Fiery Edge of Steel (A NOON ONYX NOVEL)

by Archer, Jill

  As before when Karanos Onyx entered the Black Onion, the din stopped and all eyes turned toward him. But then he cleared his throat and everyone got back to the business of eating and talking. My parents walked over to where Alba and I were standing.

  “You’ve been digging in my garden, Nouiomo,” Aurelia said.

  Alba narrowed her eyes at me. Who would want to be caught stealing vegetables from the executive’s wife’s garden?

  But then my mother said to Alba, “Next time you need something, let me know. I can’t promise you anything fresh, but black onions shouldn’t be a problem. In fact, I think I saw some black garlic and black shallots out there last week . . .” Alba couldn’t get my mother into the corner fast enough to discuss the terms of their future partnership. Which left me standing alone for a moment with Karanos, who spared no time, per his usual, on idle chitchat.

  “Did Aristos really disappear in the Shallows, Nouiomo?”

  I looked into his eerie, unreflective eyes.

  Did he know about Ari? If he didn’t, did I trust him enough to tell him the truth? How much trouble would Ari be in if the Council found out that he’d been a drakon training to be a Maegester? Karanos was my father and the executive . . . But something made me hesitate (natural caution? misplaced loyalty?) and I merely said, “I haven’t seen him since then. What other explanation could there be?”

  We stared at each other. “And the alembic?” Karanos asked. “Rochester said you never used the waerwater. That you lost it at the Elbow . . .”

  The best lies were the truth in disguise . . .

  “That’s right,” I said, chin up, gaze steady. To my utter shock, Karanos laughed then. It was little more than a cough, really, that happened coincidentally while he was smirking. But that’s what it was.

  “Well then,” he said, nodding, “looks like you’re ready for a new assignment.”

  Afterward, Rafe walked me back to Megiddo. On the way, he sang me the silliest song. It was about a cat who was sitting on a roof when he discovers that his true love has been unfaithful to him. In his madness, after having discovered her betrayal, he falls off the roof and breaks his solar plexus—

  “What the heck is a solar plexus?”

  “The pit of your stomach,” Rafe said. “Ever had the wind knocked out of you?”

  Many, many times . . . In fact, after this most recent time, I was still trying to catch my breath. Rafe nodded. “Then you’ve been hit in the solar plexus. Anyway, this cat, he broke his solar plexus and died.”

  “Died? From getting the wind knocked out of him?”

  Rafe shrugged. “Cats,” he said, like that explained everything.

  “Is that the end of his story?” I asked.

  Rafe shook his head. “He came back to life.”

  “No one comes back to life in Halja, Rafe.”

  “Some people don’t,” he said sadly. “But you will, Noon.” And then he put his hands in his pockets and started whistling, like he didn’t have a care in the world.

  I followed his lead. Two could play at that game.