Whispers of the Skyborne (Devices of War Book 3) (56 page)

“Lady Neira kind of implied we would,” Doctor Carson said, with a laughing snort. “I don’ think she’d allow us to do anythin’ different.”

“Good.” My smile dimmed a little. I missed my friend, though she and I had never been nearly as close as Haji and myself. She’d seen me through a pretty horrible time in my life. “Good.”

Keeley’s smile dimmed a little, too. She looked away, straightening her shoulders and gestured to the side, her eyebrows high.

I nodded and followed as she moved away.

A few steps away from her group, she stopped and turned to me, her fingers folded around her bone cup. “I feel I should apologize.”

“No.” Shame filled me. I’d been so stupid and so angry and so hurt as I grieved, I’d failed to realize other people lived around me…as people. “I am the one who frightened you. I am the one who—” I struggled to find the right word. “—threw the tantrum.”

A chuckle escaped out of her in surprise. “Ye—well, yes.” Another chuckle. “Yes.”

“Keeley.” I reached out my hand.

She flinched.

Doctor Carson looked up at us from over the heads of those around him.

I pulled my hand back and bowed my head. Taking in a deep breath, I plastered on a wide smile. “I hope we can still be friends. I am truly sorry for how I acted. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“I know.” She applied a forced smile of her own. “I know. And a true friend wouldn’t have run.”

I bit my lips. I didn’t have an answer to that. Maybe that was the real answer. We’d had our moment, but in the center of our hearts, we didn’t have the connection to one another that I did with Haji. Maybe we weren’t real friends. “Good luck with your school.”

She took a step back. “Good look with the League.”

I wandered through the crowd, wondering how long I had to stay. My heart hurt a little and I was ready to go back to my ship.

Neira had given me a look that said she’d slay me slowly if I abandoned her when this had all started. I felt as though the only answer was to stay to the end.

Haji grabbed my arm, a wild grin on his face.

I felt myself smiling back at him before I’d even heard the good news.

“She is giving us Koko Nadi.”

“Us. Wow.” I hadn’t even noticed when my best friend had become the kind of leader who included all of his people when I knew for a fact Neira had given
him
the Koko Nadi Islands. We’d discussed it in great length. She needed someone who could protect the islands from attack. Garrett had tried, but he’d been a leader of civilians. Haji was the Umira Nuru, a man who’d made a name for himself.

His face took on a happy glow as he gripped my shoulder. “I know you had a hand in this, and I thank you from the bottom of my soul.” He patted his chest. “We have a home again.”

“It’s not
your
home.” I knew that’s where he, ultimately, wanted to go.

He shrugged. “Who knows? One day, maybe we will get that back as well. After all, the Han is gone now.”

I chuckled as he departed, wrapping his arm around Rashidi’s shoulder in celebration. They continued on to the rest of their group to share the news.

A commotion rose at the elevator platform. As the people moved to the side, I made out the ice blue and silver skirt through the press of people.

Hands of Tarot. Queen of Wands. Dyna.

Crap.

I walked through the crowd to where Neira sat on a high stool.

She saw me and glared, pointing her finger to the floor beside her.

Skah wiggled her blonde brows at me, her back straight, her bow slung across her back.

I stood where Neira commanded.

“I will slay you,” she whispered.

“You’re the leader,” I whispered back.

“Of your damned League.” She straightened and nodded to Chie.

A wall of people lined a wide semi-circle before Neira. Chie stepped out from it, looking odd in her new clothes. Shades of purple; pants, boots, skirt, blouse, vest, and scarves. Her straight, black hair hung loose down her back. She raised her round chin and smiled.

“Chie Yasu Noriko,” Neira said loud enough to be heard above those nearest us, but not so loud as to be heard into the crowd. “You have requested a post on the outskirts of the known regions. Is this correct?”

Chie dipped her head. “I have.”

“Yvette L’eau-esprit,” Neira called.

Yvette slipped from the crowd, her pale blue robes loose and flowing around her knees. Her legs and feet remained bare. “Lady Neira Vashkelran.”

“Due to your unique abilities, I would ask you to share the patrol of the known regions with the Yasu Noriko.”

Yvette smiled gracefully. I’d never seen a
graceful
smile before. “We would love to, Lady Neira.”

Neira nodded and dismissed them, leaning over to me to whisper out of the side of her mouth, “I wish they would stop calling me lady.”

“If you want them to call you something else, you should tell them,” I whispered back.

She glared at me.

The queens of Tarot stepped into the semi-circle, Dyna in the lead. Her ice-blue and silver skirt was full, the silver corset tight. On her piled blonde hair rested a clock-work crown. She dipped her head and rose. “Neira, Leader of the League of Cities.”

Neira sighed. “Queen Dyna.”

“I have come to reclaim our charge.”

We had discussed it. With the threat of the Great Family out of the way, we didn’t believe we needed to keep Nix so close. If the Skyborne threatened again, we might bring her back. Might. It was time to allow the Hands of Tarot to take Nix back.

A guard led Nix into the open space from behind us.

Nix’s head was bowed, her hands clasped in front of her. Even the normal haughty set of her shoulders was gone. She looked broken.

If there was one thing I knew about her, it was that she wouldn’t stay broken for long.

Dyna glanced at me and smiled slightly, then returned her attention to Neira. “Thank you.”

Neira nodded.

Dyna took Nix’s arm and led her back the way she’d come.

The rest of the afternoon dragged on with more tribal leaders stepping forward, leaving gifts that were then secreted away some place.

As both suns set, Neira stood. “We’re done.” She turned and walked towards the back where a lone hut stood. She gestured for me to follow, Skah at her side.

I ducked into the hut.

She offered a pillow thrown on the floor around the cool fire pit. She dropped her fur half-cloak on the floor and sank onto one herself.

I frowned as I sat, not sure what I was doing there.

“You can’t disappear again,” Neira said quietly.

“And neither can you.”

“Unlike you, I was never really gone from the world.” She tipped her head and looked at me through her eyelashes, taking the cup Skah offered.

I hadn’t realized before, but what she said was true. She had a much larger part to play in this world than I did, even when the El’Asim tribe had been at its peak.

Skah offered me a bone cup as well.

I took it, thanking her with a tip of my head. “What would you have me do?”

Neira sighed, undoing the laces of her boot. “With Oki dead, I will need a second and it is time you took leadership of this League. It was your idea in the first place.”

I supposed it was, but I still didn’t have a clue what “leadership” really even meant.

“And I’m making you leader of the Menagerie.”

I frowned. “What?”

“It’s what I’m calling our military force. We have so many types of military, from land to water to air. It seemed a good name for it.”

I raised my eyebrows and sipped the wine in my cup. It had a heady scent and a full pallet that left a taste of rambleberries. “And what do you want me to do with this military force?”

“Prepare them,” she said, her dark gaze blunt. “Our world is too naïve for peace.”

Skah sank onto the pillow opposite me.

“The other programmer is still out there. The Skyborne are still dying, and they know how to destroy our planet to suit their needs. We destroyed their tools, but they will make more. We will be ready.”

I nodded. “And when I am not preparing for war or when we are not facing a foe? What then?”

She smiled and saluted me with her cup. “Then you maintain your peace.” She sipped her wine. “After all, you fought so hard to get it.”

I had.

To sail under a sky of peace, to have the luxury to study the stars as I once had.

Yes. I would maintain the peace for as long as I could manage it.

SM Blooding lives in Colorado with her new family; Rocky, the rockwieler, Tesla, the real cat, and Mr. Dork and his adorable part-time live-in’s, Thing 1 and Thing 2. Her life is filled with love and hope thanks to them and the entourage that comes with them. When she’s not writing, she’s directing Things 1 and 2 to clean the house like a real-life wicked step-mother, and turning off the lights for Mr. Dork. Apparently, there are no light switches in Alaska.

She’s dated vampires, werewolves, sorcerers, weapons smugglers, US Government assassins, and slingshot welding terrorists. Yes. She has stories.

She’s also an investigator with a local paranormal investigation group, Colorado Paranormal Rescue! Discover more at:
coloradoparanormalrescue.org

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