Let the Sky Fall (35 page)

“That’s your theory?” Arella shouts. “Then you’ve officially lost it, Audra. You want to know the truth? Fine—I’ll give you the truth. I did what you were too weak to do. I forced Vane’s breakthrough. I knew it would never happen unless you were in mortal danger. So I did what had to be done. And it worked—didn’t it? You speak Westerly now, don’t you?”

“So you gave away our location to the Stormers—without even warning us?” It takes all my willpower not to rip the smug smile off her face. “We almost
died
. And you did it for my
breakthrough
?”

“For the key to defeating the greatest enemy our world’s ever known? You bet I did. I’m a guardian, Vane. I did my job—since my daughter didn’t have the courage or skill to do it.”

“Guardian?” I spit the word. “You’re damn lucky I had the breakthrough, because if I hadn’t, Audra would be dead now and I’d be Raiden’s prisoner. A real guardian would’ve protected us. You ran because you’re weak!”

“You think I’m
weak
?”

She waves her arms, and the winds stir around us without her uttering any commands.

Audra tries to back away, but I hold our ground. I call one of each of the four winds and tangle them around my hand.

Arella gasps.

Yeah—that’s right. Let’s not forget who’s the last freaking Westerly here.

“You may know a few tricks, but
I’m
the most powerful guardian in the Gales,” she hisses like a coiled snake ready to strike.

“If you’re so powerful, why couldn’t you save us during the fight today? And why couldn’t you save my family ten years ago?”

Arella laughs again, the sound so harsh it makes both Audra and me jump. “You want to blame someone for your parents’ death? Then you’d better blame my daughter. Ask
her
what happened that day.”

Audra makes a strangled sound, like she’s just been kicked in the gut.

I pull her against my side, supporting her. “She already told me what happened.”

Arella steps forward, a glint in her eyes. “Really? So she told you she called the wind to save Gavin after a Southerly knocked him out of the sky? That she branded the draft with her trace and didn’t even have the decency to tell us so we could prepare? That she killed her father and your parents? You know all of that?”

Audra starts to shake.

“It wasn’t your fault,” I remind her. “It
wasn’t
.”

“I know,” she says, surprising me with the conviction in her voice.

She pulls away from me, rounding on Arella. “I never told anyone it was a gust of wind that knocked Gavin out of the sky. And I never knew what type of draft it was. The only way you could know it was a Southerly is if you were there. And if you were there, then you
knew
the Stormer was coming—and you didn’t warn Dad. Almost like . . .”

She stares at the sky, like she’s watching her words hover over us, not sure what to do with any of them.

That makes two of us.

“You wanted the Stormer to find us, didn’t you?” she finally whispers.

Arella hesitates before she answers.

But she knows she’s trapped. So she raises a defiant eyebrow at Audra. “Yes.”

CHAPTER 56

AUDRA

I
t wasn’t my fault.

The words are so foreign—so impossible—I don’t know how to wrap my mind around them. The more they swirl around my head, the more they boil into rage.

Vane tries to hold me steady, but I pull away.

“Why?”
I scream at my mother. “You killed Dad. Killed Vane’s parents. Let me take the blame—ruined my life! How could you do that? Why would you do that?”

“You think I killed your father?” She reaches under her uniform and pulls out my father’s pendant, holding the black cord. “You think I wanted this? I
loved
him. I chose him—out of all the men who wanted me. I bonded to
him
.”

She waves her link toward my face, pointing to the worn, tarnished cuff like I don’t know what it means.

The winds swell with her anger and she hugs her arms to her chest. Shaking from the pain.

I’m too disgusted to feel sorry for her. “You
let
the Stormer find us. Did you send the Southerly, too? Knock Gavin out of the sky, knowing I’d save him?”

The thought makes my eyes burn and my stomach heave. The birds were
ours—
the one thing we shared. “You know how strong our connection to birds is—you knew I wouldn’t be able to resist. You planned the whole thing, didn’t you, so I would take the blame?”

Some small part of me wants her to deny it—wants to believe she couldn’t possibly be behind all the pain and loss I’ve suffered for the last ten years.

Instead, she looks away. “All I wanted was my life back. Our lives back. Our beautiful house in the hills, wrapped in Easterlies that soothed instead of distressed.” She swipes the skin of her arms like she’s trying to sweep the winds aside. “You have no idea what I endure every second, and you don’t care. No one does. Everyone only cares what my gift can do for them. Only your father understood—and when we bonded he promised he would shelter me, ease the burden as much as he could. And he did. Until
his
family came along.”

She turns on Vane. “They refused to share their language, even after we gave up everything to help them. And they wouldn’t fight, either. Claimed the training caused them
pain
.” Her eyes darken as she hugs herself, battling another tremor. “They knew nothing of
pain.
”

“Pretty sure they felt pain when they were
murdered
!” Vane shouts, holding up the winds he called, ready to hurtle them at her.

I grab his arm to stop him. He studies me for a second, then lets the winds go free.

I take a breath, trying to figure out what to think, what to feel.

The summer sun presses down on us, but my mother shivers as another draft sinks into her skin.

“I couldn’t live that way anymore,” she whispers. “Out in the hammering winds day and night. I pleaded with your father to give up the assignment. But he was like you. Loyal to the Gales beyond all reason. Put his oath above everything. Above
me
. So I found another solution.”

My fingers curl into claws and I want to lunge for her.
“Your solution got everyone killed!”

“No darling, that was
you
.”

The words knock me back and I feel Vane steady me.

“I planned everything carefully,” she insists. “I offered Raiden a deal—the Westons in exchange for my family’s freedom. Sent the message hidden in a flurry and waited. I felt the moment he received it, and the winds told me he accepted. So I started sending out our location—then I’d warn everyone right before they caught up and we’d run. I wanted to convince your father that we’d always hear them coming, so he’d let his guard down. And I was careful. I found ways to tip Raiden off that couldn’t be traced back to me. I knew your father wouldn’t understand.”

“Because you’re a traitor!”

It’s like she doesn’t even hear me. Her mind’s somewhere else as
she rubs the bird on her cuff, staring into the void between us. “I did everything I could to keep my family safe. I convinced your father to start eating, so he’d be too weak to fight. I used you to give us away because I knew your father would forgive you. And I thought it would make you more obedient if you thought you were to blame.”

“Obedient?” Vane shouts. “You framed your daughter—let her take the blame—”

“She
was
to blame!” My mother’s hard eyes focus on me. “When the Stormer came, I’d almost convinced your father to flee—almost convinced him to abandon the Westons because we weren’t strong enough to save them. But then you ran back into the storm. That’s when it all fell apart. I felt you get caught. Your father went to rescue you, but the storm snared him, too. So I fought my way to the Stormer to demand he release you both and he told me he had orders to kill me.”

“Serves you right,” Vane spits. “In fact, I think I was there when that happened. I saw you fighting. Right before he beat you and flung you out of the storm like trash.”

“He did
not
beat me.”

“Really? That’s not what it looked like from where I stood. You did some fancy wrist flick thing a few times and pissed him off—but he still launched you out of his way.”

“
Because you distracted me!
And I hurt him in ways you can’t even imagine.”

The chill in my mother’s voice turns my blood cold.

She scratches at her skin again, and for the first time I see the pain for what it really is. A poison sinking into her.

I’m afraid to know how far it spread.

“Vane?” I ask, barely able to form the word. “Tell me exactly what you saw.”

He frowns, like he’s reliving the memory. “I saw the Stormer attack your mom. At first she was losing, but then she flicked her wrist and knocked him over with the wind somehow. Then he made himself an indestructible shell of winds, so she flicked her arm and attacked the other Stormer. That’s when he got pissed and launched her away so he could go help his friend.”

Spots dance behind my eyes and I don’t want to hear any more. But I have to know. “Why did you think there was another Stormer?”

“I heard a guy cry out somewhere in the distance after she flicked her arm. Who else would it be?”

I wobble on my feet, wishing I could drop to the ground and never get up again. Anything to not have to tell Vane the truth.

“There was only one Stormer,” I say, forcing myself to look at my mother. She’s staring me down, like she knows what I’m thinking and is ordering me not to say it. But she can’t hide her secret anymore.

I’ve always wondered how things went so wrong that day—how two trees could accidentally impale Vane’s parents after they’d been captured. The Stormer never would have let anything happen to Raiden’s precious cargo.

But with a flick of her wrist my mother could’ve sent those jagged boughs anywhere she pleased.

“You killed the Westons, didn’t you?” I whisper.

Vane sucks in a breath.

My mother doesn’t even flinch before she responds. “I betrayed Raiden the same way he betrayed me.”

Her words form a storm in my head, twisting and pounding as I fight them, block them—refuse to accept them. But truth always finds a way to sink in.

I search my mother’s face for any sign of guilt or regret—or even madness brought on by her poisonous gift.

But she looks . . . blank.

And her voice is unashamed when she adds, “They never would have survived Raiden’s interrogation. They were as good as dead anyway.”

“That’s only because you helped them get captured!”
Vane screams.

“They didn’t deserve my protection,” she snaps back. “They were
weak
—and weak by
choice
. I was done worrying about them. All I wanted was to get my family out of there. And that’s what I tried to do. But my husband wouldn’t leave
you
. He sacrificed himself to save a worthless little boy.” She lunges for Vane.

I yank him out of her reach and shove her back, clawing her skin as I do.

My mother laughs as she stares at the bloody trails I’ve left on her bare arms.

Laughs.

The cold, empty sound shatters the last of the illusions she’s wrapped around herself, showing me who she really is—or has become.

A murderer.

She must see the realization on my face because her eyes narrow
and she reaches up, tearing out the knots of her braid and letting her hair fall free. “I guess this means we’re done pretending. And I’m done protecting you.”

“
Protecting me?
You’ve done nothing but belittle and ignore—”

“Not you, Audra—you’ve already gotten more than you deserved when you inhaled your father’s gift. But I have been protecting
him
.”

Vane barks a laugh, sounding very close to unraveling. I grip his arm to stop him as he advances toward her.

“Why
did
you protect him?” I ask.

“Raiden wanted me dead. I couldn’t risk losing the support of the Gales. Besides, Vane has what Raiden wants. So I erased his memories in case he saw too much and hid him away. Let you watch over him so you’d stay out of my sight—and voted against you being a guardian so you’d push him as hard as possible to prove me wrong. Waited for his Westerly breakthrough. And now it’s
finally
happened. I can finally take my revenge against Raiden.”

“I’ll never help you,” Vane growls, reaching for the wind.

“Oh, I think you will,” she tells him. “I know how to get through to you.”

My mother’s a blur of motion as a jagged piece of windmill launches at me, missing my skull by inches.

It takes me about two seconds to process the fact that my mother just tried to kill me. Then I shove Vane out of the way and launch a crusher.

The thick funnel slams into her, squeezing her at the waist—making her eyes bulge. But my mother weaves a wind spike and stabs the winds, breaking free.

She launches the spike at Vane.

I tackle him and the spike streaks over our heads as we crash to the sandy ground. Dirt and debris rain around us.

“You okay?” I ask, scanning him for wounds.

“Yeah. You?”

I hear the next wind spike coming and roll us out of the way. Sand explodes everywhere.

“You’re just as hopelessly in love as he is, aren’t you?” She blurs again as she launches another spike. Vane barely scrambles away in time. “Maybe
you
should have to feel what it’s like to lose what you care about most!”

Vane starts to call the wind to our side, but I place my hand over his lips to silence him.

I don’t want him fighting anymore.

Besides—this is my battle.

I jump to my feet, launching another crusher at my mother in the same motion.

She dodges the funnel with unnatural grace and speed.

“What’s your plan here, Audra? You can’t match me—even with your father’s gift. I was always the more powerful one.” She flicks both wrists, flinging more windmill debris. I barely manage to dodge in time. “You can’t stop me.”