That truth resonated deep inside her, letting her know she was doing the right thing.
With a swift series of moves, Arden kicked out, catching Dade in the stomach. She was careful not to kick hard enough to cause internal damage, merely enough to double him over. Strength could be demonstrated in how much she held back, not only in how thoroughly she could beat people to a bloody pulp. Overt aggression was unnecessary for instilling fear.
Before she left, she slipped his knife back into the sheath at his side. She wanted to add a warning that he should never draw a blade unless he meant to kill. Instead, she leaned in close and said into his ear, “Lead with the phaser instead of the knife next time. Never allow your opponent close contact. Don’t hesitate to shoot, and for sun’s sake, keep your pretty head on your shoulders.”
Then she straightened, turned, and walked away.
Each step felt agonizing. No matter what she did, she couldn’t shake the feeling that she was leaving something important behind. Arden drew her hood over her face, blending in with the crowd as she turned her thoughts to her upcoming meeting, the one where she would be planning to crush Dade’s family.
CHAPTER TWO
Colin met her at the subtrain station in the heart of Undercity, originally a mining town when the planet was first terraformed and colonized. The mining carts had been relocated when mineral stripping had been outlawed within the city limits. While the energy fields had been left in place and repurposed, the tracks now used sleek, bullet-shaped cars.
He slouched against a crumbling wall with his arms crossed and a booted heel hooked into the crack in the brick. The hood of his cloak had been pushed down to rest on his shoulders, showing his translucent skin and spiky, pale-blond hair. Hidden under the cloak was the body of an assassin, lithe and whip strong, with a phaser at his hip and knives strapped for easy access.
The city was layered vertically: Undercity, then the Levels, and finally the Sky Towers. At ground level, Undercity was fully encased to support Above, the area comprising the Levels and the Sky Towers. Residents of Undercity couldn’t travel to and from the rest of the Levels. They’d been locked in. Arden wasn’t sure why, she only knew that it sucked. Undercity and its people functioned as the backbone of the three-tiered city.
Of course, it didn’t stop her or her gang from moving as they pleased.
Colin cocked his head when he saw her, his narrowed eyes all-knowing. “You’re late.”
Arden avoided meeting her cousin’s gaze. “I had things to do.” Her breath left her mouth in cloudy puffs. The air here tasted rich with thick humidity. The minerals salted her tongue. She pulled her cloak tight about her. Coming home was always depressing. She liked leaving to travel up into the Levels. It might not be much warmer there, but at least it didn’t have the constant wet of below.
She shouldn’t complain. Arden was used to the cold even if she didn’t like it. It had numbed bits of her that never seemed to thaw. Often she wondered if they ever might.
“You’re never late.”
Arden grunted, the sound both acknowledging the truth of his statement and letting him know that she didn’t want to continue this line of questioning.
Unfortunately, as usual Colin had other ideas. “Niall asked why you hadn’t replied to your pings. Your comm has been off all afternoon.”
She made a show of checking her pockets. “I don’t have my datapad on me.”
His raised eyebrow nearly reached his hairline. “That’s odd.”
“It’s been an off day.” That was the understatement of the year. Arden fought not to fidget, because then he’d know she wasn’t telling him everything. Her mind went back over her conversation with Dade. Thinking about him made her feel awkward, an emotion she’d not experienced in forever. It had her walking off, confused, and leaving Colin to catch up.
Not that her lack of explanation could put off Colin. If anything, it would only serve to make him more curious. By the time she reached the pay meters, he stood directly behind her, his face pinched. She refused to meet his penetrating gaze.
They scanned in, then made their way onto the train platform. It was already congested with midday commuters on their way home from their assigned work zones. She’d gotten here later than she realized. They’d be lucky to squeeze into the next train. No wonder Colin was upset.
“You’re lying to me,” Colin said after they’d navigated through the press of commuters to the edge of the platform. “Me, the one person who always has your back no matter what. I had to take heat from Niall today because you couldn’t be bothered to do your job, so I really don’t appreciate your taking me for a fool.”
He was right that she had lied. She’d turned off her datapad before she’d intercepted Dade and had forgotten to turn it back on. But if she admitted that, it would open the door to a million other questions. The least of which was why she had let Dade go. Instead, she deflected. “I’m not lying.”
“Really?” Colin reached into his cloak to pull a handkerchief from one of his many secret pockets. “Let’s look at the evidence, shall we? We’ll start with the blood.”
“The what?”
Colin pointedly lowered his gaze to her throat. He lingered over the vowels. “The blood.”
She fingered her neck where the knife had pressed. It felt wet, and when she pulled her hand away, her fingertips were stained. Arden sighed. She should have realized. How badly had meeting Dade thrown her off? She snagged the handkerchief from him and blotted. “It’s just a scratch.”
Colin took hold of her chin, turning her face to get a better look. “It’s not deep. It won’t even need a med kit.”
He released his fingers, but his gaze never left her.
She turned away from the intensity of his stare. There was nowhere to go on the crowded platform, no way to change the subject or distance herself while she thought up an excuse. The commuters at her back felt like a living thing as they pushed her forward.
It didn’t help that Colin looked at her with suspicion and distrust, something she couldn’t recall him ever doing. Her shoulders deflated.
“Niall’s gonna freak.” He smirked as if the thought of her brother losing it amused him, yet the distrust in his gaze didn’t lessen.
“I doubt he’ll notice.”
Colin’s lips pressed together, and he raised an eyebrow. Okay, yes, she didn’t believe that either. No matter how drugged up Niall was, he’d notice. The anticipation of that discussion started a churning in her stomach.
“What happened? And this time I’d like the truth.” The steel in his voice let Arden know that she hadn’t been forgiven yet.
She blew out a breath. “Seriously, it was nothing. I had some face time with a Solizen. No biggie.”
“No one should have gotten close enough to cut you, especially a siskin. Unless you wanted him in your space.” He paused, as if waiting for his words to register. Then his head tilted, and he looked at her shrewdly. “There can be only one explanation.”
“What’s that?”
Colin paused again dramatically. Then he leaned in close, as if sharing a secret. His voice was low and conspiratorial when he asked, “How gorgeous is he?”
Arden glared, wanting to kick him. Hating that he could read her so easily. Dade had been breathtaking.
Colin laughed loud and hard, nearly doubling over. “We’re talking about a war wound, he had to be devastatingly handsome. Did you think I wouldn’t figure it out? I know you better than that.”
Her frown quirked into a rueful smile, she was unable to stay irritated. At least he was teasing her. That was progress.
“You would have found him attractive,” she admitted with a shrug.
He laughed harder. The jerk.
“Shut up.” She lightly pushed at him with mock anger.
“How’d he get so close to your neck, hmm? You must be into some kinky stuff,” Colin said between heaving laughs. “If he was that amazing, I hope you gave him my number.”
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Arden rolled her eyes. “You wish.”
Colin cleared his throat a few times, getting himself back under control. He then let out a long-suffering sigh that she knew was 100 percent fake. “Keep your secrets, if you must. But please be aware that when you fail to show when you’re supposed to, my mind begins to run through every disastrous scenario.” His tone fell flat, as had his expression.
The guilt felt suffocating. She swallowed against it. “I’m sorry.”
He acknowledged her apology with a dismissive wave. “What’s done is done. Please don’t do it again.”
“Agreed.” Arden nodded, happy to let it go.
The train arrived, and a ding sounded before the doors dissolved. Disembarking passengers pushed through the waiting crowd. By the time Arden and Colin made it on board, all the seats were taken. She waved her hand over the sensor next to the door frame. Above them, the roof split along both sides, and hand straps dropped down. Arden grabbed one near the back.
Colin stepped close as the train pulled away from the platform. “Are you happy with your life?”
The randomness of the question confused Arden. Colin was all action, fun, and snarky humor. He never failed to take her to task. But he was not introspective in any way. He’d never asked any philosophical questions before, which left her at a loss as to how to answer him now.
“Are you?” he pressed.
“Who’s happy, really? We live, we survive.” There wasn’t much else to life, everyone knew that. Arden hadn’t been born to change the world. She wouldn’t want that responsibility anyway. There was a comfort in consistency, and she was okay if her life always remained the same.
“Don’t you want more?”
“More what?” she asked, genuinely curious. They had food, a place to sleep, and their gang allowed them some autonomy. What more was there?
“More everything.”
Arden scrunched her face. If she had a frame of reference for why he was being so weird, perhaps she’d be able to give him the response he wanted. She shook her head, lost.
He seemed to realize that she didn’t understand, because he paused a moment, considering, before asking, “I’m curious whether you find your life satisfying. Does it make you feel accomplished?”
“I don’t know, maybe?” She’d never thought about it. The fact that he posed the question made her worry. That ache in her gut that was good at signaling disaster started to twist. “Why are you asking this?”
“It’s always the same stuff over and over, you know? How much do we gotta see of overdoses and death, knowing we caused them, before it’s too much?”
Arden gave a noncommittal grunt. He spoke the truth. One she agonized over a lot. Sometimes the weight of her guilt felt crushing, but what was she supposed to do?
The train pulled in to their stop. Arden and Colin pushed their way out, avoiding the unmanned robots that periodically stopped passengers to check for contraband. They flowed with the crowd out of the station and onto the street, using the moving sidewalks to get them out of the hub faster.
There were no hovercars or speeders in Undercity. It was far too crowded and the streets too narrow for that. They had their own transportation not used in the Levels. Most commuters had a hoverboard or a speedpack that just sort of skimmed along the ground. Arden wasn’t opposed to using either option, but she preferred walking. It was easier to get through the tight, crowded spots, and it attracted less attention.
Their destination was a run-down urban neighborhood that had sprung up in what once had been the financial district of Undercity. Once there had been industry, as well as trade between Undercity and Above. People had moved freely into the Levels and back. That had ended, so there was no longer a need for these relics of commerce.
Banking institutions had been gutted, and the ground level had been converted into shops and bars. On the upper floors, hundreds of apartments were squeezed into the space. Rickety stairways had been erected alongside the buildings to create separate entrances.
“Taking over Lasair is the last thing you need,” Colin said.
“Who said I’m doing that?” She didn’t want Niall’s position as gang leader. It came with far too much responsibility. And she wasn’t in the gang because she believed in its principles or liked dealing drugs. It was simply a way to survive, and she’d taken it. There weren’t any other choices. It wasn’t ideal, but it had been her best option, plain and simple. She felt regret about a lot of things. She refused to add anything else to her list. “I have no intention of taking over. Please don’t start rumors.”
“People are already talking about it.”
“Why would they do that?”
Colin looked at her, his expression incredulous. “Because you’re in Niall’s face all the time. Publicly questioning his every move. Undermining his every idea.”
“I’m helping him, not plotting a coup.” Even though Niall was her brother, if he heard a rumor that she was scheming to take over, he’d end her life, quickly and efficiently. Nothing got in the way of his leadership. “If I’m going to die, I prefer it to be on my terms.”
“I’m telling you to watch yourself. Stop stating your opinions so vocally.”
That would be a problem, and they both knew it.
Colin kicked several pieces of trash out of the walkway and into the collected piles that lined the street, before stepping over a puddle of water. “You could go back to school.”
Arden laughed.
“I’m serious,” he said.
She shook her head. “That didn’t work out so well the first time.”
“No one made you drop out.”
Arden pressed her lips together, refusing to think about that time in her life. In a lot of ways, high school was worse than the streets. “It doesn’t matter. My life is good enough.”
“It’s not the one you should have.”
Arden tried to shake off her frustration, convinced he was being deliberately annoying. No one had any choices. Not in this city, at least not in Undercity or the Levels. Maybe the Solizen could do as they pleased.
“What do you think I’m owed?” she asked, knowing the aggression she used to keep others from getting too close had hardened her question. “It’s not like we’re afforded any opportunities. It’s not like I was lucky enough to be born a Solizen, or even a citizen of Above.”
The Solizen were the descendants of the original investors and privateers. They’d financially supported the company that’d colonized this city. They’d reaped the benefits of their status with dictatorship-like rule. Even though they’d established city government to “help the people,” the Solizen had been in control so long that the balance had never been restored. Arden and Colin’s ancestors had been members of the mining crew. Even after all these centuries, after breaking from the Old Planet and setting up sovereign territories on this world, they couldn’t shake their fate.
She stopped to face him, hands on her hips. “Get to the point.”
“I worry about the gang and the whispers. I worry that Niall is acting illogically and that you’re going to get swept up in the blowout. I get your loyalty to your brother, and it’s admirable, but the gang is a sinking ship.”
“You’re loyal to my brother too.” At least she thought he was. Now she wasn’t so sure.
“I’m loyal to you.”
The thought warmed her. “You’re saying that if I get out, you’d come with me?”
“No, I’m saying the gang is going in a direction that concerns me. Niall is unstable and getting worse. It’s not your job to save him.”
Was that what she was doing? Sometimes she seemed to be playing a long game, but she had never been sure of exactly what she wanted.
No family was perfect—hers was certainly questionable. She could admit that. And maybe her family members didn’t deserve her loyalty. But they were her family. And family supported each other no matter what.
“If he’s pressuring you . . .” Colin
left the rest of the thought unsaid.
Arden sighed. “I can handle it.”
He put his hand on her arm and gave a little squeeze. “All I’m saying is that today is a good example of you slipping. Instead of focusing on staying alive, you show up late and with your neck cut. Am I not supposed to be concerned?”
“I’ll be fine,” she said, and willed herself to believe it.
CHAPTER THREE
By the time Dade caught his breath, Arden was gone.
He’d never met a girl so enchanting. The way she’d effortlessly taken his knife had been a shock. He wasn’t dumb. He knew his life had been at risk the moment he’d felt her hand slip into his pocket. Still, he’d been foolish enough to think of her as a girl and not as a potential threat. Which made the cat-and-mouse game she’d played all the more stimulating. He’d even felt as if he had been in control at certain points, and now he realized that was what she’d intended.
It was a mistake he wouldn’t make again.
She’d practically glowed with confidence, like a star so bright that he couldn’t draw his gaze from her. Everything about her enchanted him, from the adorable freckles that bridged her nose to the curls wildly escaping the intricate knot of long golden-brown hair. When she’d smiled, his entire world had tilted on its axis.
Dade sighed and forced himself to focus on what he was supposed to be doing. His confrontation with Arden had eaten more time than he’d realized. He had to be at the meet point within the hour, and he still had another errand to complete.
The stink of rotting garbage and the stench of unwashed bodies mixed unpleasantly with the sulfur-smelling mist cast off from the static cloud as he slipped down the street, weaving through the crowd. He traveled into the Levels more often than his family knew. Each section of the city was built on top of another, expanding upward. At the base of the planet was Undercity, where he suspected Arden was from. He’d always been curious to explore Undercity but had yet to figure out a way in. Obviously, if she’d managed to make it into the Levels, there were ways around the sealed barriers just as he’d suspected.
The Breaking Light (Split City Book 1) Page 2
