Page 100

Chapter

Sixty-Seven

Liv

B rekt waited for me to do something. His casual stance told me he knew what I wanted, so instead of arguing with him, I ran after Nuo.

He was already reaching the bottom of the stairs leading up to the shrine, not waiting for anyone to enter. I caught up to him and pulled on his arm, forcing him to look at me.

His mask was in place, hiding his true feelings.

“Please,” I said. “Just wait.”

“What more is there to say? We clearly aren’t interested in talking to each other.”

The sea breeze blew his long hair across his face, and I caught sight of his gills before his hair fell back into place. “You know, you were the most honest with me.”

Nuo reluctantly turned back, giving me a weary expression. “What do you mean?”

“You were keeping Brekt’s secrets, but it was him that lied. Kazhi hid her identity from everyone, and Bastane betrayed me. But you, you never lied to me.”

Nuo waited, and I latched onto the moment. “The only time you’ve hurt me was when you were angry.”

“Hurt you?”

I raised my hands. “What you said hurt. Badly. You wouldn’t have been able to protect me from the Aspis or the Council. I was scared of your anger, and I knew the twins would protect the Ikhor. I wanted to live.”

A muscle in his jaw twitched. “Well, you lived.”

“I did. And you’ve learned that it’s still me in here.”

Nuo was taking in my hair, my eyes, and the slight glow to my skin.

His nostrils flared. “You look like the thing that has caused every problem in this world. The thing that carved out my future and took my chances at a normal, happy life. The thing next to the Aspis in every depiction of the final battle.”

“Well, I don’t want to look like this. Do you only make judgments with what you see? When we first met, you knew I wasn’t a legacy like you, yet even with the suspicion I might be an Aethar, you became my friend.”

Nuo leaned closer. “I did that for Brekt because he recognized you.”

“So all of our talks, the nicknames, the time we drank on the deck of the airship, that was all for Brekt’s sake?”

It took several long seconds before he said, “No.”

“See? We were both handed this shitty situation. I was leaving the twins in Danuli to come find you when we ran into each other by the river.”

Surprise flashed across his face. “So why did you run.”

“Because you began to chase me.”

Several emotions flashed across his face, each time hidden behind the mask, before shaking his head. He reached behind him, and for a moment, I thought he would pull out one of his sharp knives. Instead, he held something clear and shiny, waiting for me to grab it.

My heart skipped. He held my crystal brush I had left in the Guardian City. It was the brush found amongst the Aethar belongings while Nuo sat at my side—when our friendship blossomed.

“You brought it for me?” My voice broke over an emotion too strong to put away.

“Don’t ask me why.”

My vision blurred as I took my brush, nodding because I was too choked up to speak.

He’d kept it. He’d thought of me. He didn’t hate me.

I moved to grab my bag, but before I could, Nuo grabbed my arm. “This doesn’t change things between us.”

I nodded, knowing that wasn’t true, and when I tried to grab my pack again, he stopped me. “Don’t do anything stupid from now on, okay? If you’re searching the continents for shrines, watch your back. Don’t trust the Aethar.”

I pretended to be annoyed but couldn’t help smiling. For the third time, as I tried to put my brush away, he stopped me. “I can’t protect you forever. I told him I would, but you’re on your own if you keep following the blue one.”

“I’m not on my own. She’s my friend, too.”

Nuo’s face fell. “Really? I’ll ignore her lack of weapons for argument’s sake. Just … watch your own back.”

I nodded and was grabbed again . “I’m sorry for what I said when he died. This doesn’t mean I forgive you for ditching me at the first sign of trouble.”

“Trouble? I became the fucking Ikhor, Nuo. That’s a little bigger than trouble.”

He waved his hand. “Ya, ya. Just, I’m sorry for what I said about killing you and everything. I’m a Guard,” he shrugged. “It’s what I do.”

My mouth popped open. Was he—“That’s an apology.”

He clapped my shoulder. “A good one, I thought. Now, your turn.”

“That’s the best you’ll get from him,” grumbled Brekt, coming to stand next to me. He eyed the brush in my hands.

I smiled at Nuo, showing my teeth. “Then I’m sorry I said you looked weak and haggard when we were in Danuli.”

Nuo’s back went straight. “And I’m sorry I said you’re an evil, lying betrayer with creepy eyes.”

“You didn’t say that.”

“I just did.” He let go of the humour, turning serious. “Please, BB. Don’t die. Not before we can fight this one out.”

“Wait!” I said, reaching into my bag and pulling out a bracelet. I shoved it toward him.

“What is this?” He held it up, eyeing the small shells trapped in blue string.

“It’s a friendship bracelet. I have a matching one. See?” I held up my wrist, where a blue and black string bracelet sat next to the crystals the Oracle gave me. “I thought it looked like the right kind for a Sea-leg.”

Nuo kept it suspended in the air, his face twisting in confusion. “Bracelets are for women.”

Brekt smacked him in the back of the head, and Nuo quickly stuffed the bracelet in his pocket, muttering a thank you. He walked away stiffly, removing the vines from the massive door at the entrance to the shrine, and disappeared inside.

“I got you one, too.” I dropped the black one in Brekt’s hand and raced up the stairs so that I wouldn’t feel embarrassed. Yet, my heart was soaring because it felt like I was breaking down a wall with Nuo.

Brekt caught up to me atop the stairs and grabbed my wrist, dragging me in for a kiss.

The memory of our night together came rushing back, and I wanted him all over again.

He pulled away, cupping my cheek. “You care for my brother. He deserves the best in the world. I could love you just for being his friend.”

Love. And he did love me. He told me last night.

“Don’t get ahead of yourself.” I patted his chest.

“You are a good person, Liv. You have a good heart.”

I bit back my denial. “Can you tell that to the rest of the world?”

Brekt barked a laugh. “They wouldn’t believe me.

When you eventually show that temper, they’d call me a liar.

” I swatted him, and he caught my hand, kissing it.

He tapped the bottom of my chin with a finger.

“Keep your spirits up. You don’t need approval from others to be good.

You don’t need them to know it, to see it. You just are.”

His words wrapped a warm blanket around the box inside my chest.

I followed him through the crumbling entrance to the shrine.

Light cascaded off every surface, reflecting an aqua blue—we were entering a new world.

I lifted a hand and watched the eerie glow over my skin, it was like I was floating underwater.

Above us, light poured through the rippled glass, making the floor resemble the bottom of a lake.

Maev stayed close as the Guards roamed ahead, moving debris so we had a path toward the central dais near the back.

The right side of the shrine had no roof.

Sunlight poured over the dirty walls and onto a second-story balcony that ran along both sides of the shrine, stairs leading up to it near the dais.

The room reminded me of the hall where I had met the Elders.

“It’s beautiful in here.” Maev pointed to the back wall lined with several doors. “Prayer chambers, I’m guessing.”

Brekt stopped in the middle of the temple, where the sunlight shone down, turning his skin golden.

When Nuo stepped to his side, the rippled light bathed him, turning his skin a pale blue from the glass above.

Brekt regarded Nuo with concern, but I couldn’t see what set him off when I searched the shrine.

“We should pray in the back chambers,” Maev said loud enough for the others to hear. “To see if we can call Mayra.”

“Nuo,” I asked when we joined him in the middle of the temple. “I think the goddess would answer to you before anyone here. Do you mind trying?”

“I’m here, aren’t I?” Nuo held up his hands before Brekt threw a fist at his gut. “Hey, I’m being nice.”

Brekt’s jaw clenched. “You know godsdamned well you are not. She’s being nice. You’re holding grudges.”

Nuo dropped his hands to his side. “The fact that I am not holding my blade while in the same room with the Ikhor and an Aethar means I am being nice.”

Maev slid me a weary look.

“Fine,” Nuo admitted. “I’m not. But I am being cooperative. I’ll pray. The goddess isn’t likely to answer to the many Day-legs we’re dragging around these days.”

“We can split up.” Brekt pointed to the four doors lining the back wall. “Liv and I can start on the left, looking for scrolls or anything of use left in the shrine.”

Nuo studied the lines of Maev’s leather clothing, narrowing his eyes at the pockets and her contraptions. His lip curled as if considering having to search the shrine alongside an Aethar was the worst thing ever to happen to him.

Maev removed her pack and squatted down next to it on the ground. Everyone stopped to watch her as she pulled out a bundle of rolled-up maps and stood. Her eyes darted from me to Nuo, and when she bit her lip, I knew what she had in her hand.

I held my breath—this interaction could decide the fate of the two nations. Nuo, who hated the Aethar more than most, and the Mechanist, who was no warrior but perhaps one of the brightest minds of her generation.

Nuo’s mask slipped as his attention went from Maev to the maps in her hand.

She didn’t move any closer. “The map of the old shrines—yours to keep—and the map I had taken from the Governor’s daughter’s ship. Your map.”

Nuo opened his mouth, but Maev cut him off. “I will trade them for my device. I know you have it.”

Nuo didn’t blink. He reached into his vest, pulled it out, and inspected it. “I was surprised an Aethar had such a thing. Who did you steal it from?”

Maev went scarlet. “I made it myself. I am a Mechanist, capable of much more than you can imagine. I don’t steal ideas.” Maev pointed the maps at Nuo. “Just give it back. It’s not like you would know how to use the device anyway. The controls are too advanced for a brute like yourself.”

Nuo’s swagger was back, he gave Maev a charming smile. “You made this, Blue?” He tsked, waving the device in the air. “I can’t say I believe it. I took it apart. I know how it works. ”

Maev ran up to him, yanking it from his grasp to inspect it. When she realized she stood within reach of the Interrogator, she shoved the maps against his chest and put several paces between them.

Nuo didn’t inspect the maps. Instead, he rested them on his shoulder, cocking a hip to the side.

“You’ve wired it to detect the changing frequencies of the crystals.

They react to power and vibrate on a level invisible to the naked eye.

Your device picks up on the frequencies, and the map programmed in the device points in the direction of the strongest source of magic it detects. ”

Maev’s mouth was hanging by the time Nuo finished.

When he knew he’d impressed her, his eyes crinkled, his stance full of ego. “I’m not just a handsome face, Blue.”

I elbowed Maev. “I told you he was clever.” But I dropped my smile when I noticed Nuo stiffen.

Maev put her device away. “How did you figure all that out? You aren’t a Mechanist.”

“I am many things, Aethar. I would say stick around and find out, but I don’t want you to stick around.”

Bastane wiped a hand down his face. “I apologize,” he said to Maev. “He is usually not this rude.”

“Yeah, he is,” Kazhi shouted from across the room, where she was moving debris away from doorways. “No matter how hard I’ve tried to beat it out of him.”

Nuo scoffed and walked away.

Bastane gave Maev a quick smile. “Nuo isn’t the man the Aethar believe. You have seen this side of him only because of the history between him and Bones.”

Bas nodded to Maev before following Kazhi through a prayer door on the right, bathed in sunlight.

“I will pray on my own,” Nuo said over his shoulder, walking toward the back right of the shrine, aiming for the door next to where Bastane and Kazhi disappeared.

“I am going with Liv,” Brekt said to Nuo, who lifted a hand in a dismissive wave.

Maev tugged on my arm, shaking her head, and I realized she was pleading not to be left alone without me.

“Go with Nuo,” I said to Brekt, walking up to him so my voice didn’t bounce around the room so loudly.

Brekt swallowed. “Perhaps I will. The blue lights in here are making me nervous.”

I searched his face, missing his meaning.

“My dreams.” He nodded toward Nuo, and then I remembered Brekt had dreamt of Nuo’s death—in those dreams, he was blue and cold. I had seen him that way, too, when I was in the dream place.

I pushed Brekt. “Go. I’ll take Maev with me to the other chamber. Keep her safe.”

“And you? The gods may not be happy to see the Ikhor.”

The feeling was mutual. “I can keep myself safe. Who knows, I may have more magic than them these days.” I raised my voice as Nuo approached the back doors. “Plus, you need to keep Nuo safe.”

He whipped his head around so fast I thought he might fall over. “I don’t need Beastboy to babysit me.”

Brekt crossed his arms, but this time, the tired look was directed at me.

“Look for paintings on the walls,” Maev said, pulling my arm and leading me toward a chamber at the back of the shrine.