The Rising Gold

by Ava Jae

  “Let’s end this,” I say. “There’s been way too much death. Come to Asheron so we can negotiate and finally move forward.”

  Rani laughs. “Come to Asheron? Do you think I’m dense? You’ll arrest me the moment I enter the capital. Come on, Eros, surely you didn’t think I’d fall for that.”

  I resist the urge to roll my eyes. “There’s nothing to fall for, but if you’d prefer, we can meet at a neutral location instead. The important part is that we meet and talk this out. There’s no reason for more people to get hurt.”

  Rani’s eyes narrow, but she’s not immediately saying no, at least. “You say that as if I’ve enjoyed hurting people.”

  “I don’t care what your motivation was or whether or not you enjoyed it—the fact is, people have died, and I want it to stop. It’s in everyone’s best interest for this to be over.”

  “I don’t know about that—”

  “Let’s meet and negotiate. Your end goal is to get representation for humans, so let’s meet and talk about that.”

  Rani stands in stony silence for a long, uncomfortable mo. After what feels like an impossibly long stare down, she finally nods. “Okay, we’ll meet. There’s a town called Jel-Ta on the Eljan-Onan border. I can meet you just outside the town borders there in two sets, mid-set.”

  I glance at Deimos. He nods, so I turn back to the orb guide. “Deal.”

  “Good. Oh, and Eros?” She steps closer and tilts her head. “Try anything, my son, and I will destroy you.”

  She’s smiling when the feed shuts off.

  And I’m not sure if this is the best idea I’ve had since becoming Sira, or if it’s the decision that’s going to get me killed.

  50

  Kora

  I give Eros the better part of the set to respond to the situation in Asheron before acting on the start of an idea. An idea skirting around the edges of the Remnant, who we know are stationed in Enjos, and Eros and I handling this situation together. Because Uljen is right—I’ve tied my fate to Eros’s, and whatever he decides, I need to aid him however I can. It’s in my best interest for him to succeed, and that means ending this disaster with the Remnant as soon as possible.

  And because despite how things ended between us, Eros is still my friend. And after fighting for his current position for so long, I want him to do well.

  So as the suns begin to set and the moons awaken in the evening sky, I sit against the wall in my bedroom, balance a glass in the air in front of me, and try to open a line with Eros. Animated sound waves jump across the screen as I wait, tap my fingers against my knee, and touch my earring. This may very well be a waste of time—I likely should have checked with Eros or Deimos to see if he’d have time to talk tonight before attempting to call. I certainly have no guarantee they even have their glasses anywhere near them.

  Maybe this is a bad idea. Maybe Eros not answering is a sign. Maybe—

  “How do I get this to start?” Eros’s face appears on the glass as he looks over to his side, where Deimos is undoubtedly sitting.

  “It’s going,” Deimos’s voice says. “You’re connected. Ej, Kora.”

  I wave with a small smile. “Good to see you both.”

  “Oh.” Eros looks at the glass and laughs slightly. “There you are. Sorry, I’m still getting used to this tech … though I guess I don’t really have much excuse anymore seeing how long it’s been, huh?”

  “It’s not a problem. I’m glad to see the two of you uninjured.”

  “Everyone keeps saying that,” Deimos says. “But our scraped and bruised backs tell quite another story.”

  Eros rolls his eyes. “We’re fine.”

  “We’ll see how fine you feel when you try to lay down tonight.”

  “I really hope you’re not making innuendos in front of Kora.”

  “I’ll make all the innuendos I please in front of whoever I’d like.”

  I smirk. “I’m going to have to agree with Eros’s assessment, Deimos—you’re clearly not seriously harmed.”

  “So are you just calling to say hi?” Eros says. “I’m guessing not but that’d be fine too …”

  “Ah, naï, sorry.” I force a small smile. “Though I probably should—I just keep imagining you’re likely overwhelmed with your work and don’t want any unnecessary interruptions.”

  Eros lifts a shoulder. “I mean, I am but I wouldn’t mind anyway.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind.” I run a hand through my hair and tug a couple strands out of my loosening hair tie. If Eros is going to bring Dima up, and how my brother is now sentenced under Invino law—all of which he must surely know—now would be the time, in this pause. This quiet. And I’m prepared for the reprimand, or a comment about how he’s not surprised I allowed Dima to walk away with his life, or something, but nothing comes.

  Instead, he looks at me, allowing me to lead. And I’m not sure why he’s letting this go when I defied him, when Eros rightfully despises my brother, but Kala knows I’m so grateful he is.

  So I say, “Well firstly, you may or may not have heard I manipulated Invino into agreeing not to secede, so you’re welcome.”

  Eros blinks and Deimos grins. “That was you?”

  I’ll admit I sound a bit smug when I answer, “It was.”

  “Wow. Well, thanks,” Eros says. “How did you manage that?”

  I hesitate. Would bringing up Dima break our unspoken agreement to let things pass? I suppose it’s a risk I’ll have to take. He asked. “It … was part of the terms I set when they wanted to keep Dima and Jarek.”

  Eros snorts. “You set terms to them doing exactly what you wanted?”

  I smile, but only for a moment. “Sha, well, the true reason I’m calling is about the Remnant.”

  Eros’s face darkens. “We’re getting that handled.”

  “I’m sure, and I’m not calling to question whatever strategy you’ve decided to take. I just have a … secondary suggestion.”

  Eros frowns. “Secondary suggestion?”

  I nod. “In case your initial plan doesn’t work as well as you might hope.”

  “A backup plan. Right, okay.”

  “Sure.” I hesitate. “Do you mind me asking what your plan is first?”

  Deimos leans over so his face appears on the screen. “He wants to meet with their leader to negotiate.” He widens his eyes and arches his eyebrows, pretty effectively indicating what he thinks about that plan. Eros narrows his eyes at him, but he doesn’t dispute Deimos’s claim. Or how he said it.

  “Okay …” I say slowly. Negotiate sounds … well. It sounds like Eros. “That’s fine. So I’m sure you obviously remember you’ve been to the Remnant base in Enjos.”

  “Obviously.”

  “Well, as the base is in Elja, if necessary, I was thinking maybe I could help you infiltrate. I certainly remember how to get there, and I would go myself. With some technological help on your end, I’m sure we could get in and out without being seen.”

  Eros frowns. “And do … what, exactly?”

  I shrug. “That’s up to you. But I imagine you don’t want to have to send a military unit over here, so I’m offering whatever you need. We have much easier access to the Remnant than you do.”

  “I think that’s a great idea,” Deimos says quickly. “As a—a backup plan, did you call it? But it’d certainly be preferable to you than sending Kantos and a unit of his men, shae?”

  Eros hesitates. “It would …”

  “And it’d only be if your plan doesn’t work first,” I say. “So you have a plan no matter what happens.”

  Eros bites his lip, then, slowly, nods. “Okay. But don’t do anything unless I contact you.”

  I smile. “Of course not, el Sira.”

  Eros groans. “Don’t call me that.”

  I laugh, and for a moment, even with hundreds of leagues between us, it’s almost the way things were before we complicated everything with that kiss.

  Almost.

  “I need to
talk to you.”

  Lira catches me in the hall, on the way to discussing the conversation I just had with Eros with the Council. I frown at her. “Can it wait? The Council is waiting for me.”

  “It’s—really important,” she says haltingly, glancing down the hall. “It’d be better if we spoke before you addressed the Council.”

  I haven’t the faintest idea what this is about, but Lira seems … fidgety. She’s humming with anxious energy, and now that she’s approached me, I likely wouldn’t be able to fully focus at the Council meeting anyway because I’d be wondering what this is about. So I nod to a nearby room and we step inside and wait for the doors to close behind us.

  The room is small, with pillows and seats and glasses on the wall. A relaxation room, I suppose. It’s also empty, which is the most important part.

  I turn to Lira. “Go on, then. What is it?”

  Lira takes a deep, shivering breath. “First … let me finish before you react, please. You’re—you’re going to be angry, and that’s fine, but let me finish first.”

  I arch an eyebrow. “You haven’t even begun and it’s already sounding less than promising.”

  “I know. I’m sorry. Please.”

  I nod. “Okay. I’ll refrain from … reacting.”

  “Thank you.” Lira takes another deep breath, rubs her palms on her skirts, then winces a little. “I … I work for the Remnant.”

  My eyes widen. She—what? Oh, Kala. And she heard my meeting with Eros—where are my guards?

  “I always have—I was born in the base and sent here as a … an informant, and to help direct other servants to them. But since I’ve started working with you, the information I’ve given them has been superficial, I swear. You’ve … you’ve been different, Kora, and I don’t want to sabotage you in any way.”

  I can barely believe this. My heart is thrumming and my blood is buzzing and have I really fallen for this again? Another betrayal? Is my judge of character truly that incredibly poor?

  Kala alejha, that night she caught me allowing my brother to escape she was probably coming back from meeting with those kafran rebels.

  “You’re a spy?” My voice comes out louder—angrier—than I intended, but then again, why am I attempting to temper my voice? Is she here to kill me? Did she aid the assassins into entering the palace all those nights ago?

  “I know it sounds bad—”

  “Sounds bad? Lira, this doesn’t just sound bad—you’ve been working against me this entire time! How long have you been on staff here?”

  Lira winces. “A few cycles.”

  “So you were working for them when they tried to kill me.” I grip my hair. This is unbelievable. I literally can’t trust anyone. Is Uljen working against me too? Does anyone truly support me? I turn to her again, my face burning and neck prickling. “Did you help the assassin get into the palace?”

  Lira bites her lip, but the guilt in her eyes says it all. I shake my head and Lira steps toward me. “You were—you were different then, Kora, you must know that. You were benefitting from the enslavement of people and it didn’t seem likely at the time you’d do anything about it. I’m glad the assassin failed, I am, but you must see I was doing what was best for my people.”

  The truth is, Lira is right. At the time, I hadn’t given a second thought to the way I was profiting off of people’s lives. I may not have established the system and I may not have particularly liked it, but I was silent. I was complicit. And if I’m being true, I’m not sure I ever would have made a move to end the practice if I hadn’t met Eros, hadn’t lost my position, hadn’t been forced to see what life was like when you’ve lost the things you once took for granted.

  I can’t erase the way I overlooked other people’s pain. The way I actively participated in it and spread it to others. Nothing can change or excuse that.

  But Lira has been working for the redblood rebels all this time. How am I supposed to trust her now?

  “Why are you telling me this?” I finally ask. “Why come to me and admit you work for them, unprompted?”

  “Because I want to help you.” Lira takes a deep breath and pulls her shoulders back. “I know how to get into the base in Enjos without prompting any alarms. I can disguise you as a freed human servant and bring you to them like I’ve done with others. Then you can get in and … do whatever you have to.”

  I narrow my eyes. “Why would you help me sabotage the cause you’ve apparently been a part of your entire life?”

  “Because you’re not the only one who’s changed.” Lira sighs and threads her fingers through her hair. “Of course I’m a proponent of human rights and representation but … I think what they’re doing in Asheron is wrong. Eros is our best chance at real, lasting change. Trying to force him to overthrow the governmental system entirely?” Lira shakes her head. “I trust Eros to help us but he needs a chance to do it first. And it’s not going to happen as long as the Remnant makes themselves an enemy.”

  “Or,” I say, “you’re luring me to the Remnant base where they can kill me once and for all. Or attempt to use me as some kind of leverage over Eros.”

  “I swear to you, that’s not what this is.”

  “But how can I trust you?” The words explode out of me, a little louder than I intended. “You’ve been lying to me this whole time, Lira! You’ve been spying on me and relaying my secrets to my enemy, so how can you ever expect me to trust you again?”

  Lira looks me in the eye and her voice is steady when she says, “Because I told you. I’ve admitted the truth to you, and I didn’t have to do that. I didn’t have to say anything to you—you certainly hadn’t suspected me of anything. And I definitely didn’t have to offer to help you infiltrate their base. I could have continued in silence without consequence, but instead I’m here, risking my neck admitting to a crime that I know you could have me executed for.” She pauses. “But I’m trusting you with my life, just as I’m asking you to trust me in return. Besides, if I wanted to kill you, I wouldn’t have warned you by telling you I work for the Remnant, first. And it’s not like I haven’t had plenty of opportunities that I allowed to pass me by—because I don’t want to hurt you, Kora. I want to see you succeed as badly as I do Eros.”

  It’s a convincing argument and I want more than anything to believe her. I want to believe I can trust her. I can overlook her past betrayal just as she’s moved on from my past, terrible decisions. I want it to be easy to silence every whisper insisting she can’t be trusted.

  And the more I think about it, the more I know I don’t have a choice. The truth is I don’t have a good way to get into the Remnant base without raising alarms. And I don’t want to send anyone else—who could I trust with such an important task? No one. I can only trust myself.

  What Lira is suggesting is exactly the kind of quiet sabotage we might need—the kind we might actually get away with. I have to trust her—not completely, but enough to go with her—if I’m going to get this done.

  “Fine,” I say at last. “But if you try anything, I swear to Kala, Lira—”

  “I won’t,” Lira says quickly. “I swear to you, Kora, I’m on your side. I want Eros and you to succeed. I want us to work together, humans and Sepharon, worldwide. And I think trusting Eros is the best way to get there.”

  “So be it,” I say, but even as Lira sighs a breath of relief and wraps me in a hug, I can’t help but wonder if I’m going to live to regret this.

  PART IV

  51

  Kora

  It took the better part of a segment for Lira to mix the face paint to the perfect shade of brown to match my skin. She bit her lip as she worked, furrowing her brow and muttering under her breath as she added in darker browns, then lighter, then darker, then lighter, holding up the small tub of paint to my face before shaking her head and going back to work.

  I tap my fingers idly against my leg. I imagine Eros is likely as anxious about his meeting as I am about doing this. When I mentioned to hi
m I’d found someone who could get me into the Remnant base undetected, he didn’t ask, which is just as well. He’d likely think this was a bad idea.

  “Okay, it’s ready.” Lira dips her fingers into the paint. “Just sit still and close your eyes.”

  I do as instructed, my heart pounding as her soft fingers slip over my skin. After two sets of planning and fretting, we’re mere segments away from moonrise, from the time we’ll go out into the desert, just the two of us, and walk into the Remnant base. Right through the front door. Or their equivalent of a front door, anyway.

  But first we need to cover up my markings, and that means the paint. I sit in just a chest wrap and skirt as Lira’s paint-cooled fingers slide over my cheeks, my nose, my forehead and eyelids and temples and jaw. She moves down my neck with both of her hands now, then over my collarbones, my shoulders, tucking her fingers just under my wrap so the paint covers all exposed skin.

  I shiver. “Won’t this dry and crack?”

  Lira shakes her head as she works her way down my right arm. “Naï, it’s mixed with the same substance you used to paint the servants white. When it dries it becomes powdery and soft—and it’s waterproof and will likely take a couple washes to come off.”

  “You seem to be very knowledgable about this.”

  She hesitates and glances at me with a weak smile. “We … used it to cover our tattoos and paint markings on ourselves. So we could go into the city, you know? It worked well enough.”

  “Ah.” I pause. “Well. I suppose it’s a good thing you know how.”

  “Tonight it certainly is, sha.” She pauses and glances at my scarred arm. “I’m going to cover this arm now, okay?”

  It was nice of her to ask. Though I suppose that means she’s noticed I don’t especially like having my scars touched. I nod and she continues spreading the smooth liquid over my skin, erasing the pink, the gnarled, melted markings of my injured arm.

  “I used to think Kala’s mark looked so odd on the Sepharon,” Lira says. “But looking at them up close … they’re actually quite beautiful. Sometimes, anyway.”