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Territories.”
    “They’ve taken up high ground,” I observed.
    “They’re smart. Likely smarter than any of us are.”
    “Fuck, Jegs. What the hell is going on with the kids?”
    “No idea. But you should also know that the PsychHAgs have been particularly active recently as well. From what I hear, their reach has extended to classified use of Revolution scientists. The President approved that expansion of their powers. You’ll have to talk to Feliu to see if he knows more.”
    “You’re assuming there’s a connection there. Between the kids, the jacquerie’s movements and the PsychHAgs?”
    “I’m not assuming. My gut is telling me there is. And the leadership—our President, to be specific—is unwilling to explore any of this. He’s so focused on his own survival and destroying Ahriman’s regime that he’s overlooking the welfare of his own people. Of the citizens he insists are the heart of the Revolution.”
    “These are serious allegations, Jegs.”
    “I know. But evil is only allowed to take root in the absence of good. I said it earlier, I won’t stand idly by. Let Armise go after Ahriman. Let him follow the President’s agenda. But we need you here to help the President see reason. He will listen to you. And if he won’t then it will be his own hubris that takes him down.”
    I stilled. “Are you saying you want the President to be assassinated?”
    She nodded slowly as if we were discussing a training exercise and not mutiny. “I’m saying that one bullet is sometimes all it takes. You, out of all of us, know that’s true.”
    She couldn’t be telling me what I thought she was—that if the President didn’t change his tactics I would be the one asked to eliminate him. But I couldn’t see any other meaning behind her words. I had to wonder if Jegs had come on her own to me or if she had been voted as the person to have this conversation with me. Did Neveed know what she was telling me? And if he did, did he agree with this course of action?
    That Neveed not only knew, but had also sanctioned her approach to me was the only conclusion I could come to since Neveed would have access to everything said within the control room walls. Unless this was a test by Neveed to see if I was still loyal to the President. The thought chilled me.
    And that wasn’t even factoring in the information she was feeding me about the jacquerie and the disappearance of the children. That was disturbing to say the least. Adding the PsychHAgs into the mix complicated it all further. And much more than I was prepared to handle at that moment.
    Now I was even more sure that I needed Armise to stay by my side. Yes, Jegs believed that I was a better soldier than Armise, but she didn’t know him the way I did. Armise was more than competent. He was battle-ready at all times and constantly one step ahead of me.
    And I would have been lying if I didn’t admit that the fact that I might not be able to trust the President anymore was an unsettling thought.
    It didn’t matter that Armise had sprung this desire to go after Ahriman on me. I’d been working with him and living with him for long enough to trust he had my back because his only agenda was me . There was no other way around it—the only person I could trust anymore was Armise Darcan.
    Regardless of everything Jegs had told me, I wasn’t ready to give anything away that could illustrate a shift in my position until I had investigated every accusation for myself. “You have to be aware that by telling me this I’m going to be watching you extra closely and making sure you get nowhere near the President?”
    Jegs shrugged casually, completely unaffected by my statement. “Then you’ll be watching the wrong person.”
    * * * *
    I found Armise in the galley, picking at a plate of food in front of him.
    “Exley’s not here,” he said to me with ease, as if our last interaction hadn’t ended with him walking out on me. With the convoluted entanglement of