Page 69

Chapter

Fifty-One

Nuo

W e followed the Council back into the Palace, where there would be a dinner honouring Aeden’s new position. I walked as if amused, making jokes with Kazhi, and as we cut past the still form of the Aethar, his hand twitched. Both Kazhi and I caught it, but looked forward as if we had seen nothing.

The Ravins ignored the man on the ground as they brushed past us.

“Congratulations,” Falizha said sarcastically, veering to walk next to her brother as they stepped in the shade cast by the gigantic Aspis head.

“Chin up, little sis. Father will give you some role to play, I’m sure. Too bad the Guards returned. You almost had a spot in their ranks.” Aeden elbowed his sister, who scowled at him.

“I am going with you across the border, don’t you forget. You might have been given a fancy title, but I will be leading the teams.”

“Whatever you need to tell yourself. It’s cute seeing you weasel your way into becoming captain of an airship.”

I walked behind the two, enjoying the fury that crossed Falizha’s face. Maybe I’d enjoy having Aeden around, after all.

Falizha’s sneer was audible as she said, “And what, may I ask, have you been doing while away?”

Aeden wiped the posturing from his face, voice going flat, turning cruel. “That is none of your fucking business, brat.”

Falizha’s fists clenched at her side, but she continued walking as if nothing happened. Aeden might be a worse bastard than his sister, but he hid it twice as well.

We entered the dining hall, where the two sat next to each other.

The black stone walls were polished so smooth each member of the dinner was reflected back at us. Even in the low lighting, I could see everything going on around me without having to look down the long table.

Bastane took a seat next to me. No one searched for Kazhi. There wasn’t a council meeting she attended all the way through, if at all.

Falizha and her brother took up the two seats across from me, their father several chairs down at the head of the table.

I noted Aeden didn’t join his fellow Guards.

No matter. He was a new pawn in our game.

It felt like fate was knocking at my door.

Soon, things would be brought into the light, and the masks would fall off.

“First,” the Governor said, lifting his glass, his cold scowl on his daughter. “A toast to our returning Guards. We bless Rem with this luck.”

Sullen mumbles came from the table, and I coughed to cover my laugh. I lifted my glass, bringing it to my lips.

“While the Guards were vacationing in the south, I was able to get rid of the last Sea-leg from the caves, Father.” Falizha’s grating voice was usually enough to send me into a rage, but nothing worked faster than those who put my people down.

“They had been living off our generosity for far too long. I was happy to see that last family leave our gates, off to wherever they would go.”

Another Councilman sitting next to Falizha dipped his golden head toward her, lifting his glass. “It took some time to find them homes, far too long if you ask me.”

“Blessed Rem,”—Falizha poured herself a large cup, the first one already gone—“I couldn’t stand to look at them another day.” The corners of her mouth lifted, knowing that I was listening.

Pure, unbridled hatred coursed through my veins.

Aeden leaned toward his sister, placing a hand on her arm. “Perhaps you should go slow with the drink, dear Falizha, lest you embarrass us all with your hateful comments.”

Aeden’s remark was loud enough that Falizha flushed with anger before he turned away, nodding to me and ignoring her.

“Well said, Aeden,” the Governor interrupted. Aeden took a slow sip of his drink, not turning his attention down the table to where he was being addressed. “Falizha, take after your brother here and drink slowly, lest you say things you don’t mean.”

She turned a bright orange and slammed her drink down. “What do I have to hide, Father? We are winning against our enemies. We should be proud. I brought home the very Aethar who was leading the Ikhor.”

“I would have been proud had it been the Ikhor you shot down, not a no-name legacy from the wastelands. Did your interrogation at least gain us new information about the Ikhor’s plans?”

Falizha said no more. Instead, Aeden rested his glass on the table and addressed the question. “He was tough to break. As we all know, the Aethar have a high tolerance to pain. None of our methods worked.”

I didn’t know the blue Aethar, and I had already threatened his sister, but openly speaking about his torture didn’t feel right.

Falizha turned her malicious tongue on me. “That’s what happens to those that don’t cooperate. That’s why he was used to demonstrate our new weapon.”

“ My new weapon, Lizha,” Aeden said in a tone that suggested she quit talking.

“So Aeden.” Bastane relaxed in his seat. “Tell me of this Deathmaker. It’s quite the advancement. May I ask who designed it?”

Falizha spoke first, drowning her brother out. “Aeden has been making all sorts of things on behalf of the Council to use against the Ikhor. Since the Aspis hasn’t done a godsdamned thing to save our people.”

“I believe the Guard asked me,” Aeden said, shutting his sister down once more. “I have not invented a thing. The Alchemist under my hire has. He is a genius.”

“I would be honoured to meet this Alchemist,” Bastane probed, swirling the liquid around in his glass.

“Alas, he is in his facilities in the far north. He is a Mount-leg of the northern tribes. I helped to build him a lab in his preferred working conditions—that is as much credit as I can take for the invention. I have asked him to make one for each of the Guards. I would like to present them to you before we head out together on our next mission.”

“And what is our next mission?” I asked, remembering the Governor saying we were crossing the borders.

Aeden bent forward, resting his elbows on the table. “There is a horde of Aethar spotted on the northern borders of the wastelands. We will attack. I worry they will be using ships to cross next, forgoing the canyon pass.”

A plate of steaming vegetables and a chunk of meat was set before me, and my mouth watered at the meal. “What makes you think they could use ships? And how do you know of this horde when none can cross the seas to witness those borders.”

“Though it will upset my father to hear,”—Aeden shot a look down the table, pausing a moment too long—“I have made use of the pirates that patrol the air above the seas. I pay them for information of who crosses and what they see on the borders.”

The Governor grunted his disapproval of his son’s tactics. “This is how we receive information about the Aethar hordes?”

Aeden gave his father a single nod.

The Governor thought on this a moment and said to the Councilman at his right, “My son keeps me informed while creating weapons in the north. Very useful boy.”

Aeden’s face hardened at the comment. It flashed so quickly across his face I nearly missed it—the way the corner of his eyes pinched a fraction, his mouth going tight—he was irritated.

“He does me proud. I send requests his way, and he’s always so quick to deliver, never failing his father, are you son?”

Aeden blinked, wiping clear any traces he was affected by what his father said.

Could it be that the son doesn’t favour the father? The dinner just got a lot more interesting.

“But we do have to worry about the Aethar flying, don’t we now?” Another council member said, a golden Day-leg sitting a few chairs down from me. “This one who was leading the Ikhor was piloting an airship, was he not?”

“He stole Falizha’s ship in Danuli,” Aeden told the councilman. “Isn’t that what happened, Lizha? How was it he was able to take it from you?”

“The Guards were busy running around in the streets.” Falizha held her glass so tightly I thought it would break. “I was rounding them up to chase the Ikhor. Instead, my ship was stolen, and they let the Ikhor slip away.”

“You took them down in the end, Ms. Ravin,” said the same councilman. “And you were able to apprehend the pilot.”

“It’s what I do to those that get in my way.”

I snorted when she held my gaze, thinking it was a threat. I’m counting the minutes.

Bastane nodded to Kazhi’s empty seat. “Where is she?”

I wiped my chin, where a drop of grease had made a path. “I asked her to go to the library. I need more books on the history of the Ikhor.”

An audible whoosh of air passed, and someone sat in the chair next to me, the hairs rising on the back of my neck as the smell of drink wafted my way.

“What do you want?” I muttered.

Falizha rested her arm on my chair, her slimy gaze raking me up and down.

I shivered, my stomach rolling. With her desire for power, she was missing how many mistakes she made—how much information she let slip.

I had to control my desire to lash out at her and remember that she was the key to finding the truth about what the Council was doing.

They were hiding the truth about what was across the border and lied about who was burning the villages and the South Guardian camp.

Falizha spoke in a low tone so no one else would hear. “My brother is taking your brother’s place. Doesn’t it bother you that you left him flying aimlessly in the sky? You abandoned him in the south.”

“Interesting that you mention abandoning one of my own.” I licked the spoon in my hand, savouring the flavour of the meat, wishing I could tell her who was in the crowd today. “So when did your brother come back from his super secret mission?”

Falizha was dressed in her tight-fitted Guardian black and wore that hideous purple cape that she pinned to one shoulder with a crystal to remind everyone she was the Captain of a ship.

“Someone needs to do the work the Guards are not. The Council wants to replace you. You might be out of a job, Nuo. And with that goes any value you have. No suite, no weapons, no home. What will an orphan boy do then?”