by Robyn Bennis
“It’s all right,” she said. “I’m sure she heard me. That’s the important bit, isn’t it?”
Bernat wasn’t sure it was, but he said confidently, “Yes. Yes, it is.”
“I was going to let her die,” she said, barely audible now.
He laughed, but not cruelly. “No, you weren’t.”
They walked toward Durum. The top half of Ayezderhau’s vast envelope was visible over the city wall, lit from within by her keel lights.
“What’ll we do with her?” he asked.
“In the morning we’ll patch and mend as best we can, refloat her, and Kember will take a skeleton crew back to Arle, with Mistral following. The sooner we can get out of here, the less likely it is we’ll be arrested for breaking Mother out of jail.”
“Is Kember ready to command a wounded ship all the way back to Arle?”
He could hear the strange little smile in her voice. “No, but she’ll be closer to ready once she’s done it.”
“That seems backward, somehow.”
“Welcome to the world, Bernie.” She stopped, seeming to sense without being told that he needed to rest his leg. “I really don’t regret it, you know. That I no longer cry over wolf cubs and suchlike.”
“I know,” he said, leaning over to rub the muscles in his calf. “But there is a bit of you that regrets it.” Before she could deny it, he went on. “A little shard of something different, that doesn’t quite fit with the rest, and sometimes it gets into the gears and messes up the works.”
She hesitated before saying, “Maybe.”
He’d been hoping for more, after deploying such a lovely metaphor, but he supposed it would have to do. “You know,” he said, “I’ve been thinking of you and Roland.”
“So have I,” she said.
“And what’s your letter going to say?”
There was no crinkle of paper, and no light to read by in any event, but she spoke her next words as if reciting them off the page. “‘Roland, I am sorry to say I don’t love you. But if you will resolve to not blurt out any more declarations of love meant to sway my heart in spite of myself, or attempt any other silly gambits aimed at my heart, I am open to the possibility that my feelings will change, and I am willing to spend time in your company in the interim.’”
“Well,” he said, trying to find something to compliment, “it’s a good thing that ‘most romantic thing you’ve ever said’ is not a terribly competitive field.”
She snorted in the darkness. “And what have you concluded, about me and Roland?”
“I’ve concluded that I’ve been right all along. You ought to write to him and break it off. Not only for your own sake, but so he’ll be as miserable as he plainly deserves to be.”
The smile was gone from her voice now. “What epiphany led you to believe that this ought to be the edict of my heart?”
He frowned. “Oh, it’s not your heart that I look to for guidance. It’s mine, and it’s the heart of a malevolent bastard, as you so kindly reminded me earlier. So I’m compelled to stand by my original advice.” A pause. “You don’t have to listen to it, of course.”
“That’s very gracious of you.”
After due consideration, Bernat said, “It is, isn’t it?” He looked for Mistral, moored somewhere out there, but her keel lights were out and he couldn’t find a trace of her in the night. “Think you can find your way in the dark?”
“I always have,” she said, as they began the long trip home.
TOR BOOKS BY ROBYN BENNIS
The Guns Above
By Fire Above
About the Author
ROBYN BENNIS works in biotech but dreams of airships. She lives in Mountain View, California, within sight of the historic Hangar One at Moffett Federal Airfield. By Fire Above is the sequel to The Guns Above, her debut novel.
Visit her online at robynbennis.com, or sign up for email updates here.
Twitter: @According2Robyn
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Contents
Title Page
Copyright Notice
The Mistral of the Aerial Signal Corps
The Hurricane Deck of The Mistral
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Tor Books by Robyn Bennis
About the Author
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
BY FIRE ABOVE
Copyright © 2018 by Robyn Bennis
All rights reserved.
Cover art by Tommy Arnold
A Tor Book
Published by Tom Doherty Associates
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New York, NY 10010
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Tor® is a registered trademark of Macmillan Publishing Group, LLC.
The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.
ISBN 978-0-7653-8879-7 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-0-7653-8880-3 (ebook)
eISBN 9780765388803
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First Edition: May 2018