Page 18 of The Garnet Daughter (The Viridian Priestess #3)

I yawn and hop down from the table, determined to keep some sense of normalcy between us. “Hopefully it goes better than the beacon did.”

“Let’s hope,” he mutters.

“I’m going to go rest.”

He perks up like he is nervous. “Do you think you will fold in your sleep again? Should we?—”

“No. Both times we folded the space between, I was fully awake. I don’t think I will get stuck somewhere at least.”

He makes big eyes at me like he isn’t convinced but then goes back to sending the message to the others.

I prepare to attempt the ladder to the second level, adjusting myself to do so one-handed.

“Calliape.” He pauses until I turn to face him. “You will have any privacy you need on my ship . . . as always. That part hasn’t changed between us.”

In the morning, I fold us to the landing dock, just outside the large Viathan ship Ferren and 99 are temporarily calling home. The structure juts up in the sky, taller than most of the buildings that surround it in the massive courtyard.

August holds onto me carefully as we arrive, his hands controlled and stiff as if refusing to conform to the curves of my body.

He nods at a number of the commanders posted on either side of the open ramp leading into the belly of the ship.

I saw the fleet from afar on Viathan, but walking up the enormous ramp of one is a humbling experience, my mind not able to understand how something this large can be made.

Inside, we are guided down several halls, passing more Viathans who seem focused on their tasks as always. We reach a set of doors open to a large room, one that seems to be off-limits to anyone moving through the corridors around it.

“Hello, Calliape,” the commander posted at the entrance says in a familiar tone.

“Oh, hello, Commander Wesley.” I smile at him politely after glancing at his breastplate.

“You look well.” There’s a friendly smile in his voice.

Once Ferren’s bodyguard on Viathan, he never gave her cause to say a bad thing about him, and I have always found him kind.

When he was posted outside the safe house while August traveled to Frith to bring Selene here, he was pleasant but politely declined the many games of cards I offered to pass the time.

“Hello, Wesley, shame we cannot comment on how you are looking,” August snips.

“August,” Commander Wesley replies flatly.

I forgot how much August protested him staying with me, how worried he was when he came back and we had acquainted ourselves better even if it were merely a job posting for him.

When I spot 99 inside the Viathan version of a gathering room, I push August’s arm forward, not wanting to hear them go back and forth.

“Ferren is on her way.” He points down a branching hallway.

I break away, leaving August to speak with 99 alone, and walk down the hall to see a smiling Ferren walking out of a small bedroom.

“Hi!” she calls and hugs me.

For a brief moment, I forget the trouble between us she is painfully unaware of, the one that will break her heart and the friendship we have built.

I smile flatly and glance back at August, who watches us even as 99 tries to show him something on the data pad between them.

“They will be a while. 99 wanted to ask August his thoughts on the locked First Son ship.”

“Locked ship?”

“The one that attacked us when the ward was down, it crashed into the city. Dropped right out of the sky. The commanders can’t breach it to disarm . . . whatever else is inside. I can see it from my window if you would like to take a look.”

“No, no, that’s alright.” I do my best to comprehend her words. She doesn’t seem worried, but knowing any part of that enemy is here is unpleasant.

“I wish you would have told me about that.” She points to the gauze around my arm, carefully wrapped by August, on full display.

“I wasn’t thinking,” I say sheepishly.

She sends me an exacerbated face, as if disappointed I am too stressed to take care of myself, which is partially true, and then as if she has found the reason for that stress, she says, “I’m so sorry about the council meeting. You did so well though. Hopefully they move on.”

“Why did they call you lady?” The memory comes out as fast as the question.

She smiles. “Oh. Me and 99. We entered in Viathan union. It’s a Viathan title.”

“While I was gone?”

“We didn’t know where you were or if you were coming back.” Her smile fades. “We considered waiting, but after what happened . . .”

“I’m so sorry, Ferren.” I can feel my heart breaking.

“No.” She flicks her hand. “Now we know you couldn’t help it. It’s alright, truly.”

“I’m happy for you.”

“Me too.” She nods and then thinks for a moment, turning her head to the side. “I have something for you!” She links her arm in mine and guides me down the hall she came from.

“Is Leema here as well?” I ask.

“She is on Viathan. We all thought it best. Allister and Commander Yeva will take care of her until we return,” she explains, her face growing a little lost.

She pauses us in front of a doorway and presses her hand onto the data pad on the frame, commanding it to open.

“This was her room, but you are free to take it if you like. I assume you aren’t staying with Selene. I haven’t seen her that tense since I walked into your village for the first time.”

I can’t help but laugh at that because she’s right. “No, my things are still on August’s ship.”

“Oh?” Her eyebrows rise like they do whenever she is waiting for me to say more, and when I don’t, she nods in understanding. “Well, we found the medicines August mentioned. There are a few actually. And feel free to use this room to rest.”

She points to the three tubes laid out on the metal furniture top.

“Thank you.” I can feel the blood drain from my face just thinking of another injection.

“You look pale. Are you alright?”

I sit on the firm bed and nod.

She joins me, rubbing my shoulder and watching me as if I will faint in front of her. The nicer she is, the harder this is becoming. Soon, it will rip me apart, and the longer I wait, the more she will hate me.

“Ferren, I’m so sorry about the spell. For what happened to High Priestess Thea.” I could not save them both. It was my fault that Thea succumbed to the failed spell, but I know with no doubt in my heart I would always choose to fold Ferren to safety if the same circumstances found us again.

She takes a deep breath and plays with the delicate black trim on her sleeve. “If you were not there, in the Temple of Divine Mothers, I don’t know if my sister would have made it out safely. I have grieved for Thea. We tried. It was no one’s fault. We need to focus on that.”

I grit my teeth so hard my eyes water because I can tell she has fought guilt in her grief. I can’t take away the pain she has already worked through, but I could relieve her now.

And yet like the coward I am, I say nothing.

“Can I ask you something, Calliape?”

“Of course.” My heart lurches forward, almost cracking my bones.

“Did something else happen on Frith? You seem . . .”

The sentence she doesn’t finish is replaced by the sensation of her tether fishing for a connection to my mind, one my ward rejects without even trying. I can’t allow her entry, despite it causing her pain to be excluded.

“I am worried about the old god. It seems wrong not to pursue it. The Frithian elders were very clear on what it intends to do,” I divulge.

She nods. “The ward around the city fell because Crixa did. Thousands are not protected because I killed her. It would be selfish to prioritize my life over an entire city. I plan to fight on the front lines with 99 and make it right.”

“Are you not afraid of Omnesis?”

“I am, but if I tell 99 my worries about the old god, it will take his focus off protecting the city to pursue another crusade for me. I’m more afraid of what is coming here, First Son’s next attack.”

Ferren is right. If 99 truly knew how much danger she was in, he would devote his efforts to hunting the monster down.

She is not the one I need to convince. It’s him.

He won’t leave her, but I can . I can’t fight on the front lines like she intends to or prepare the Viathan technology like August. This could be my part, my contribution.

A small logical piece of me knows I am avoiding telling her the truth. But if I tell her now and she shuts me out, I will not be able to make sure the monster is dealt with, the one I hold some responsibility for.

I am not a good woman, I’m letting her believe her assumptions in order to do this, but I cannot handle Ferren’s blood on my hands. I would rather she hate me and be alive.

Then, I vow to tell her the truth about everything, all of them. I will accept their hatred and then return to Frith, where I can’t make the same mistakes that cost them so greatly. I have to do this. I have to go to the monster myself and somehow make sure it will not harm her.