20. TWENTY #2
“Well… for two reasons. First, if the Tera’thians were sure they had killed all of Nelfindar’s Ruxians, they would have laid siege to Nelfindar already, the way they have on nearly the rest of Kath. Don’t you think? There have to be at least some still out there.”
“Hypothetically, sure. And the other reason?” He was hurrying her along.
Fankalo pressed her lips into a line. Her chest rose and fell in an unintended sigh. Now that she was preparing to voice it, it sounded too insane to be real.
“In Kaidech, the director of that Ruxian protection operation was named Torbast Calisto. And Calisto was a close family friend.” The words didn’t do him justice.
“More than that. He ran Kaidech’s dowagian studio.
Trained my father and brother in the dowagian arts for thirty-five hours every ten-day. ”
Mitek’s attention was on her, unmoving now. The blood left his face. “Fuck.”
Eloquent as ever, though her initial response had been much the same. “Knowing my mother, the way she used to act. The way she kept me isolated, and her disappointment in me. They were trying for a Ruxian… but I was just another conduit.”
Mitek’s lips parted. He moistened them. “This is why you’re lucky?”
“Right.” She nodded. “Methu’su wrote that some conduits had the ability to sense the threads of distortion that Ruxians could pull from; they simply couldn’t manipulate them.
I can sense good and bad futures. And Calver…
well, he had reactionary skills like something from a fable.
He knew when bad things were going to happen, just not as far in advance as me. ”
Mitek pressed a fist to his lips.
“You don’t believe me?”
“No, I do. Fuck me, I knew you were special. We all do. I just didn’t realize. Ahm. Well…” He looked at her, then, the way he sometimes did when he wasn’t being an arse. “Your blood brother. You really think this is why you feel him? Why they took him?”
“I’m not sure.”
Mitek’s eyes narrowed. “Regardless of where he ended up, he still left you. You’re better off forgetting about him. He makes you mental.”
He’d made that argument a hundred times before.
“Yeah, but this—” He was going to find fault in her words.
She knew it. Preservation, she wanted so badly to have faith.
“It almost makes me believe that maybe—he maybe…” She thought about Calver’s light.
How sometimes, when she thought about him, the spark came back.
If she forgot about him, would that spark go out forever?
She began, instinctively, to look for him with her Luck, but faltered at Mitek’s expression.
Mitek knew her inner thoughts the way only long-time companions did. He purposely manipulated conversation’s tide, ripping her longing away with it. “What are you going to do now?”
Find her brother, now that she knew someone might have reason to take him. But she wouldn’t tell Mitek that. She crossed her arms. “We’re stuck here for a while. So nothing.”
Mitek scratched his head. “You’re pretty bad at doing nothing. It’s like, the only fucking thing you’re bad at.”
Her mouth soured. “Well I’m going to do something, obviously. The Nelfinden oligarchy murdered my bloodline. And when a foreign invasion sought to take the rest of us out, they covered it up.”
Mitek looked at her like she’d leveled a tanka at him, and she realized he’d been asking what she intended to do with the next five minutes, not decades.
Her nostrils flared. “What? Is it so crazy to think there has to be retribution for this? The oligarchy has forfeited their right to rule. And the Tera’thians—” The Tera’thians had taken everything from her. “The Tera’thians are a problem that someone needs to deal with.”
“Soooo, what, you want anarchy?”
“No. I want justice. And if I am a conduit, it only seems fair that I take back the throne my ancestors built. The oligarchy obviously isn’t worthy of keeping it.”
His eyes widened. “That’s a tall order for an inbred, twelve-year-old brat.”
She glared at him. “Say that again.”
“Listen. This conversation has gone into deep waters. And, being frank, I think it’s your bleeding brain. Two more days and you’ll snap right out of it, trust me.”
She raised a hand to slap him.
“Brat. Brat!” Mitek glanced around. Fankalo followed his gaze to meet the few patrons who watched them.
He lowered his voice and leaned toward her, though his eyes lingered on her smacking hand.
“If you want to start a war, conquer an empire, and seize a throne, I fully support you. C’mon, Bratty!
” He stopped to suck in air. “Chaos, if anyone can do it, it’s definitely you, and I mean that. But… start small, maybe?”
“I start by finding Methu’su. He wrote this journal for an ally in Seraphinden.
Captain Kotar Avelius of the Green Wing.
Perhaps I’ll track him down somehow.” This book must only be the tip of his knowledge.
From the context she could glean, Methu’su had trained Ruxians for decades on wielding their powers.
She may not be a distortionist, but she was damn near close. And if there was a way she could—
Mitek slid Methu’su’s journal from her hands and set it on the window’s ledge. “You’ve hardly left the research alone in months. You’re so serious all the time. Can’t we at least have a little fun along the way? We’ve only got so many more years left before we can’t get away with this shit.”
She frowned. “That’s a lie. My father still gets away with childish nonsense, and we’re his shratten proteges.”
“He’s worried about you too, you know?”
If Captain Keane had been so worried about her, one would think he’d have had half a mind to warn her she would experience menses.
Fankalo sighed. She’d spent six perfect years running all around the world with Mitek, getting into mischief. But an ever-burning part of her insisted that she needed to work now, while anyone who might act against her was blind to her, to be prepared for what might come.
“Go.” She shooed him toward the door.
“Aw, Brat. I went too far. I’m here for you. Fucking crazy or not, I believe in you. I just—”
“I’m not mad. I just want to stay here a while longer. I want to memorize this journal… and then burn it.” Though she was sure Thacklore wouldn’t have given it to her if he didn’t have a copy.
Mitek clapped his hands once. “There’s your spirit! A little fire is the answer to all our problems, isn’t it?”
She snorted. “Get on, then. Go get a haloucha. And bring me one, will you?”
“Actually, I think my appetite has swayed.”
She cocked her head.
He flashed her a wolfish smile. “I’m going to buy some apples.”