the Upper Sky.

He played his act, because he had to. Because it was the only way he might yet protect Alex.

"I had my suspicions for a time," Vaughn said, "but I did not know until Kozlov confirmed it."

"Suspicions," echoed Josephine Lanis.

"You covered for her when she made her first move," said Noel Kanisorto. "You said she was debriefing her progress with you that night."

"That wasn't a lie," said Vaughn.

Kanisorto narrowed her eyes. "But is that a lie?"

"What I want to know," said Marcus Kalengar, leaning forward, "is whether or not you knowingly protected the slut who murdered my wife."

"I didn't," said Vaughn, keeping his voice even despite the vicious anger at slut. "It's true that I was involved with her. That might have blinded me to some hints earlier on, but once I began suspecting her, I kept her under my watch. She didn't move in with me willingly, I can tell you that. And when I learned of her crimes from Kozlov, I kept her under house arrest. You can check the physical evidence, if you'd like. She's the one who broke out through the windows."

"You kept her under house arrest instead of reporting her to us?"

"Of course," said Vaughn. "We all know what's going to happen to her now. I hoped to come to terms with her more humanely. We were involved for a time, after all." He folded his hands over his lap and gazed at the table. "I'll be honest. I don't like the thought of interrogating her here. I don't know how responsive she will be. But if I could have the opportunity to get the truth out of her my way..."

Kalengar scoffed. "We're not going to hand your lover back to you, Scio. You're mad to think we'd be so stupid."

"He's right," said Kanisorto. "The fact is that we have no way of corroborating your words, except through interrogating Myeong. So we'll see what she says about you. But frankly, it should be of little consequence to us at this moment."

"Pardon?" said Kalengar.

Kanisorto continued. "If you knew, and you lied to us about your lover, then you subsequently allowed for the continued expenditure of valuable resources on this investigation, if not the deterioration of our validity as the ruling power as well. Those would be severe transgressions."

"I agree," said Vaughn, "but—"

"But you've also been foundational for our State since your appointment. You've brought a unique perspective that has allowed us to maintain unprecedented levels of satisfaction across the citizens of the Sky. You've been responsible for nine out of sixteen of our landmark policy changes in the past decade. And, as underwhelming as it seems against what should have been, your operations did capture several key members of the resistance, including Myeong herself. In a roundabout way."

"It sounds like you're suggesting we pardon him," said the Regent Hayashi.

"This is a critical period for the State," said Kanisorto. "If we can spare a valuable resource, we ought to. Since Regent Scio has proven that he is earnestly seeking to quiet the insurgence, I believe that any wayward decisions he has made arise not from ill-intent toward the State, but from personal emotions. Certainly, it calls into question whether his judgment is fit for the Regency, but I believe this next stage will serve as a fine assessment."