Last Guard by Nalini Singh

The Architect

Once the delusion takes hold, it’s proven impossible to treat, though we continue to make the attempt.

—Report to the Psy Ruling Coalition from Dr. Maia Ndiaye, PsyMed SF Echo

SOMETHING WAS HAPPENINGin the Net, but the Architect’s contacts had let her down this time. The Ruling Coalition was being very closemouthed about what was to take place, so she had to wait, see.

The Architect did not like being outside the loop of knowledge.

It simmered in her, the awareness that she was the rightful queen of them all. The queen of a newer, better race of people. And a queen waited for no one, least of all these pitiful things called Psy.

“No matter,” she said aloud. “I can be patient.” None of her children had acted out since seeing that one rebellious group annihilate itself in an attempt to take power from her. They’d thought they could join forces. All they’d done was burn up in their combined fire.

Only the Architect was immune from those flames.

She could snuff them out at any time.

Let the so-called Ruling Coalition play their little games. She would watch, she would learn, and she would strike at the moment when they were the most vulnerable. Soon, she would be the one who reigned, the one who made the decisions, the one who determined who lived and who died.