Page 3 of Grounded (Convergence #1)

“You coming to lunch, Chief?” Bray asked.

“I just need to finish my report.” Liria waved him off. “Go ahead without me.”

“The price of gold.” He waved at the golden Chief badge on her uniform.

“I'd rather be in here than out there.”

“No shit.” He shook his head. “I don't envy the scrappers. Today was just more confirmation that I chose the right job.”

Liria chuckled as he walked away. It took only a few more minutes to finish her report of the attack.

As the security chief on duty, it was her job not only to keep the barriers strong but also to keep an eye on everything.

When shit went down, Liria watched and reported what she witnessed.

Yes, she even had to note the new guy's behavior.

Which was annoying because it meant that she had to look up his name.

Thaxvarien Rennux.

What a name. Fucking Aethari.

Liria finished her report and then glanced at Thaxvarien again.

Private Rennux, that is. He was lagging at the back of his team, his expression conveying his distaste.

Sure, he could have been upset with his corporal about the public lecture, but something about his body language spread his distaste toward everything on Para's surface.

That was a man who did not want to be there.

Something fell from his person.

Private Rennux didn't notice. Just kept walking.

Liria panned in. The object glittered. Probably something important.

Well, fuck. Liria was the only one who knew whose property that was.

Kinda made her responsible for returning it.

With a grimace, she got up. Lunch would have to wait a little longer.

After exiting the security office, Liria turned right and headed to the corridor where she'd seen Private Rennux drop his personal item.

On the way there, she decided to turn it in to his corporal.

That way, she wouldn't have to interact with a bad-tempered, beautiful man.

She wasn't in the mood and, going from the vid feed, neither was he.

Let his corporal deal with his crap. If Liria tried, she'd probably end up in a fight with the man when all she was trying to do was return his property.

And there it was—right where she had seen it fall.

Yeah, Liria was kinda hoping someone else had picked it up before she got there.

No luck. Crouching, she inspected it first. You never know.

Aethari may not be able to converge, but they could still buy converged items. And converged items could be dangerous.

This item, however, didn't exude any overtly violent vibrations.

It felt protective. Some kind of amulet on a length of leather cord. Liria picked it up and stood.

It would have been more professional to put it in her pocket without inspecting it further, but no one was around to see her curiosity.

So Liria took a few moments to turn the thing over in her palm.

The sparkle she'd seen in the vid feed was from a faceted blue jewel about the size of her thumbnail.

Instead of a cast setting, it was held within hand-wrapped gold wire that had been twisted into delicate swirls to form a bail.

Lovely. Not at all something she'd expect the Beheader of Nethren to wear.

Probably a gift from his girl. Maybe that was why the guy was so prickly—he missed his winged woman.

Liria tucked the amulet into her pocket and headed for the dining hall.

Everyone ended up there after a fight, even those who weren't on duty.

Word spread of the breach, and then people wanted to hear all the details.

This time, that worked to Liria's favor.

She could hand over the amulet to Corporal Branseri and then enjoy her lunch.

But Branseri wasn't in the dining hall.

After going through the buffet line, Liria took her plate and a mug of cold water to one of the chief tables.

The nicer tables were a privilege for higher-ranking officers and soldiers.

But when her chief friends weren't around, it was more of an annoyance.

Liria would have preferred to sit with her team instead of the current selection of chiefs in the room.

Fucking Rinna. She was probably still in bed after getting drunk in Dubar the night before.

She was going to be so annoyed to learn she had slept through a breach.

Liria chose a table, nodded at the other chiefs seated there, and sat down. They were talking about the attack. Of course. What else would they talk about?

“Hey, Drask,” Jallen leaned around Prean to look at her, his graying black hair like a scrub brush atop his head. “Did you see why that new Aethari went loo-loo?” He waved a finger at his temple.

“Don't you think that's a little unfair?” Liria focused on cutting up her grilled chicken. “He's new. You know how they are.”

“Fucking Aethari,” Prean muttered. “Think they're better than us because they literally live above us.”

“In cities that we built!” Ansar added, eager to get on the anti-Aethari trav. “How the fuck do they get off being elitist when they can't even converge?”

“Oh, but they're pure magic.” Jallen waved his fingers about and then grimaced. “Big fucking woo.”

“They can have those wings.” Liria nodded at Jallen. “I'd rather be able to converge with magic than be magic.”

“No shit.” Prean laughed. “Oh, but they found the Source. That makes them special.”

She snorted. “Their ancestors did, back when they were Medeans. And what did they get for it?”

“Wings.” Jallen rolled his eyes.

“Wings that they bought with their connection to technology.” Liria shook her head. “Seems like more trouble than they're worth. I mean, how do they even get their clothes on?”

Prean laughed. “I heard they have to wear these complicated things that wrap around them.”

“No matter how annoying it is to live with wings, it doesn't give them the right to come down here and act like that.” Jallen motioned in the air with his fork. “I heard that guy was covered in blood when he was done. Like no exaggeration. Covered.”

Liria could have verified that, but she didn't. She was too busy remembering it.

“It's because service is mandatory for them. They don't choose it like we do.” Ansar made a face. “I might be a little bitter about that too, if I were one of them.”

The other chiefs stared at Ansar.

“What?” He shrugged. “Wouldn't you be upset if one of our leaders told us that we had to work here? Choice makes all the difference.”

“It's only for five years,” Jallen said. “That's nothing with our lifespans. And in exchange, we build and maintain their floating cities.”

“You'd think they'd be as concerned as we are about Nethren poisoning the planet.” Liria slid a look at Jallen.

He snorted. “You'd think. But no, they wouldn't care if all of Para was overrun with Nethren. They'd just float on by, ignoring it. If we hadn't made that deal with them to provide those cities in exchange for military assistance, they would have left the defense of Para solely to us.”

“They would have realized their mistake as soon as their cities needed maintenance.” Liria snatched a slice of bread from the basket in the center of the table.

The other chiefs nodded and made sounds of agreement.

“Yeah, all right,” Ansar said. “But they get sent down here at what—25? 27? I can't remember the age of service, but I know it's young. They're kids. Of course, they're going to act out against an elder telling them what to do. And we're the ones who have to deal with their temper tantrums.”

Liria snorted a laugh and leaned back in her chair.

That's when she saw Private Rennux come into the hall.

His face was shiny clean, and he wore a fresh uniform that emphasized all his Aethari muscles.

He did not look like a kid. As he went toward the buffet line, Liria glanced at his back and checked for any sign of wrapping.

Sure enough, she noticed the subtle lines of fabric criss-crossing his lower back. Interesting.

No! No, the way he puts on his clothes was not interesting.

As she slid her stare back toward her fellow chiefs, Liria caught some of the admiring looks sent Rennux's way.

Eye roll. Some women loved brutal men. They got off on seeing the newbies lose their shit.

And then they got off with the newbies. In a dark corner.

Behind the dorms. In the garden out back.

Wherever they could find a little privacy.

And they weren't the only ones who got together with Aethari.

The fortresses were among the few places where Medeans and Aethari mingled.

Sure, there were clubs in the Medean cities that catered to those with a taste for feathers.

But they were the sort of establishment you didn't go to alone, and you certainly didn't go for a relationship.

Whereas at a pit, with everyone working together against a common enemy, relationships between the races were common.

Of course, at most, they lasted only until one of the partners left the fortress.

Liria didn't care about Medeans and Aethari having sex.

If a relationship developed, hey, good for them.

What she didn't appreciate was the reputation it gave the fortresses and, specifically, Medean women.

A lot of Medeans—both men and women—signed up to work in a fortress just to meet Aethari.

And the Aethari quickly caught on. They arrived expecting to get some Medean action.

Liria had lost count of the number of Aethari men—and a few women—who had come onto her expecting an easy conquest. Putting them in their place was always fun, but also irritating.

Why did women get a bad reputation for being sexually active while men were rewarded for it?

Women should be able to enjoy themselves without it becoming a label for every female soldier.

Liria preferred more of a connection with the men she slept with, but she didn't think less of any woman who wanted something different.

Especially there. When you were faced with monsters on the regular, you needed an outlet for your anxiety.

Sex was a top choice, especially since it had the extra benefit of reaffirming life.

Most of the women in the dining hall—at least those who were interested in men—were looking at Private Rennux as if he were an anti-anxiety device.

Liria looked away. Her preferred method of releasing the pressure was running.

She liked to run with a pem, the personal music device blasting her ears with a steady beat that made the exercise enjoyable.

A run sounded great, actually. Shit, she'd have to wait half an hour or so for her meal to digest before she could go running.

Maybe later that evening, when it was nice and cool.

With that decided, Liria finished her meal and put the new guy out of her mind.