Page 18 of Winds of Death (War of the Alliance #4)

Chapter

Ten

W hen Pip strode from the guest room the next morning, she nearly tripped over the small figure sitting cross-legged right outside her door. Only the fact that she made a habit of looking for those few who were shorter than herself saved her from falling.

“Tryndar?” Pip blinked down at Fieran’s little brother. The boy hadn’t said two words to her all yesterday. “What are you doing here?”

“Sitting.” Tryndar gazed up at her with large green eyes. “Because I am not supposed to go into someone’s room while they are sleeping. It is not nice.”

“I…see.” She was glad he hadn’t invaded her privacy that much.

Tryndar kept staring up at her. “Are you going to marry my brother?”

How was she supposed to answer that? She and Fieran had just started courting. Sure, that was where Pip believed this was headed. But nothing was certain just yet.

“I don’t know yet. Maybe. We’re courting.” Pip held Tryndar’s gaze rather than look away. She wasn’t sure how much sincerity the little boy could read in her gaze, but she would be as open as she could.

Tryndar gave a nod. He paused for a moment, his hands gripped on his knees. “Do you want to see my toy soldiers?”

This seemed like a make or break moment for winning over Fieran’s little brother.

Pip smiled and nodded. “Of course. I’d love to.”

Tryndar popped to his feet, grabbed her hand, and tugged her down the hall. “Come on.”

Pip found herself led upstairs and into the first room down the hall. There the bed tucked beneath the window was made rather neatly for a young boy. The chest of toys and the items on the bookshelf were set with a rather meticulous order, down to the rows of soldiers on the lower shelves.

Tryndar darted around his room, pointing out various items and telling her about them.

She hadn’t known the half-elf boy could string so many words together.

He held up one elf figurine. “This one is Dacha. And this one is Uncle Weylind. And this is Uncle Rharreth.” He paused, frowning at the line of figurines. “I do not have one of Fieran.”

He sounded so despondent that Pip had to smother a laugh. Then she whirled, heading for the door. “Wait there. I’ll be back in a moment.”

Pip hurried from the door and nearly ran into Ellie, who was walking down the hallway while holding a book before her face. How she was reading and walking at the same time, Pip didn’t know.

Dodging around her, Pip dashed down the stairs, down the hall, and into her room. She dug through her bag until she found the section of metal she’d tucked into her bag when she’d left Fort Defense. She’d never unpacked it at the AMPC, and it had made its way here.

She hadn’t been sure what to do with the piece of shrapnel, all that was left of Fieran’s aeroplane. It had been a sweet—if a bit macabre—gesture on Fieran’s part. But Pip didn’t really want to keep a piece of metal that had impaled him.

She wouldn’t tell Tryndar that part. But he’d find it neat to have a piece of Fieran’s aeroplane.

After taking a moment to reshape the metal with her magic, she hurried back the way she’d come.

Louise was meandering from her room as Pip reached the top of the stairs again, and she gave her a raised eyebrow look as Pip ran by.

Pip knocked on Tryndar’s open door. “I’m back.”

Tryndar was sitting on the edge of his bed, swinging his legs. “You may come in. You are not supposed to go into a room until someone says that.”

Pip strode inside with a hand behind her back. “I brought you something.”

“A gift?” Tryndar slid off his bed and crept closer.

Pip brought her hand from behind her back and presented the small metal aeroplane she had crafted from the piece of shrapnel.

The biplane’s wings were thinnest metal while the struts had more weight to them.

She’d even created a little metal pilot in the cockpit, complete with goggles and flight cap.

“This was made from a piece of Fieran’s aeroplane. ”

Tryndar’s eyes were wide as moons as he took the tiny aeroplane. For several moments, he examined the aeroplane from every angle. He spun the propeller and the wheels, making her glad she’d thought to create them so they moved.

Pip smiled, watching him. She’d never had a younger sibling to spoil before.

Something inside her ached, and she wasn’t sure if it was a good ache or a bad ache. She was falling for Fieran, yes, but after this weekend she was falling for his family too.

A knock sounded on the open door as Princess Elspeth halted just outside. “Breakfast is ready.”

Tryndar bounded across the room, holding up the toy aeroplane. “Look what Miss Pip gave me!”

Princess Elspeth smiled at Tryndar, her gaze taking in the aeroplane. “Did you thank Miss Pip?”

“Linshi.” Tryndar didn’t even glance over his shoulder, still too enamored with the aeroplane.

Pip took that as a compliment. “You’re welcome.”

Tryndar made buzzing, zooming noises as he held the aeroplane up and raced past Princess Elspeth and into the hallway.

Princess Elspeth smiled and shook her head. “I’m sorry about Tryndar kidnapping you this morning.”

“I don’t mind. I’m just glad he’s warming up to me.” Pip followed the princess from the room.

The two of them entered the hall just as Tryndar clambered onto the stair railing. Still holding the toy aeroplane, Tryndar slid down the banister. Beside Pip, Princess Elspeth just shook her head, as if she was rather inured to wild elf children by now.

Too bad Pip couldn’t create a fully metal aeroplane for Fieran. She could make something like that more impervious to bullets, not to mention capable of conducting his magic even better than the shielding wires.

Yet everyone knew aeroplanes needed to be as light as possible. It was difficult enough to get a heavier-than-air aeroplane to fly as it was without making it even heavier.

Someday, maybe mechanics and science would develop enough to make such a thing possible. Until then, Pip needed to concentrate on the things she could develop. Like the incredibly stubborn synchronization gear.

If only she could just work her magic on that as easily as she had the scrap of metal. But magic didn’t seem to be the answer this time around.

Or was it…Pip froze in the corridor, her mind whirling. What if…if they…

She hurried past Princess Elspeth with a murmured “Pardon me,” before she raced down the stairs. Bursting into the kitchen, she skidded to a halt by the table, where Louise was already helping herself to pancakes from the stack on the plate. “We’ve been coming at the gear all wrong.”

Louise froze, her gaze swinging to Pip. “What do you mean?”

“We’ve been trying to make it purely mechanical. But what if it needs to be powered?”

“A magical solenoid! Of course!” Louise shoved away from the table. “If we routed the magic through…”

She kept speaking out loud as she headed for the door, as if she planned to grab her bag and leave for Aldon right that minute.

Princess Elspeth stepped into the kitchen, took one look at Louise, raised her eyebrows, and pointed toward the table. “I’m not sure what I missed, but both of you need to eat breakfast before you go anywhere. If you don’t eat for your sake, then at least let our guest have a chance to eat.”

Louise blinked, then turned back to Pip as if she’d forgotten Pip was there. “Oh, right. Sorry, Pip.”

As she settled into her seat once again, the back door opened, and Fieran stepped inside.

Pip caught her breath, her mouth going a little dry at the sight of him.

He wore his swords strapped across his back, his red hair tousled and a hint of perspiration at the hairline.

With his green, elven-style clothes and those swords, he looked far more elven than he usually did in his Escarlish uniform.

It was really too bad that she wasn’t brave enough to kiss him in front of his family.

Pip threw herself into Fieran’s arms when he stepped into the main invention warehouse. “We did it.”

He caught her, his arms wrapping around her waist and holding her against him, even as her feet dangled above the floor. “The synchronization gear?”

“Yes! It works. It finally works.” Pip hugged him around the neck. “Not just works, but it’s reliable. Much better than the Mongavarian version.”

He never would have crashed if his propeller hadn’t broken. She couldn’t prevent all the reasons for a crash. She couldn’t control all the factors in a war. But this was one thing she had fixed.

Fieran grinned at her, his face only inches from hers. “I knew you could do it.”

“Louise and Bennett did most of it. I just gave a few suggestions here and there.” Pip shifted her elbows to better support her weight against Fieran’s chest since her feet were still rather far from the floor.

She was definitely not going to think of the feel of his muscles and the way his face was so very close and kissable.

“They still couldn’t have done it without you.” He was all but beaming at her, his grin wide, his blue eyes sparkling.

“Then do I get a congratulations kiss?” After all, what was the point of officially courting if congratulations kisses weren’t a part of the deal?

Fieran’s grin widened before he finally kissed her. She wiggled her toes in her boots and kissed him back, her grip tightening around his neck.

Now this was the perfect way to celebrate. Even better—barely—than the bowls of celebration ice cream she and Louise had gotten during their lunch break. It had been really good ice cream.

When she pulled back to end the kiss, Fieran lowered her feet back to the floor. His grin faded into a rather serious expression, given the kissing of a moment before.

Pip rested her hand on his arm. “What is it?”

Fieran pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket. “I’ve been cleared for duty and given my new orders. I’ll be flying out in a few days, escorting a squadron of the new bomber aeroplanes to Fort Defense.”

“Oh.” Pip’s hands dropped to her sides. All the heady rush of their courtship dropping as quickly as an aeroplane from the sky.