His smile widened and his brown eyes shown with pride, love and respect. “You are a remarkable woman, Eto Chie.”
She shook her head. “Chie Yasu Noriko.”
He chuckled, then nodded. “You are a very remarkable woman, Chie Yasu Noriko.”
Who was she kidding? Not him. “How do I do this?”
He lifted one shoulder and shook his head. “I’m not the one Oki chose. She chose you. So, what do you offer?”
That question certainly didn’t help. She was a guppy, scared of everything.
He quirked his lips and released a breath. “Do you have any idea just how fearless you are?”
“No.” Because she wasn’t.
“When you’re fighting for someone you care about, you care nothing about yourself.”
“I did with Oki, but we had to fight for her. Ino Nami was going to kill her.”
“And she did.”
Chie swallowed the instant pang of hurt.
“Love this city. Love these people. Create the Yasu Noriko. Shape the customs, shape their ways. Guide them.”
“And what happens if I fail them?”
“What happens when you fall down?”
She rolled her eyes.
He squeezed her fingers. “You get back up. Trust me. You will be wonderful.”
She released a breath through a half-smile of her own, and reached up to touch his jaw. “I love you.”
He took her fingers and drew them to his soft lips. “I love you, and I look forward to seeing this new world you shape.”
“We just have to survive today.”
He took her head in his hands and pressed a kiss onto the top of her head. “We will, Chie Yasu Noriko.”
After so many years of hearing a very different name that stated what she was, not who, it was strange to hear this new name.
This name that offered freedom from oppression.
She grasped his wrists, hope flaring painfully in her chest.
He beamed down at her. “We will.”
Aiyanna pushed her shoulders back and raised her chin before spinning the wheel to open the door to Synn’s room.
He turned, raised his eyebrows, then turned back to his reflection.
She narrowed her eyes. He was strapping his belt over a good shirt and the vest his father had given him right before the ice breaking ceremony. It fit him tightly, but— “You’re wearing that into battle?”
He shrugged with one shoulder, his concentration on the buckle. “I don’t see why not.”
“That’s your favorite vest. What if you have to use your Mark?”
He smiled at her through the reflection of the long mirror. “I won’t be able to. My Mark hasn’t risen since I was struck by lightning.”
That worried her. She was confident he knew how to fight without his Mark. He’d only had his Mark for a few months. But he had become dependent on it. Or, maybe, it was less “dependent” and more reliant. His Mark was just so constant.
She wasn’t confident he would make it back.
Her hands yearned to feel his flesh under her palms. She stepped toward him and settled for feeling the warmth through his clothes. Tingles ricocheted up her arms, cascading over her shoulder. They filled her mind with a heady sensation. How had she lived all her years and never felt anything like this?
“I’m relieved, almost.”
She looked at his reflection over his shoulder.
“I am a man, not a Mark.” His smile was genuine, the first real smile she’d seen since she’d met him. It was small, barely there, but real. “Not this day anyway.”
“You were always a man.”
“Not since I received my Mark.” He turned toward her, his blue eyes searching hers.
She took his hand and placed it on her hip. Where had this boldness come from? Her hands moved without command, sought him without her approval. But she wasn’t stopping herself either.
He breathed deeper, his lips parting as something changed in the back of his eyes. “What are you doing, Aiyanna?”
“Living,” she whispered, against his lips before capturing them with her own. They moved as if with a will of their own, coaxing his.
He held back for a moment, then groaned and moved closer.
She pulled away, staring up into his face.
His Adam’s apple bobbed. “Living,” he whispered with a smirk. “Before we head into battle. Are you trying to tell me Tarot has said you will die this day?”
She shook her head, running the tip of her nose along his jaw line, rivulets of energy flowing in swirls down her body. “I’m simply tired of existing.”
He cupped the back of her head and broke contact, a smile lighting his face. “You chose an odd moment to say this.”
She smiled back. “Survive, Synn.”
He frowned at her and tipped his head.
She took in a short breath, licking her lips. “Your Mark isn’t working. The programmer—Bob—said you need to keep Nix close to you. Something about your Marks.”
He ground his teeth and pulled out of her embrace. “You choose odd moments to say things.” He rolled his eyes and shook his head.
“You need Nix close to you.” But she needed him close to her.
He shook his head, his lips tight.
“Please. Synn.” Aiyanna stepped closer to him, her hands open, beseeching. He would need his Mark. The enemy was wounded, but how badly. They were taking the fight to the Ino’s common ground. What would happen? What would they find? Would Ino, Shankara, and the Han be able to regroup? “Survive.”
He met her gaze, his blue eyes scorching.
She hoped he saw in her what he was searching for.
He closed his eyes and turned, throwing up one hand. He spun the wheel to the door, then slammed it shut behind him.
Aiyanna’s heart raced. Had he said yes, or no?
And did she pray to Tarot they would win?
Or did she take the powers in her own hands and make it so?
YVETTE GRABBED HOLD OF THE dock of the Layal, bobbing slightly in the water.
I reached down, taking her arm and helped her out of the water.
Her long, wet hair clung to her naked form. The heads of several of her men surfaced in the oddly calm waters below the docks. Offering her a robe, I frowned. “What did you discover?”
She cleared her throat, coughing a mouthful of water onto the planks. Straightening, she wiped her mouth. “The waters are polluted. It hurts to breathe down there.”
“Maybe we should keep you out of there, then.”
She shrugged with one shoulder. “We hit Shankara harder than we thought. And Rose took out most of their planes. We saw two planes, both badly damaged. Most of their cannons are gone. There are three floors entirely missing.”
I pursed my lips and released a breath of surprise.
“These waters are going to kill their lethara, but I don’t think they even care.” Yvette focused her violet gaze out the dock doors behind me. “They’re abandoning him.”
My heart twinged. A great deal of love and respect went with a lethara, particularly one so large.
Also, though, if he really were dying, he would be a prize worth capturing. So many of the things we took for granted were scavenged from older lethara. I bit my lip, kicking myself for even thinking it.
One of our messenger girls stared dazedly up at Yvette.
I smiled. “Hana.”
The girl jerked her gaze to me.
“Tell Keeley I have a mission for her.”
Hana nodded, then raced off, her dark braid flopping along her back as she ran.
Yvette smirked at me, then flinched.
I diverted my attention away. Yvette hadn’t had a chance to reconnect with Keeley yet, so she didn’t know that Keeley and I were no longer entertaining the idea of courtship.
Well, maybe after all of this, they would have the time. At least, I hoped so. For both their sakes. “What about the Han? Where is he?”
“On land. H
e’s upset. Most of his land units are either gone or destroyed.”
“How many men?”
“Not a lot.”
According to Neira and Skah’s reports from the southern tip, Shankara had been responsible for decimating most of the Han’s land forces. That they’d also destroyed the Vash army at the same time didn’t make it any more tasteful. If I were the Han, I would be plenty upset.
“There is fighting,” Yvette continued. “Shankara is moving to the land. Ino is taking no refugees. Han is decimating Shankara.”
It didn’t sound as if there’d be much of a fight. “Does it look like a feint?”
“Like something your mother would do?”
I nodded.
She shook her head.
“Sabine. Do you know where she is?”
“I couldn’t locate her.” Yvette shrugged. “I hope she is elsewhere.”
“And if she isn’t?”
Yvette narrowed her violet gaze. “Then she is not and will be dealt with as those she chose alliance with.”
Good answer.
Du’a settled in the rafters. I know a way to defeat the Han easily, making the islands inhospitable for them.
“What will you need?”
Rose.
I nodded. “Can you link with her?”
Du’a cocked her slim head to the side, then straightened again, ruffling her feathers with a smoky belch. Yes.
I couldn’t understand how that was possible. Maybe it had something to do with Bob’s new program. It was my best guess, but Du’a didn’t know either, which scared her.
“Fine. Do what you have to. I want to ensure the Great Families don’t have enough numbers to regroup.”
“Do to them what they did to—” Yvette winced and tightened the red robe around her. “—what they did to you?”
“You know what it feels like, Yvie.” It was hard for me to remember that she’d only just rediscovered her family. “You thought the Hands had destroyed your Family as well.”
She nodded and looked away. “But I got mine back.”
“Maybe.”
She met my gaze, then looked away, her lips flat. “Maybe not.”
I glanced at my flight suit, wishing for the first time since I’d gained my Mark that I could have it back. It would be so much easier to fly into Ino City unseen.
But I didn’t have it. Chie was going to be our best bet in getting to the vault as she was the only one who knew its location.
We had our plan. It was time to attack.
Du’a’s words came back to me. Making the place inhospitable for the Great Families.
The Skyborne.
What would they do if they lost the Great Families? Would they choose this moment to destroy our world?
I needed to talk to Bob.
I strode down the hall to the holding cell we had Iszak Tokarz housed in.
He was bound to the wall with enough space to move about. He raised his head, the one empty eye-socket demanding my attention more than his cold blue gaze. “What do you want?”
“I need to speak to Bob.”
Tokarz snort. “As if I can just—” His head snapped up and his expression grew alert. “It’s about damned time. I can’t reach you.”
I didn’t know how to react to that. “We’ve been a little busy.”
“We need your nanites to work faster. But whatever. Okay? What are you doing?”
I wasn’t entirely for sure I could trust this person, this star person. However, he was trying to save our world. “We’re attacking the Great Families.”
“You already practically destroyed them. What else are you going to do?”
“Ensure they can’t regroup.”
“Oh.” Bob paused, his expression deep in thought. Then, his good eye widened and he straightened. “Oh.”
“Right.” It was nice to see him thinking along the same thoughts. Or, at least, I hoped we were thinking along the same path. “What are your people going to do when the Great Families can’t get them what they need?”
“Well, you’re a little in luck there.” Bob leaned his elbow on his knee. “There was a, uh, problem with his latest shipment. So, he doesn’t have what he needs to destroy your world.”
“So, I’m not upping the time table.”
“No, but you will piss him off.”
“He’s trying to destroy my world.” I flexed my hand. “I think I’m all right with pissing him off.”
“Good. Yeah. That’s the spirit. You’re getting the nanites, right?”
I nodded. “I have a team getting them as we speak.”
“Oh, good. That will definitely piss him off. You really destroyed all the land destroyers at the mine?”
“Mine? Oh. Right. Pleron City.”
“Yes. That place, you know, with all the metal.”
His word choices were so loose, they were a little hard to understand. They lacked structure. “Yes. We did.”
“Great. Yeah. Great. Huh.” He scratched Tokarz’s black hair. “Okay, well, uh, is there anything you need help with?”
“Um, if you could help my team not get caught while they’re in Ino City?”
“Oh.” Bob’s expression brightened. “Oh! Yes. A hack. You need me to hack into some nanites feeds and keep them from blowing your cover. Who’d you send?”
“Chie.”
“Hmm, well, I don’t have her code and, if she’s on her way already, she’ll be very difficult to hack.”
I didn’t understand what he was saying.
“You need to go with them. I’ll use your code and amplify it to hack into anyone else around them.”
None of that made sense, but, if I hurried, I could probably catch up to them. It was better than standing around in the control dome, watching and listening. “Okay.”
“And, Synn?”
I turned at the door. “What?”
“Don’t die. They’re going to need you. This is only one battle. Don’t lose the war by being stupid.”
I thumped the door on my way out. Words to live by.
When Synn had issued her the order to harvest Shankara’s dying lethara, Keeley had thought he’d been out of his mind. He’d assigned her to the protection of Haji’s dragoons. They flew with mechanical wings, that they weren’t using at the moment, and they were all female.
All ridiculously strong, very-competent-with-weapons females. Keeley felt safer and jealous at the same time.
Wynne ran lithely down the broken fragments of Shankara’s docks, her dark hair fluttering in the dank wind.
Ife lifted Keeley by the armpits with her almost masculine arms, and helped her over the gigantic hole that had opened been ripped out of the dock.
Keeley needed to pay more attention to the world around her.
The dank, dark world around her.
The lethara moaned, twisting in agony.
Keeley stared at the tentacle they passed. It was in the water, but a growing darkness trailed upward like a shadow of death.
If you can’t save him, bring him to safer waters so we can harvest him.
Those words had sounded so callous before. But now, seeing the poor creature in agony, she understood. To let this lethara die might be an act of mercy.
Tale, the tallest of the dragoons, shouted a warning, her voice bright and crisp in the dank air.
Wynne stopped, gesturing to Keeley.
Whatever that gesture meant. She didn’t read sign.
Ife lifted Keeley higher, through a hole in the platform above them.
Keeley pulled herself up, struggling to do so.
Ife pulled herself up with almost no effort.
Braggart.
Even though she wasn’t bragging. She was just…breathing.
Ife’s dark eyes scoped out the abandoned area. “Where do you need to be, Keel?”
Her mind raced. Synn had really thought she was the best person to do this? “Uh.” Yes. She was the best person for this. She might not be able to dead
lift her body weight, or run fast, or cut people down with a sword, but she was able to something no one else here could. She could talk to the lethara and help him heal at least enough to get out of these waters. She scrambled to her feet and hop-ran to the nearest tentacle. “Here.”
Pain swarmed over her as soon as her fingers touched the slimy limb. She closed her eyes, her back arching. She fought to breathe as the lethara fought to find fresh air, clean water.
Keeley let her head fall backwards.
Something held her.
Ife.
This way, Keeley beckoned with her heart, her mind, and her soul. This way.
The world shifted. The lethara moved under Keeley’s direction. Her Mark lifted in golden whips of light, caressing the lethara and offering it as much healing power as she could manage.
Keeley prayed they’d find safer water soon. She didn’t know how much more of this pain she could withstand.
In Yasu Noriko, Chie, Hitoshi, Kenta, and I stood on the letharan docks. We said nothing as we watched the sea race by, the poisoned spray kicking up at us. One of the falcons flew ahead, calling to the lethara, finding the safest path.
The tentacles of the lethara worked steadily, stacking several of the platforms atop one another on the far side, freeing more of its arms. I frowned, uncertain as to what it was doing.
The skies darkened the closer we got to the uncharted area of our world. A tall wall of forbidding rain and clouds rose like a wraith behind bulbous mountains that appeared like nothing more than melted rock. Nothing lived on those islands. What could live there?
We do, Du’a’s soft voice said in my head. If you had celebrated your spring rites, you would have been brought here to find your falcon. This is where we live.
No wonder the falcons were such worthy foes in battle. Their birth place was formidable.
Yasu Noriko picked up speed, rushing faster. The wind clutched at my breath. I dipped my head, narrowing my eyes into the onslaught.
Chie gasped and turned her face away.
Kenta followed my lead.
Hitoshi shielded Chie.
Ino’s lethara was revealed around the bend of a molten bay. It rose from the waters, the veins pulsing black and blue. He didn’t look healthy, didn’t look happy.
The curtain was down. No human activity could be seen in the city at all. No weapons. No cannons.
Whispers of the Skyborne (Devices of War Book 3) Page 35