Page 82 of Grounded (Convergence #1)

Just a few hours after Liria had married Thax, she was in his arms again.

But not in her wedding gown. No. Liria wore her old uniform with pulsers harnessed over her hips and a helmet with the eye-shield lowered for flight.

Ahead of them was an erial with Chief Rinna Jass at the helm and Liria's father in the passenger seat.

To their right, the Speaker of Icara flew.

Behind them, an army of Aethari. All were laden with weapons.

And still, Liria didn't have much hope. Determination—yes.

She would fight until she couldn't stand.

And if she had to go back underground to get Lena, she would.

But every time she pulled up the memory of the blond Nethren, a shudder ran through her.

Would he realize his mistake? And if he did, what would he do to her sister?

Fuck, what would he do if he didn't notice that Lena wasn't her?

A shimmer caught her eye. Below them, a translucent dome covered the City of Dunbar.

She was relieved to see it. It meant Rinna had been able to warn them in time for them to activate the city-ward.

Sure enough, the tower at the center of the city shone, its giant lenses catching the light as they pulsed energy upward and out over the city.

Nothing physical could get through that.

And now, Liria knew that even the touch of a Nethren couldn't destroy that shield.

It had been a lie. They'd been tricked into keeping the Nethren below.

But was that a bad thing? The Nethren were monsters.

Weren't they? Liria didn't know what was real anymore.

Even if it wasn't, the war had been raging too long to stop it now.

It wasn't as if they could ask for peace talks. Could they?

“We're here, destra.” Thax followed the erial into a gradual descent. Not into the fortress, but several yards outside of it.

Where an army twenty times the size of their group waited.

Liria gaped at the blackened buildings within the compound walls.

The fire had been put out, but the damage was real.

And so were the Nethren upon the walls, their weapons pointed down at the army below.

Unfortunately, the damage they'd done had only been internal.

The outer walls were untouched. Secure. Barred.

Not in all the years she'd served had Liria seen those gates shut. Now, they were shut and welded. She could see the bulge of solder between the seams even from that height. But they didn't need to go through that gate. They could go over it.

As soon as their group landed, they were surrounded by Medean and Aethari soldiers.

Rinna jumped out of the erial and held her arms up. “I'm Chief Rinna Jass! I'm the one who vided in about the breach.”

A man came through the ring of soldiers. He was dressed in a uniform with a lot of gold on it. “Chief Jass, I'm General Caden of Paradefense. Who are these people with you?”

“I'm Chief Liria Drask, sir.” Liria went forward with Thax. “I was stationed here until recently. As was my husband.” She nodded toward Thax and grimaced. She had looked forward to introducing him as her husband for the first time. But this took all the joy out of it.

“Private Thaxvarien Rennux.” Thax inclined his head to the General. “My father is with us as well.” He motioned at his father. “He's the Speaker of Icara. And we've brought our soldiers to help.”

The General's eyes widened. “That's generous, and normally I would tell you that we don't accept civilian help. But under these circumstances . . .” He glanced at the fortress. “I'm going to make an exception. Especially since you two served.”

“We're here because one of them took my daughter, General.” Liria's father came forward. “He followed Chief Jass to Thennis and abducted her.”

“What?” The General scowled. “A Nethren?”

“Yes, sir,” Chief Jass took over. “Private Ader and I fled the fortress once it fell to the Nethren. We headed to Thennis, where we knew Chief Drask would give us sanctuary until we could regroup. But we were followed. One of them flew an erial—”

“Impossible,” the General cut her off. “No Nethren can fly an erial. It's a converged machine.”

“You've been lied to, General,” Thax said. “My father will attest to it. Nethren do not destroy magic. And today, one of them proved that they can operate converged machinery. He did indeed fly an erial to Thennis where he abducted my bonded sister.”

The General blinked from Thax to his father, who nodded. “That's ridiculous.”

“It's true, General,” the Speaker said. “I'm sorry. Only those on the Aethari Council know of the lie, and we're all sworn to secrecy. We believed it was safer to keep the Nethren below since their bite is lethal to us, and we wanted the Medeans to support us in this. We have deceived you.”

“It would explain that erial we saw fly into the compound, General,” a Medean soldier said.

The General's face twitched, his stare shifting back to his soldier before locking onto the Speaker. “So, you assholes lied to us?!”

The rest of the soldiers circling them shifted and murmured.

“I understand your anger, but this isn't the time for it,” the Speaker said. “An innocent woman's life hangs in the balance.”

“An innocent woman?” The General snorted.

“The whole of Para hangs in the balance. The Nethren have taken an entire fortress. Doubtless, they will try for more.” He scowled.

“Then again, if what you say is true, I suppose Para itself isn't in danger. Not as much as we thought.” He paused, then rallied.

“Regardless, those men in there are monsters.

I've served long enough to be certain of that.

They have no mercy, and if they get past us, they will spread over Para like a disease, leaving a trail of destruction in their wake.

So, no, it's not merely one woman's life that we're fighting for.”

“Yes, you're absolutely right.” The Speaker held up his hands. “But we are here for her. If you agree, we'd like to attempt to secretly infiltrate the fortress.”

“Secretly? You're talking about sneaking into that?” He pointed at the massive wall.

“I know a way in, sir,” Liria said. “We may be able to get inside without them knowing.”

“If you know a way in, Chief, you're going to share it with me, and then I'm taking my entire army in. We'll obliterate them before they know what's happened.”

“That may be an option. I'm sorry, sir, but I won't give you the information until I have an assurance that I'll be allowed to enter the fortress and retrieve my sister. This is personal for me.”

The General's lips pinched in, but then he nodded. “Very well.” He nodded at the soldiers, and their circle broke. “Whomever is in charge, come with me. We'll talk about this in my tent.”

Liria followed the General. As she walked, Thax took her hand.

Not even a full day of marriage, and they were already involved in a fresh battle.

Was this what the future held for them? An endless stream of obstacles, protests, and war?

She looked at Thaxvarien. He looked at her.

This wasn't about his goal. He was there for her.

And he didn't even know about her strange connection to that Nethren.

She wouldn't tell him. Couldn't. Liria didn't even know if it was real. Although in the shadow of a conquered fortress that held her twin sister somewhere within its belly, it felt very real. That Nethren wanted her. She just didn't know why.

Then, as Liria looked at her destru, calm spread through her. They would do this together. As they did everything. She and Thax would enter that fortress and take back her sister. It would be all right. Because this was their destiny.

Hold on, Lena, Liria sent the thought over the wall to her sister. We're coming for you.