by Erica Rue
Her people didn’t believe in an afterlife, so much as a renewal. The ash from the cremations would be collected and used as fertilizer. Plants would grow and sustain new life. The sentiment was beautiful, but the reality was not.
Cora felt overwhelmed. She didn’t even want to be Regnator. She just wanted to make sure that justice was served for her father’s death. She had one goal now: to find and execute every last Green Cloak still lurking among them.
Cora saw Lithia approach. “Are you okay?” Lithia said, her eyebrows lowered in concern.
“I’m fine.”
“I’m heading back to the Mountain Base, but you can call me if you need anything. Even if…” Lithia hesitated. “Even if it’s just to talk.”
Cora cocked her head to one side, studying Lithia. She still didn’t know what to make of her cousin. Cousin. She still wasn’t used to it.
“Thanks,” Cora said. Lithia nodded and left.
Cora turned back to the pyre. Her father was dead. The man she loved was dead. What little faith she had left seemed to burn away in the flames.
42. LITHIA
When Lithia got Dione’s message, she sighed in relief. Dione had found her stun rifle and would bring it back with her. Lithia had lost it somewhere in the aftermath of the battle, and Dione was the only one left at the Vale Temple. Unless she counted Brian, that is. Everyone else had returned to the Mountain Base.
Lithia paused in the hallway to compose a response when she heard a familiar voice coming from the closest room.
“Brian will be on his way back soon with a load of provisions,” Colm was saying. “Benjamin is honoring our trade agreement, but I’ve heard some rumors about challenges to his leadership. Are you still going to give Brian a Flyer?”
“Brian’s Flyer is at the bottom of the lake. With everything that’s happened, I can’t let him take one,” Victoria said.
“He’s done a lot the past few days. Maybe you could give him a break?” Colm said.
Lithia wanted to peek around the corner again just to make sure it was actually Colm speaking, but she recognized his deep bass. Somewhere in that broad chest of his, the man did have a heart.
“Everyone has done a lot, Colm. I don’t understand why people think that they should be rewarded for defending the colony. It’s his colony. It’s his duty to protect it, just like the rest of us. Why should he be rewarded for meeting expectations?”
“If all he’s done is meet expectations, then I agree with you.”
“No, you don’t, but that doesn’t matter. I’m not giving the boy a Flyer, at least not any time soon.”
Lithia was furious. Brian had risked everything to help them, even when they didn’t want his help, and this woman couldn’t lend him a shuttle for a few days? She was about to barge in and give Victoria a piece of her mind when she saw her half-completed reply to Dione. She and Brian weren’t back. They were still at the Aratian settlement. She had an idea.
Lithia slipped away, out of earshot of any Ficarans, and called Dione.
“Di, have you left yet?”
“Not yet,” she replied. “Why?”
“Victoria isn’t going to give Brian a shuttle to go find his dad. You need to tell him.”
Dione scoffed. “What? Why? What’s her problem?”
“Too many to count. He deserves to know.”
“You’re right, but… man, this is going to be awkward.”
“What do you mean?”
“We’re not really talking. He told me about the kiss, and I don’t blame you or anything, because you didn’t know he kissed me when you were being held prisoner by the Aratians.”
Well, that explained a lot. Suddenly Melanie’s interruption made sense. And Brian’s weirdness the next day. How had she missed that?
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Lithia was pretty sure that even her drunk, the-world-is-ending self would not have made out with him if she had known.
“There were other more pressing matters, like Bel’s impending death.”
She has a point. “Well, tell him anyway. It’s not really his fault. You know how I am. I’m sorry, Di. We need to work on our I-wanna-jump-this-guy communication so this doesn’t happen again.”
“Crap. Here he comes,” Dione said in a hurry. “I’ll update you later.” She signed off.
43 DIONE
Despite the serious look on Brian’s face, he was handsome as ever. His long, dark hair was back in a bun, and his brown eyes looked almost golden in the sunlight. There were just a few shuttles left, still being packed with food. The dead had been carried back to the Mountain Base for burial. Or cremation. She could see the smoke from the Aratian funeral pyre. Now they were loading up the supplies the Aratians had given them as part of Benjamin’s deal with Victoria.
Brian kept his distance. When she waved him over, he looked confused. “What’s wrong?” he said. Because something had to be wrong for her to talk to him.
“Lithia just overheard Colm and Victoria talking about you. They’re not going to give you a Flyer.”
“No, Victoria wouldn’t—” He broke off, frowning. “That’s what she wants to see me about. She told me to report to her when I got back.”
“I’m sorry, Brian. I know how much it means to you to find your father.”
Despite the bad news, he smiled. “Why do you think Lithia told you?”
“So you wouldn’t be blindsided by Victoria?”
He shook his head mischievously. “She knows that there are still Flyers here. We can take one.”
“I don’t think that’s what she had in mind.” As soon as Dione said it, though, she disagreed with herself. Of course, that’s what Lithia had meant. Brian raised his eyebrows at her, and she conceded. “Okay, you’re right.” She sighed. “Need a diversion?”
“I need your help. You said you would go with me, and I know that was before…” He began, but thought better of it. “Please, Dione. I can’t do this alone, and you’re the only one here who’s not afraid to piss off Victoria.”
Convenient that I’m here, then. “Maybe Melanie could—”
“There’s no time. She’s at the Mountain. Once we take the Flyer, we’ll have to go straight to the southern island.”
He put a hand on her shoulder and looked into her eyes, a technique he had used on girls dozens of times, no doubt. Rather than staring back, as he must have expected, Dione looked at the hand on her shoulder that was sending warmth through her body. Dammit, biology. He pulled it back like he had been burned.
When she did glance up, he looked desperate, and Dione saw the pain there that only an absent father could bring. She thought for a moment about her own mother. She’d died when Dione was young, and Dione had felt her absence every day for years. It was probably why she and her uncle were so close.
Brian’s dad had left because he didn’t believe the stories of gods and monsters. He went on a mission of discovery and had probably gotten stranded. He might be dead, but Brian deserved to know for sure. Wasn’t that what she was all about, seeking answers, no matter if they weren’t the ones she wanted?
Dione looked over at the two remaining shuttles. One was nearly packed and prepared for takeoff. She had to decide.
“I’ll help you, Brian,” she said. His furrowed brow was replaced with a grin of relief. “That last one there only has a few crates on board.”
“No time to remove them,” he said.
She shrugged. “We’ll need supplies anyway.”
They exchanged a look. Her heart was racing. She was surprised to find herself excited to steal another shuttle. With Brian.
They strolled up to the shuttle just as a Ficaran was arriving with a crate.
“Here, let me get that,” Brian said. The Ficaran was panting with exertion and nodded his thanks to Brian before leaving, presumably to get another. There was one Ficaran on board, but the others were off at a distance, apparently more worried about treachery from the Aratians in the settlement than their ow
n people.
“Just put it over—”
The man never got to finish his sentence because Dione stunned him. She wasn’t used to the weight of the rifle, but it was easy enough to use at close range. No one was close enough to notice, so Brian picked him up and ran out of the shuttle, calling for help.
“He just passed out,” she heard Brian saying. Within seconds, a group of Ficarans and a few Aratians were crowded around the man. None of them noticed Dione strap into the pilot’s seat, nor did they realize that Brian had withdrawn from those attending the man.
No one noticed, that is, until the back ramp was already closed, and there was nothing they could do. The two were in the air in no time.
“I can’t believe we just did that!” Dione said. She felt a thrill, as well as a pang of guilt as she wondered what the professor would think. He’d understand.
Less than ten minutes later, Victoria called Brian’s communicator. He ignored it. After the third call, it stopped buzzing.
They passed over the open plains and the coast until the windswept sea rolled out under them like rough, blue scales. Dione sighed and stretched in her seat as if she finally had enough room to breathe. After all the struggles she’d witnessed on the mainland, she wondered what the southern island would be like. Her sense of discovery, of searching out answers, was waking up.
Thank You
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Acknowledgments
Without the support of my husband Jacob and my mom Jane, I couldn’t pursue this dream. Their encouragement means the world to me. As always, a huge thank you goes to my beta readers: Maggie Burnside, TR Dillon, Jane Eickhoff, Adrianna Foster, Donna Royston, Bradford Karl Slocum, and Martin Wilsey. I’d also like to thank Tannhauser Press for taking on the series. I’m grateful to my writing group, The Hourlings, whose feedback has been indispensable. Thank you for being my sounding board for ideas, especially the previously unmentioned members John Dwight, Evan Friedman, Liz Hayes, Jeffrey C. Jacobs, and David Keener, who are regulars at our meetings along with TR, Donna, and Marty. Thanks also to Ryan Loomis for helping me wrap my head around the physics of Delta P. I’d also like thank Jessica Hatch of Hatch Editorial Services for her wonderful suggestions and her sharp eye for typos.
Most importantly, thank you, dear reader, for your support. I hope you’re enjoying reading about this adventure as much as I enjoy writing it!
About the Author
Erica Rue is a reader and writer of science fiction and fantasy, especially YA. Her abandoned biology major and handful of astronomy classes have prepared her well for writing sci-fi. She enjoys learning new words and promptly forgetting them so that she can rediscover them. When she's not writing, she forgets to water her garden, completes every side quest she triggers, and boosts her dog's self-esteem.
