Chapter 50
“Travis helped you take down his father,” I repeat. My mind is spinning. For a moment, I think I misheard him.
“Yes,” Kallister says.
“Why? Why would Travis do that to his own father?”
He chuckles ironically. “I assume because Merrick wasn’t doing what he wanted.”
“How did it even happen?” I’m still battling my shock. “Who reached out to who?”
“Travis reached out to us.”
I blink in surprise. Travis set everything in motion?
Does Cross know?
I want to ask Kallister, but I can’t reveal how close I am—or used to be, anyway—to the captain of Silver Block.
There’s no way Cross knew about any of this, though. He never would’ve allowed his brother to fry their father’s brain. Cross might have a complicated relationship with the former General, he might even harbor some hatred, but destroying a man’s brain is…monstrous. And Cross is not a monster.
“He sent word through one of the loyalist Mods,” Kallister continues. “Said we had mutual interests. That we both wanted his father gone. And, well, you know, the enemy of my enemy is my friend.”
“The Authority would have had to vote on it. Something of this magnitude would need to be unanimous, right?”
“It was unanimous. All five of us approved the plan to remove Merrick using Adrienne’s corruption powers. Travis facilitated it by providing her access to the Command base.”
A queasy feeling crawls up my throat. “And then he stood there and watched her destroy his father’s mind. That is sick.” I knew Travis was calculating and ambitious, but you have to be a psychopath to do that to your own parent. Even one you don’t love.
“He approved the bombing of their hangar, too. It was one of our terms. He had to sacrifice part of his fleet to sweeten the deal for us.”
“So you eliminated his father and…now what? You just keep working together like old friends while he continues to kill Mods in the wards?”
“Of course not.” Kallister’s tone is gentle, as if he’s speaking to a child. It fucking grates. “The Jubilee was a step. The first step to possibly reaching a peace agreement.”
I’m amazed by his optimism. “You actually believed the Company would come to the table to discuss peace?”
“We believed in Travis’s willingness a lot more than his father’s. His father would’ve never even said the word peace out loud. Under Merrick Redden, Mods would forever remain slaves or second-class citizens, or be dead.”
“Travis is doing the same thing,” I point out.
“Which could stop if a peace treaty is signed.”
I shake my head. “I think he’s playing you.”
Kallister surprises me by agreeing. “I think so, too. But Adrienne believes she can persuade him. They worked together once, and she’s hoping they can come to an agreement.”
“But you don’t believe that will happen?”
“I think I’m a bit more realistic than Adrienne.”
I bite my lip, shifting my gaze to the gleaming white gemstones behind his head. “Why are you telling me all this?”
“Because my brother trusted you, and I would like to trust you, too.” He slants his head. “I hope that you have trust in me?”
I nod absently, still digesting everything he’s said. I can’t see anything positive about working with Travis. My instincts tell me that he got rid of his father so he could be in charge, not to forge any peace treaties with Mods. Travis has his own agenda.
“Only the Authority knows about this,” Kallister says, a warning note in his voice. “So for the time being, you need to keep this information to yourself.”
“I won’t say anything.”
“Thank you.”
Later, however, when I meet Gray in the hangar as planned, it’s the first thing I bring up. I don’t consider it breaking a promise, since Kallister said the Authority already knows.
“Adrienne is working with Travis Redden,” I say as I climb into the helicopter.
Cursing under his breath, Gray flicks a switch to cut off the chopper’s comms. “What makes you say that?” He gives me a displeased look.
I don’t intend to betray Kallister’s confidence, so I provide something adjacent to the truth. “I saw him last night at the railroad station with Adrienne. They were trying to stay hidden, but he passed by a window.”
“Have you told anyone what you saw?”
“No, and I’m not going to.” I hesitate. “Is this what you guys have been arguing about all day? The mission she’s proposing? Because whatever it is, I don’t know if I would trust Travis.”
“I don’t disagree,” Gray says gruffly. “But he did keep his end of the deal at the Jubilee. He gave us access to his father. He sacrificed part of his base.”
“Not for us. He did it for himself.”
“Yes, but just because his motives are selfish doesn’t mean they can’t benefit us.”
“Maybe.”
“Let’s table this,” he says, flicking the radio channels back on. “I need my comms.”
Message received. No more talking about Travis.
As usual, we’re flying blind in the darkness, trusting his instruments to get us there. Wherever there is. When we land, I’m still not entirely sure where we are. Until he opens the chopper door, and I hear it—the ocean. We’re on a cliff, I realize.
All I see is dark, hilly terrain. I gingerly walk across the rocky ground to peer over the edge of the cliff.
The waves below crash against jagged boulders, sending sprays of salt water into the air.
When a blue glint at my feet catches my attention, I crouch down to find twisted dark-blue spears protruding from the open side of the cliff.
Daggerstone. There’s blue daggerstone all over the rocks.
I straighten up, gazing at the water again.
This ocean is different from the one in Tierra Fe.
That sea was calm. This one seems angrier, a roiling mass of black water, violently churning.
It’s hard to make out anything else, but in the flashes of moonlight reflecting off the rocks, I’m startled to see something in the shallows.
What looks like chunks of stone walls and the corner of a metal…
roof? I wish it was daylight so I can figure out exactly what’s jutting from the frothy surf.
“Where are we?” I ask Gray.
He comes up beside me, blond hair blowing from the breeze off the water.
“See that?” Sliding his hands in his pockets, he tips his head toward the cliffs, the angry water. “That was Valterra Ridge.”