Last Guard (Psy-Changeling Trinity #5) by Nalini Singh

Possibly her daughter.

“We can now ID young As before they initialize.” Payal’s words were massive boulders crashing into the earth. “What we want is the Coalition’s backing to formally tag those children as newborn As and maintain a health watch on them as they grow.”

She wasn’t asking their permission, Kaleb thought. The As would do this. They just wanted to know if they’d have the support of the Coalition.

“Accepted,” Aden said, speaking for the first time. “If you need Arrow escorts during the checkups, I’ll make them available.”

“And if you need Es to scope out the emotional situation,” Ivy Jane added, “you can have us on call.”

Arrow-Empath-Anchor.

Looked like a new kind of network was being born right in front of him.

“I see no issue with this,” Nikita said, and Anthony concurred.

“Children should never be hurt or tortured or killed.” Kaleb held Payal’s eyes, knowing her secrets without knowing them. “The simple fact that a child is an A should protect them as a result of A now being a hotly coveted designation.” Payal’s ascension to the Council, her repeated interviews, as well as the interviews given by a number of other As, had helped achieve that outcome.

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.