"Everything." Noble eyed the older woman carefully. "Why are you with the Director's husband and child? Did you latch on to these people knowing the trouble that was here?" Noble narrowed her gaze. "Did you lure them here on purpose?"
"What? No! You heard that my Clan disowned me." Harlow's face reddened. "I'm here because I couldn't get another position…"
"I thought we were through lying to each other." Noble balled her fists. "Your clan didn't disown you, and this isn't the only job you could get. You picked it on purpose because you're up to something."
"Hm," Harlow took a step toward the other woman. "You are like Saint Kai. You know when people are fibbing, don't you? How unfortunate!"
Noble straightened her shoulders. "It doesn't take a lie detector to know that a woman like yourself wouldn't be caught dead being a babysitter unless she had a very compelling reason. We both know Valor is too strategic with its resources to cast out such a valuable asset as yourself."
Tilting up her chin, Harlow smirked. "Be that as it may, what I am up to has nothing to do with this gods-forsaken city. It isn't my style to go around luring people into death traps."
"Tell that to my father," Noble leveled her gaze at the other woman.
"Oh, so that's what this is about?" Harlow waved her hand dismissively. "I would have thought you were over that. If anything, I should be the one angry at you. But you don't see me pouting, do you?"
"You…angry with me?!" Noble sputtered.
Had Harlow lost her mind?
"Your little stunt with Jet and Cor cost me my relationship with the government. My brother was none too happy about that and punished me by sending my cohort into the second Nightmare without me. If not for you, I would be a Master right now and not this lowly Awakened bodyguard."
Harlow was bitter, but Noble felt no sympathy for her.
"You think that losing an opportunity because of your own poor choices is the same as losing a father?"
"Your father chose poorly also," Harlow sneered. "He could have had a lovely life with his family. Instead, he chose to stick his nose where it didn't belong. I warned him to stay out of the affairs of the Legacy Clans, trust me. But Lance was even more stubborn than you."
"So you killed him?!" Noble barely kept her emotions in check as she screamed. She felt her ears burning with indignation.
"You want the truth? Fine, Dearie. Lance thwarted an assassination attempt. Rather than take his victory and rest in the government's protection, he dug deeper and discovered some nasty little secrets. Valor got wind of his plans to expose the less-than-flattering information and sent me to deal with it. In the end, he chose to try to save a spoiled, orphaned brat over watching his own brat Awaken. It is Lance you should be mad at, not me. He abandoned you."
Harlow shrugged.
Noble summoned her Zenith. "You're a monster. Taking a man out of this world for wanting to do the right thing!"
"You act like it was personal. He went against Valor and paid the price." Harlow spoke like it was the most natural thing in the world.
Seeing the anger swirling in the other ladies eyes Harlow laughed softly.
"Hate me all you like. You won't do anything about it." The old woman leaned against the wall. "You can't leave me here."
Noble seethed. "Give me one reason why I can't."
"Because the moment you do, I will go to sleep and enter the Dream Realm. I might become lost when the Skinwalker takes my body, but I'll have a comfortable life in Bastion. I haven't seen Lena in so long. She will be the first person that I pay a visit." Harlow smirked.
"You won't go anywhere near my mother!" Noble raised her sword to her shoulder.
"I won't need to. Your morals, like Lance's, are too strong. You don't have the stomach to kill me in cold blood or you would have done it already. Your hands are tied."
"But mine aren't!" Chip screamed as he pushed open the bedroom door.
His Kama Yari was already forming in his hand as he sped forward in his search for blood.
Before his strike could land, Noble lifted the man into the air.
"Don't interfere, Chip," Noble frowned.
"I know we were just supposed to listen, but this? Just say the word Noble and she'll be dead before she hits the floor!" The Master's wild roar at the end of his sentence said it all.
Harlow cut her eyes at the other woman, realization dawning on her face. "You tricked me! They were spying the whole time!"
"It doesn't feel so good does it?" Noble lifted her chin defiantly. "You couldn't even trust your own emotions telling you it was safe to talk."
"You killed somebody's daddy, Harry?" Teran's eyes grew big and round.
Harlow knelt before the child. "It's not what it sounds like, sweetheart. I was manipulated—"
"I might have helped your feelings but the admission was all your own." Noble refused to give in to the bait.
Coy saluted, "And thanks to that handy little Memory over there that belongs to one of us, we have a recording of the whole thing."
The slender Master pointed to the table where an object resembling a beetle lay carelessly. Harlow lunged to smash it, but the Memory disappeared into a rain of sparks as her hands splintered the table.
"You can't silence all of us. At least not if you want to get out of here alive." Noble narrowed her gaze.
"Harry—Harlow, we trusted you!" Lonzo pulled his child behind him.
Harlow stood from her dive and brushed off her clothes.
"You aren't the first and you won't be the last," Harlow said coolly. "And I am not worried about you or your little recording. I could shout from the rooftops what I have done to your father and how I weakened that wall and no one would do a thing about it except maybe another slap on the wrist."
"You weakened the wall?!? I knew it!" Chip, who had just been released from Noble's powers after calming, grew fierce once more.
Coy stepped between the burly Awakened and the old woman. Chip shoved him, and both of them went to the ground.
"Let me destroy her. She isn't fit to keep breathing!" Chip snarled, his bestial instincts taking over. "Jo!"
"–Wouldn't want this," Coy tried to calm his friend. "Save your anger."
"Yes, we have bigger problems than little old me." Harlow made herself look as small as possible. "Do what Jo would have wanted."
"Your filthy mouth isn't fit to say her name!" Chip spat.
"We need to get out of here," Noble reminded Chip, resisting the urge to forcibly calm him. She had already used too much of her essence as it was. She pointed to the smaller of two mundane people. "We need to get Teran back to his mother. He is the reason we came. Not her."
Chip looked at Teran.
Inexplicably the boy was staring back at him without flinching. Teran's hand was across his stomach, but not because he was queasy. He was gripping the small Spelltech device keeping him alive.
The burly Master's expression softened. "For the little bugger's sake, I'll not lop off Harlow's head right now. Jo wouldn't have approved."
He dismissed the Kama Yari.
"Very generous of you," Harlow touched her neck lightly. "Now what's the plan for getting out of here?"
"We retrace our steps back into the open and then Master Noble will fly us all out of here." Fir watched the others look at him strangely. "What? Was that a secret?"
"No," Coy frowned, "But usually you let the boss say that sort of thing. And here, Master Noble is the boss."
With Jet gone and Chip mid-court martial, Coy was the ranking member of the military. But Noble had been the head of this part of the operation since before the men joined her, and none of them wanted to derail the plan by fighting for leadership.
All eyes turned to Noble, and she sighed.
"Fir is right. That was the plan. However, there might be a small hitch..."