“But you don’t choose,” Ariadne reminded him. “Not really. You don’t realize how deep the Oracle is in your brain.” At his doubtful look, Ariadne leaned back and crossed her arms. “All right. You came in from debriefing after your last mission and before you were asked to fly to Myndalia, right?”

Cato looked a little wary. “Yeah, but it was routine.”

“You slept in the palace overnight?”

“Yes.” His voice was tighter.

“Plugged into your sleep cycling like usual?”

Silence.

Ariadne lifted her shoulders, then dropped the intonations. “The Oracle’s influence is so subtle that you didn’t even notice One’s voice is my own.” Even. Genial. Inhuman. “For the glory of Tholos. I give my life for Thee. I give my body for Thee. In the name of the God of Death, I kill for Thee. In Thy name.”

His mouth fell open. Beside him, Rhea shifted uncomfortably—she didn’t like when Ariadne used that monotone. None of them did. Ariadne had spent years being the Oracle’s voice. Spent years hearing it give her orders. Her voice was not her own—not since she’d made the mistake of giving it to One.

“You’re a convincing mimic,” Cato said, clenching his jaw. “I see why the Novantae could use you.”

“Not a mimic.”

He made some noise, almost like a laugh. “Fine. Let’s say I believe you. Why would a child be the Oracle’s voice?”

“Flat intonation,” Ariadne said, still using the voice. “One trained me in it. Doesn’t sound little. Doesn’t sound like a child. And if you call me either again, I’m going to electrocute your brain and leave you here in a vegetative state.” She kept her Oracle voice to make the words all the more jarring.

She could tell it unsettled him. His shoulders were tense, his body straining. If it weren’t for that blocker in his system, the Oracle would have completely overtaken him by now.

“No offense, you seem like a nice enough ch”—at her glare, he amended—“girl. But I don’t trust you. How do I know you’re not going to mess with my mind? Put some rebel bullshit up there?”

“How about I tell you a story?” she said, still in the Oracle’s voice to unnerve him, as she leaned forward and gently placed electrodes on his forehead. “The co-commander of the Novantae and I got to talking when I fed her information. She told me she had known she was a woman since she was very young, but the Oracle kept trying to suppress those thoughts. One had assigned her male before birth, and programmed her to be hyper-masculine. The AI considers One’s decisions to be infallible.”

“The Oracle is infallible,” Cato said flatly.