Page 100 of The Last Hope

“I wouldn’t fykkingdare,” Zimmer interjects heatedly, surly that we’d believe differently, but this damned link shares no intentions. Just emotions, senses, and all of that combined with the horrors we’ve been through has made us jump to the worst. We’re left assuming too much off only a morsel.

Court narrows his gaze. “Then why?”Why is she fretting?

“Stork knows we’re linked,” Franny professes.

My mind whirls, and I dunno what to think or grasp onto. Court is solid stone, imprisoning breath in his lungs. I wish I could wrap an arm around him. I wish I could whisper in his ear, assuring him, even if nothing is making much sense to me.

Zimmer gawks. “Linked?” He must know less than us.

Stork tries to answer, his voice wheezy. Choked. Court releases some weight off his throat, and then Stork coughs once and says, “We don’t… call it that—linked, linking.”

Court is nearly nose-to-nose with Stork. “I don’t give a damn what you call it,” Court seethes. “You’ve known about our connection all this time, and yet you saidnothing.”

“And you’d still know nothing if I hadn’t slipped up,” Stork retorts with raised brows. “Lord have mercy, I should’ve kept my mouth shut.” He lets out a painful laugh. “But I bloody cared about you andhim.” His icy gaze daggers me. “During Franny’s distress, I thought you two were hurt and needed help, and Islipped up.” He’s kicking himself all right.

My mouth almost curves upward.

I’m glad my baby brother cared about us.

I’m glad he tripped up for once, and I’m thinking maybe there is good coming from Kinden’s anger toward me after all.

Court leans back off him, just a bit. “Did the dead admirals tell you not to discuss linking with us?”

Stork rests his head solemnly against the frosted door. “No.”

Inflamed shock punches my gut, and Franny sways backward into my chest. I must be sensing her surprise. I wrap a comforting arm around her collar, and air fills her lungs. Helping us both breathe better.

Stork meets her blistering gaze. “It wasn’t their order. It was my choice.”

“I don’t believe you,” Franny snaps.

His chest falls.

Zimmer is floating mindlessly on a hover-ma-board or whatever the hells it’s called, and his head swings back and forth, listening to this unfolding argument.

“This truth,” Stork says to Franny, “it’s not one I’ve been dying to tell you. It’s not happy. It’s not comforting. It pains humans to remember.”

“It pains humans to remember?So humans know about the link,” Franny realizes, voice trembling. “I asked you a month ago.” Her fingers curl into fists, containing her temper. “I asked you what happens when humans are tested for deathdays. I asked what that date means on a Death Reader, and you didn’t answer me. But you knew then, didn’t you?”

Stork nods.

I jump in, “Why didn’t we find any of this in the books?” All right, I didn’t do much reading, but Court did enough for the whole world and then some.

“What you’re looking for was a long time ago, and it’d take more than a month to find the right book,” Stork says, having trouble not looking at Franny. “You could’ve done an advanced search in the database, but none of you know how to work our computers that well.”

Zimmer rocks from side to side on the hover-ma-board. “Someone care to clue a wise FT in?”

Franny scowls. “You’re more of a chump if you need to be clued in.” She mutters, “Like the rest of us.”

He touches his heart. “Beg your pardon, I meant a wiseass.”

Humor is far out of reach for the three of us. His smile drops at our collective silence, and he floats on the board over to Stork. “What do you know that they should know?”

“Everything.” He inhales, as though preparing to unleash hells. “Right now, they’re referring to the point in history when deathdays were first discovered. Back then it wasn’t illegal for humans to test their deathdays.”

Court takes another step back. Giving Stork enough room to stand straighter.

Tying the cloth tighter around his waist, Stork continues on, “Saltarians and humans believed deathday testing would work for both species. There’d be no divide between us. We’d all know the day we’d die.”