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

“Your brother has brokered several major deals of late, and he’s increasingly building connections that will assist the family in the future. A Mercant link would be advantageous for you.”

After inclining her head in a silent response, Payal exited. She didn’t permit herself to think about what he’d said until she was behind the locked doors to her apartment, a place she swept every morning and night for spyware and that had a number of electronic tripwires designed to alert her to unauthorized access.

Her father wasn’t a stupid man. She couldn’t risk him figuring out that his final arrow had hit home. She had even less time than she’d thought if he was beginning to threaten her with Lalit.

“You might have killed once, but you don’t have your brother’s ruthless instincts,” he’d said to her the year before. “You expect people to act with logic, to be rational in their behavior.”

He was wrong. She used to expect that, but her childhood had shown it to be a false data point—so she’d adapted. In time, she’d gathered enough information to realize that Psy under Silence made decisions for all kinds of reasons, many of them incomprehensible if you took only the rules of the Protocol into account.

Payal, too, didn’t always act in a way that fulfilled the tenets of pure rationality. Such as right then, when she reached out to Canto with her mind. He’d given her his telepathic “imprint,” for lack of a better word, when he’d sent her the expanded data. She couldn’t find that imprint in the telepathic space, which meant he was farther away than her Gradient 4.3 telepathy could reach.

It should’ve stopped her impulsive act, but she picked up her encrypted organizer and sent him a message: Initiate telepathic contact.

The connection snapped into place within seconds: Payal? Is there a problem? His voice was crystalline, so pure a sound that it was almost—but not quite—painful to her psychic ear.

Payal didn’t understand music, but at that moment, she came as close to that understanding as she ever had. No problem, just information. To cover our meetings, I’ve told my father we’re considering a business collaboration. I need you and your family to back me up should mine send out feelers.

It’ll be done. A minor pause. You’re the financial head of the Rao family.

This was why she didn’t act on impulse. Impulse led to mistakes. In the end, all she said was There are other factors in play.

It’s your brother, isn’t it? Watch your back, Payal. Lalit is a predator. Another small pause before he added, If you want him gone, just give the word.

Payal sat down on the closest surface. It happened to be a seat built into a large curved window that overlooked the city. She could’ve had an apartment lower down, where the property’s opaque fences blocked out the view of Delhi, but she’d never considered that an option. Are you making an offer?

Why don’t you come over and we’ll talk.

She stared at the falling darkness of Delhi, lit up by the yellow lights that lined its streets in tandem with the tiny fairy lights so many of the small businesses still preferred to hang over their awnings or on their rooftops. Now was the time to meet Canto if she wished to do so in absolute privacy. Not even her father could see through walls and into her rooms.

And … she wanted to talk to Canto.

Such a foolish, dangerous need, but she couldn’t fight it. Same location?

It’ll be cold now. Come prepared.

First, she took a couple of minutes to touch base with Karishma using an encrypted messaging app, to ensure that Pranath hadn’t made any moves that put her sister in jeopardy.

I’m safe, Karishma replied. Father and Lalit haven’t tried to contact me. I think they’ve forgotten I exist. Visha is fine, too.

You both remember the exit plan?

Karishma repeated it back to her. I won’t let them kill us, she promised. That would leave you all alone.

Payal never knew what to say to her gentle, artistic sister when she made such statements. Just worry about yourself and let Visha protect you. The teenager turned young woman whom Payal had rescued from Lalit’s torture was ten years Kari’s senior and fiercely loyal to her younger charge. I’m the elder. I’ll take care of myself.

Yes, Didi. An honorific for “older sister,” but not one used among Psy. It held too much emotion, too much affection. Payal didn’t chastise her—Kari was growing up in the post-Silent world, and Payal intended for her to grow up in a kinder one, too.

Payal’s one experience of kindness as a child had been a boy who’d asked her for her thoughts and slipped food into her small palm. The profound impact of Canto’s actions rippled through time in how Payal interacted with Karishma. Are you still happy with the school?

Yes. Miss Almeida is my favorite.

Payal responded with interest, and the two of them messaged for several more minutes before she said, Good night. Keep up your guard. Though showing emotion was difficult in the extreme for her, she made the effort for Kari—she didn’t want her sister to end up like her, damaged in a way nothing could ever fix. You are very important to me. I won’t allow anyone to hurt you.

I know, Didi. I love you.

Kari’s statement clawed into Payal’s psyche, the rising emotion a threat that could overwhelm. When she went to reinitiate her shields, the manic, half-mad girl she’d once been fought her with savage fury. Her jaw ached, her neck tight by the time she got things under control.