Page 58 of The Garnet Daughter (The Viridian Priestess #3)

Chapter

Thirty-Nine

E very alarm bell in the city screams in warning as August and I prepare his ship, making sure we can leave swiftly.

He checks the fuel and landing gear so many times my head spins.

Departing procedures are double-checked as well, and then he moves the ship to the end of the cargo bay, away from the fleet ships, to be clear for takeoff when needed.

“We are only staying until his army has landed,” August states.

“99 said they need to be within range,” I remind him.

But his only answer is a sideview of his tense, flexing jaw.

“I will fold to the ship if you land it outside the city.”

“It’s not that easy.”

“Of course not, but you should not stay until the last moment. What if you can’t leave? What if you are stuck when it is time for me to fold?”

“Then you fold without me, away, somewhere safe.”

I step in front of him where he leans over the control station.

“August, I’m not doing that. The plan we made is you leave with the ship, I make sure First Son attacks from land, and then I fold to you.

99 and Ferren have held up their ends of the bargain, as difficult as it was, so now we need to. ”

“99 and Ferren have had time together. We have not. I assure you this is more difficult for me.” He says it with sincerity, but I can’t help but smile at how dramatic it sounds.

“August . . . we will have our time, I promise.”

He blows out a long breath and stares at me with adoring eyes. “Come here.” He reaches for something in a cabinet below.

I scoot closer to him, watching him open a black box and reveal it is full of wrist comms.

He holds a hand out for my arm, and when I offer it to him, he gently runs a finger across my wrist. “This is so when we are apart, I can find you wherever you fold.” He gently clasps it to me, pulling it snug and activating the small screen.

“How far?”

“It has a long range, to the birthlands. You press this one to send me a message.”

“I know. I have watched you use yours many times.”

He smiles like I have said something sweet.

I adjust the band against my skin, already irritated from the unfamiliar tightness there. “I should tell Selene we are leaving. She will want to come back to Frith too.”

He scrubs a hand down his face. “We need to move fast. He may attack before the conjunction peaks.”

“It feels wrong to stay only until it begins, like we are running away, leaving 99 behind.”

“99 will be fine, of that I am certain.” He tugs me forward, wrapping his arm around my waist and pulling until my pelvis is against his. “And we are not running away. You are saving the three worlds, and I am happy to be by your side as you do.”

I look up at him, allowing myself to bask in his easy affection as he sways us gently and tucks a strand of my hair behind my ear and smiles on one side of his mouth, summoning the dimple I love.

“Why are you smiling?" I ask.

“How could you ever think I deserve more than you, as if you are not good enough for me? Sometimes, I am not sure if I am even worthy of you. The moment I laid eyes on you . . . beautiful, obviously, but I knew you were . . . otherworldly.”

“Otherworldly.” I dramatically roll my eyes at the description.

“Oh yes. And I have never met someone so willing to charge into battle for a friend. You are braver than any Viathan commander I have known.” He pulls me closer into his form.

“I have made a lot of mistakes doing that.”

“You are forgetting all the other times. I can think of several times we would not have survived without you. And not just because you can fold.” He puts a gentle palm up to stop me from interrupting with self-doubt.

“Callia, there is so much more to you than your gifts. You are smart in ways that take my breath away, make me question if we are from the same species.”

He leans down to kiss me sweetly, holding me in place by the back of my head and sealing the words before I undo them with my foolishness.

But then his body stiffens as a message chimes over the control station, a low noise compared to the warning bells outside but enough to snap us both out of our small moment of affection.

He regretfully kisses me one last time and then presses a button on the control panel.

“August.” 99’s grim tone cuts through.

“Here.”

“Come to the perimeter, to the communication tower.”

“Why?” I ask August as 99’s voice is replaced with a frenzy of static.

“I don’t think we should wait for an answer,” August says, positioning himself in front of me so we can fold the distance.

“Do you know where we are going?”

He nods and closes his eyes, picturing it in his mind, and the moment I place my hands on him, I witness it too.

The very thing he pictured is made reality as I open my tightly shut lids: a stone masoned tower, another after it lining the city.

Linked by walls exceeding most of the buildings inside it.

We stand atop a walkway, nestled between two protecting boundaries on either side, the one facing the rest of Cosima much taller than the one revealing the dark city behind us.

Estate guards mix with Viathan commanders, bordering the perimeter and peek out of the exposed sections of the outer wall.

99 steps out of the castle-like tower, striding toward us to deliver the rest of the message he started in person.

“Omnesis is circling the valley below,” he tells me and directs us to the nearest open wall space.

The vast landscape beyond the wall is shrouded in darkness, hued in the strange eclipse light as it clings to its last few hours.

The only true light is from the massive torches below, illuminating what looks like towers with Viathan guns on the peaks.

The turrets August has been helping 99’s commanders with line the front perimeter in a deadly formation.

I search the skies. “She will not help defend the city, only intervene if the scales tip beyond repair. I don’t see her.”

“Circled the battlefield below and then those cliffs.” He points with a gloved finger.

“Have they landed?” August asks in a low tone.

“They have. Exactly where we thought,” 99 confirms. “They will arrive very soon. August, you should depart. Calliape, you can stay close to me.”

“No,” August says without hesitation. “Not yet.”

I turn around to face him, giving up my search for Omnesis, but then I hear the sound of pounding drums.

Others hear it too, some shoving into the other lookout portions of the wall to view what is causing the noise in the distance. The rhythmic beat grows in intensity in the dark valley below. Soon, it becomes clear the noise produced is coming from the footfalls of a marching army.

An Estate guard next to me shakes so violently, his armor rattles, exposing his palpable fear.

99 yells commands to the others, positions and formations I do not understand, before entering the tower again, where I can catch just a glimpse of Lord General doing the same.

A long pillar-like ship reaching up into the sky with glowing lights glides across the terrain below, torches made of electricity paving the way to the enemy slowly becoming visible and tangible before us.

First Son’s legion materializes more clearly with each collective step they pound into the sandy ground.

“August . . .” I whisper, hoping he also sees the figures dressed in white robes and unarmed. “The ones with eclipse delirium.”

A blaring line marching in front of a sea of dark-armored soldiers who hold weapons I can’t even imagine. Some even group together to pull massive weapons atop towers, just like ours.

“I thought she said they were trying to see First Mother in the lights?” August says.

“She said First Mother or First Son.”

Their weapon towers blaze to life, pale blue lighting dancing from the tops in short, crackly streaks. The pillar-like ship stops, halting the entire army stretching farther back than we can perceive in the darkness.

My ears pop with the absence of the drumming march, replacing the echo with eerie silence.

“That is First Son’s ship. I recognize it from the military records,” August says.

“Is he in there?”

“Most likely. Coward.”

I pull in close to August, seeking comfort. He needs to leave, but I can’t let go of his hand. “They have stopped.”

“Just out of our range.” He points to our smaller turrets.

“We have to find Selene before you go.” I look out to the battlefield at the army I must draw in closer so ours can engage. A panic I am powerless to control floods my system, making my hands tremble with a sense of dread.

“We will, Callia.” August senses the urgency in my voice, holding my face with both hands. “Breathe for me. I will tell 99. He mentioned she is near with the priestess order.”

I give him a shaky nod, but he does not release me until I have taken two more long inhales. He seeks out 99 behind me, but I can’t take my eyes off the dark horizon, knowing First Son is out there.

The sound of August’s distant but elevated voice finally draws me away. He gestures wildly, directing frustration at 99, who I will stay near when August leaves.

They love each other as brothers, but it is clear August is worried.

Even now commanders come up to 99, asking for orders and showing him data pads, pulling his focus away.

Finally, 99 grabs him roughly by the shoulders and speaks so close, if I did not know the nature of their relationship, I would think it was hostile.

But August relaxes, surrendering with a strong-willed nod before striding back to me.

“What was that?” I ask.

“Everything is fine. Selene is near the next tower and making her way here,” he says, quickly setting his jaw as if trying to cover the interaction I assume was about me.

We tuck in against the wall again, just enough to look out without being fully exposed.