Broken Moon Series Digital Box Set

by F. T. Lukens

  “You cannot trust the Phoenix Corps.” She stepped forward and grasped Ren’s wrist. “I know you want to, but you cannot trust him.”

  “Why?”

  “Because he does not have your best interests at heart.”

  Ren pulled his hand away. “And you do? I’m supposed to believe you?”

  “You don’t know everything that has happened.”

  “Then tell me,” Ren shot back. “Stop being cryptic and stop thinking I’m too young or I can’t handle it, because I can. I’ve been kidnapped, tortured, threatened, and I’ve been possessed by a ship which has slowly driven me insane. I think I deserve a reason.”

  “You do. I’m sorry for everything that has happened. It wasn’t my intention for you to ever have to be involved with all of this.” She cast a glance around them. “When the technopaths were destroyed after they rose against the drifters, the other star hosts fled to the planets. Our ancestors dispersed, hid themselves, and destroyed any record of their existence. They disappeared among the dusters and passed down their history and knowledge through stories.”

  “They became myths like the ones you used to tell me and Liam.”

  She nodded. “Yes. It was their way of hiding while The Phoenix Corps hunted them.”

  Ren furrowed his brow. “The Phoenix Corps hates coming planetside. They don’t want to meddle in our affairs. That’s how Vos managed to get away with what he was doing for so long.”

  His mother shook her head. “Vos knew the truth to the legends. He knew that there were star hosts on this planet and on others. He knew that they would be the key to his plans. But with his rash actions, and, I wager, due to your own experiences with the Corps, the birdmen are back and searching.”

  Ren swallowed. “Vos’s soldiers told Jakob they destroyed the village looking for me. Is that true?” Ren asked, voice low. “Who killed Sorcha’s family?”

  “Do you really want to know?”

  “Yes.”

  Ren steeled himself for the answer he already knew. Vos had lied before; it wouldn’t have been out of character for him to lie again to ensure allegiance, to crush the recruits’ hopes.

  “Vos’s soldiers did come back looking for more recruits. But that was normal. They came, took what they wanted, and left.”

  “The Corps came later.” Ren’s voice was thick; he choked on the words.

  “A few months after Vos retreated. They had already destroyed some of the other villages in the fiefs, so we were prepared. The Laurels was already set as one of the encampments.”

  Ren’s knees went weak. He grasped one of the trees, felt the bark smooth beneath his palm, and fell heavily against it. The cold was forgotten.

  “They cannot be trusted, Ren. They are here to find others like you, like us, and destroy us before we can destroy them.”

  Ren rubbed a hand over his chest. “But the scrap of cloth you keep, the insignia. My father.”

  “That is how I know you cannot trust your friend. I loved your father. I trusted him. But he was Corps and here for a reason. When he tried to betray me, your stepfather intervened.”

  Ren shifted. His feet burned from the cold. His arms were numb. His thoughts were in turmoil. He looked at his stepfather. “Did you kill him?” His throat worked, and he glared, looking for anything in his expression that might tell him the truth. “Did you kill him?” Ren said again, voice hard, incensed.

  “Ren! Ren! Where are you?”

  Worried and sharp, Asher’s voice pierced through the trees.

  “What other encampments? There are others? Where?”

  His stepfather spoke. “I’ll not allow you to lead him to the others. It’s bad enough he knows of us.”

  “Are you going to kill him, too?” Ren snapped.

  His stepfather bristled, but Ren ignored him. He turned back to his mother. “I’m leaving in the morning. I won’t ever be back. I’m going to find Liam. I’m going to find a place to belong.”

  “You can stay with us, love. You can always stay.”

  “No.”

  Jakob’s voice joined Asher’s, calling out for Ren.

  “When I was in that cell and scared and wondering what was going on with me, I wished, I wished so much that I could be home, that I could see you again, that you could at least know what happened to me. Even though I never fit in here, even though I dreamed of leaving, I thought if I could get home, everything would be okay. But this whole time, all you’ve done is lie to me and manipulate me. You’re just like Vos. You’re just like the Corps.”

  “We’re nothing like them. We love you and we only have your best interests at heart. We want you to be safe.”

  Ren laughed, the sound hollow. “That’s what I thought I wanted, too. But being safe here is just another prison. I’d rather take my chances out there. At least I’ll be free.”

  “You can be free here.” Her voice took on a pleading edge.

  “No. I can’t. I’ve done so much, seen so much, met so many people who do care for me. I can’t imagine staying here.”

  Tears spilled down his mother’s cheeks, and she didn’t wipe them away. They glistened in the candlelight. When she reached for him, he didn’t move, didn’t flinch. He allowed the hug, allowed her to clutch her hands in the back of his shirt and rest her forehead on his shoulder. He allowed it, but he didn’t hug her back. He stood unmoving as stone and waited for her to say goodbye. When she let go, Ren gave her a nod. He left the small clearing, passed his stepfather without saying a word, and stepped back into the hot box.

  Asher’s voice echoed in the enclosed area. Chest tight, body taut, Ren was a powder keg, but he clamped down on the emotions threatening to overwhelm him. He bit his lip and followed Asher’s frenzied voice. He was unable to call back lest the sobs building in his throat let loose.

  “There you are!” Asher said, striding toward him, wrapping him in an embrace. “Stars, you’re freezing.” Asher rubbed Ren’s arms; his palms swept over the chilled skin. “Where have you been? You left and never came back. Jakob and I have been looking all over for you.”

  Ren pitched forward, planted his face in Asher’s chest, and shook. The terror at being taken again mixed with the crushing truths from his parents overwhelmed him.

  “Hey, hey, you’re okay.” Asher pulled Ren close. “What happened? Was it a dream? Sleepwalking?”

  Ren stilled. Pressed close to Asher’s body, it would be easy to give into the urge to tell him everything, to spill the truth about what his parents had said about the Corps and the star hosts, and the history his life was mired in. But his mother’s words lingered in the back of his mind, and Ren remembered how Asher had sided with VanMeerten so many times since the debacle on the drift. Asher was Phoenix Corps, through and through. His allegiance was split, torn between Ren and his duty as a soldier. And how much did he know? Was Asher aware that the first mission of the Corps was to hunt down the scattered remnants of the star hosts? Or did he only know what he had been told, like the rest of them?

  Ren heaved a breath, pulled himself together, and stepped away. He wiped at his eyes.

  “I had another talk with my mother,” he said.

  Asher raised an eyebrow. “Oh?”

  “Yeah. It didn’t go well.”

  “What did she say?”

  “Goodbye.”

  Asher’s expression shifted from disdainful caution to sympathy, and the corners of his mouth turned down. “I’m sorry.”

  Ren waved him off. “It’s fine.”

  “It’s really not.”

  Ren scrubbed at his face. He yawned and his jaw cracked. “I should try to get some sleep. It’s still early.”

  “Good idea. I’ll let Jakob know you’re okay.”

  “Thanks.”

  Ren shuffled away, but Asher’s voice stopped him. “And Ren? It’ll be okay
. We’ll help your village, and then we’ll go back to the ship. We’ll figure it out.”

  Ren’s stomach roiled: back to the ship, back to being a different kind of prisoner. “Okay.”

  Asher smiled.

  Ren forced a grin, and went to his cot.

  He tossed and turned until the sky lightened with the dawn.

  %

  “We’re going in that?” Jakob pointed to a beat-up floater half-hidden under a pile of leaves and bracken. The hover transport was rusted in some places and dented in others, and the vehicle’s cab sported cracked glass. “We’ll die.”

  Wrapped in his winter clothes, Ren peeked over his collar and eyed the run-down equipment with trepidation. He didn’t think they would die, but they definitely would make a lot of noise. It could garner unwanted attention. They would probably go faster walking.

  Beatrice crossed her arms over her own overstuffed coat. Her wild red hair was captured in a braid. “We’ve used it before, and it worked fine. Or would you rather walk?”

  “Walk. I would really rather walk,” Jakob said.

  “Fine, then. You can walk. And Ezzy and I will take the floater.”

  Asher’s breath was a gust of hot air on Ren’s neck. “Can you fix it?”

  Ren was exhausted. His head was fuzzy, but, as ever, the star burned inside him and easily flooded to his fingertips. He didn’t need to pull off his glove, but he did anyway. The chill in the air nipped at his exposed fingers when he held them out and closed his eyes.

  The floater was junk, battered and old. However, Beatrice was correct. It did run.

  “What’s he doing?” she asked. “Is he addled?”

  Ren cracked open an eye and frowned. He stalked forward, brushing past the group, and slapped his palm onto the cold metal of the transport. He let go and poured his power into the circuits and mechanisms. He could fix it. As he raced along the broken wires and repaired them, and as he rerouted power around components that were too damaged to save, Ren was free from mortal concerns. He was happy, unburdened from impending decisions and from his loss, and content to stay there. His star hummed throughout his body and throughout the floater. Once he was finished, he flicked on the power source.

  The floater lifted under his hand and the thrusters engaged, propelling the hunk of metal a few feet off the ground. He reveled in the whir of engines and the thrum of power in his veins. Satisfied, he eased off the power, allowed the floater to settle to the ground, and pulled out of the circuits.

  Beatrice stared at him with wide eyes and an open mouth. Ezzy grinned, her face lit up.

  “What are you?” Beatrice asked.

  “I’m a technopath.”

  “A star host,” she said, awed. “An actual star host.”

  Jakob laughed. He walked past Beatrice with a smug look. “Did you hear that engine purr?”

  She snapped her mouth shut and glared.

  They all squeezed onto the front bench seat. It was a tight fit, but Ezzy was small and half sat on Jakob’s lap. After an argument over who would drive, Beatrice started the floater, and they eased out of its hiding spot in a copse outside the dense crush of the Laurels.

  “Ren fixed it,” Jakob said, leaning over and jostling the rest of them. “You can go faster.”

  Beatrice scowled, but she picked up speed, and soon the floater hurtled over the landscape: Scenery passed in a blur of snow and sky.

  “We’ll have to ditch the floater before we get too close to the walls,” Beatrice said, her voice carrying in the wind. “In case there are birdmen around. Our patrols didn’t report seeing any in the woods last night, but we can’t be too careful.”

  “What would happen if they saw us?” Jakob asked.

  She kept her gaze on the sprawl of the land in front of them, but she lifted her eyebrow.

  “They’ll kill us,” she said.

  Ezzy nodded. Her gloved hands were wrapped tight around the nearby handles. “Or they’ll take us and ask us questions and then kill us.”

  “Surely that’s a rumor,” Asher said. “The Corps has no interest in dusters. They’re probably here looking for Vos.”

  “Vos is gone,” Beatrice replied. “He cleared out with his troops and never returned. Everyone knows that. And the leaders of our village told them so, but that didn’t stop them from burning it to the ground.”

  Ren winced.

  “It was the Corps that destroyed your village?” Asher asked, tone brittle.

  “Yeah, and all the villages around it.” She stared at Ren. “Including yours.”

  “They wouldn’t do that,” Asher said. He turned to Ren. “They wouldn’t do that,” he repeated, though his voice was softer. “Would they?”

  Ren shrugged. “I’m sorry, Asher. But it looks like they did.”

  “What is your problem?” Beatrice asked, staring at Asher. “Are you some kind of birdman sympathizer? Or are you one of those, ‘they are only following orders’ people?” She kept one hand on the steering stick and placed the other on her throat. She fluttered her eyelashes. “They’re good people, honestly.” She talked softly with a strange accent. “It’s not their fault. They have to do what they are told.”

  Ezzy snickered.

  Asher paled. “Stop. Just stop.”

  Beatrice batted her eyelashes again, then dropped her hand and sneered. “What the stars is your problem?”

  “Drop it, Bea,” Jakob said. “You can understand it’s a touchy subject. And we’re all on edge. The three of us were actually held in the citadel, you know. I almost died there. This isn’t a fun jaunt across the countryside for us, whatever it might be for you.”

  Beatrice huffed and rolled her eyes. “Fine. Whatever.”

  Asher looked stricken, with eyebrows drawn together, mouth in a tense line, and eyes shadowed. Ren interlaced their fingers. He gave a comforting squeeze, but Asher didn’t respond. His gaze was far away, unfocused, as the terrain passed beneath them.

  The next few hours were spent in awkward silence as Beatrice drove on, except for Ezzy, who updated Jakob on all the gossip of the encampment, leading Ren to believe Ezzy was the “little bird” who’d spilled their desire to leave. Eventually, Beatrice changed course.

  Ren roused from half-sleep and squinted. The sun shone high above them in the middle of the day and illuminated the snow-laden fields. The citadel rose above them, dark against the gray sky. The stone castle loomed over the landscape. The sheer outer wall was formidable and familiar. Turrets pierced the clouds, and from their tops the Baron’s standards flapped in the wind. Ren shivered, remembering the first time he had seen them almost a year ago.

  Beatrice guided the floater parallel to the front of the castle and to a small gathering of trees. Ren recognized the woods he’d seen Sorcha run for, and he tried not to think about what might have happened to her. Jakob may have hope that he would see her again, but Ren wasn’t so sure.

  Beatrice settled the floater on the tree line. The transport was too big to fit between the bushes and trees. The group climbed out and Ren stretched his arms, glad to walk after the ride. The floater stood out against the snow and the barren trees.

  “We’re just going to leave it?” Jakob asked.

  “Yes.”

  “So someone can come along and steal it?”

  Beatrice ignored the question, grabbed her bag, and slung it over her shoulder. Ezzy did the same. They each took a weapon—Ezzy a prod and Beatrice the stunner—but they left the body armor and helmets behind.

  “No armor?” Ren asked.

  Beatrice’s gaze flicked to Ren. “We don’t need it.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yeah, I’m sure.”

  “I think, maybe, it would be a good idea—”

  “You know, Ezzy and I have been doing this for months,” Beatrice snapped. “We haven’
t been killed, yet. I think we know what we’re doing.”

  Jakob didn’t look pleased. “It’s a wonder how you haven’t been. We’re not only advertising that someone with a floater is here, but we’re leaving it unlocked. And you’re not even worried!”

  “I don’t think I like your tone, Jakob.”

  “Yeah, I don’t think I like that you’ve been endangering my little sister.”

  “I’ve been protecting your sister because you weren’t here to do it.”

  Jakob turned a dangerous shade of red; his muscles tensed. Asher grabbed his arm to keep him from advancing.

  “Can Ren do something to it?” Ezzy asked. “To keep it from starting in case someone comes along?”

  “Yeah. Yeah, I can.” Ren reached for his power and blocked the path from the power source to the ignition. It only took a few seconds, and then Ren retreated. He took a moment to take stock, to indulge in his ritual of counting his heartbeats. His consciousness settled back into his body. “It’s done.”

  “Your eyes glow blue,” Ezzy breathed. “They’re beautiful.” Her cheeks reddened, and her eyes went wide. “Not that they aren’t always beautiful. I mean, I’ve never seen someone do that.”

  Jakob pulled his own pack and weapon from the back, then wrapped his arm around Ezzy’s shoulders. “Get used to it. He does it a lot.”

  “Let’s get going,” Beatrice grumbled. She broke off from the group and trudged through the snow.

  Asher followed her, uncharacteristically silent.

  “How are we going in?” Ren asked.

  “The front door, of course.”

  “Do you think that’s safe?”

  Beatrice threw up her hands. “Your little group really is a bunch of weeds. Can you just let me lead and stop questioning everything? Like I said, Ezzy and I have done this before. We’ll be fine.”

  Ren sighed. There was another way in, the siege door that Asher and he had escaped through, but even if Ren could lower the force field, they didn’t have a key for the iron doors. And if they couldn’t get through, trying would waste more time. He nodded, acquiescing to Beatrice’s experience.