Echoes of Insurrection (The Firebird Chronicles #6)

Chapter 1

One

Kira

“Nothing is ever really truly gone.”

In rest, Elise’s features held a peaceful repose that had been missing for as long as Kira could remember. Gone were the sorrow and pain that had been chiseled into each line of her face.

She looked young. Shockingly so.

It was a reminder that in terms of age Elise was seen as barely entering adulthood among the Tuann, a race who could live thousands of years. To them, the one hundred or so years that Elise had existed in this universe was a mere drop in the bucket. Not even worth mentioning.

It had been five months since Kira found Elise comatose. Five months of one medical test after another, each one as useless as the last.

Physically, Elise was fine. A perfect picture of health. Outwardly, at least.

She just wouldn’t wake up.

And therein lay the problem.

As a method of last resort, the healers of House Roake had decided to take drastic measures.

Their idea—to place Elise in stasis and inter her with Roake’s other sleepers in a chamber right off its Nexus.

The House’s seat of power. A place where the planet’s Mea’Ave, its soul, was closest to the surface.

Roake’s healers hoped the ki-rich environment it offered would promote Elise’s natural healing abilities.

Kira prayed they were right. Even with all that Elise had done, she wasn’t ready to say goodbye quite yet.

Elise needed to survive. For that, she needed this place and Roake.

In preparation, Elise had been dressed in a dark blue body suit that would monitor her life signs in her prolonged slumber. It and the stasis cylinder that looked disturbingly like a glass coffin would keep her alive and provide all essential nutrients while ensuring minimal muscle atrophy.

Not including Elise’s stasis pod, there were twelve coffins in total.

All already submerged in the deep, glowing azure pool.

Their occupants highly trusted members of Roake who’d fallen in service to the House.

With injuries so extensive that their healers had been forced to turn to this method of last resort.

It was considered an honor to be interred in this chamber. Something a criminal like Elise normally never could have aspired to.

Kira had her uncle to thank for this grace. Just one more debt in a whole slew of them.

If she wasn’t careful, there would come a time when her debts outweighed her ability to repay them.

He’d own her.

Her loyalty.

Her life.

Maybe he already did.

A quiet voice pierced the hush. “Heir, the others have arrived.”

Kira looked up to find one of the oshota tasked with guarding the sleepers observing her from a few feet away. A surprising amount of empathy in his features. As if he understood the pain and struggle of saying goodbye to someone who was still alive.

Kira’s already straight back got even straighter. “Thank you. Could you give me just one more moment?”

The oshota bowed his head respectfully. “Of course, Heir.”

He faded away, giving her privacy to do what she’d come here to do.

With a weary sigh, Kira set a hand on the glass, wishing it was Elise’s cheek she was touching. “Sweet dreams, Sunshine.”

God, she hoped they were sweet.

The chamber doors parted with a dull groan that echoed in the large space.

A girl appeared on the threshold. She was young. Only about eleven or twelve. Her features bore a resemblance to Elise’s and her hair was the same golden blonde. Though much curlier and shorter, only touching the tops of her shoulders. Her pointed ears poked through the locks.

There were dark circles under her eyes that hinted at nightmares and sleepless nights. She’d lost weight in the last few weeks.

Kira never thought she’d say it, but she missed the rascal who had more courage than sense. The fearless girl who leapt without thinking, trusting everything to work itself out by the time she landed.

Swallowing hard, Elena rubbed her hands up and down her thighs. For all that she tried to compose herself, her expression betrayed her nerves.

The man behind her touched her shoulder, saying something. The girl looked up and nodded before entering the chamber with reluctant steps.

The three behind her followed.

“Auntie,” Elena rasped.

Kira held out an arm.

Her niece made a raw sound right before she bolted into Kira’s side. Kira rocked back on her heels, catching her balance almost instantly. Throughout, she never lost hold of Elena. Even as the girl’s shoulders started to shake uncontrollably.

The back of Kira’s eyes pricked as Elena muffled her sobs against Kira’s shirt. She didn’t tell the girl not to cry or that tears never solved anything. That was how Kira had grown up. Never crying. Never grieving those lost. She hadn’t had a choice. Weakness often meant death.

Elena deserved better. If there was ever a time for mourning, it was now.

Kira held her niece close as she met Raider’s gaze above Elena’s head.

The human looked wrecked. Exhausted and heartsick. Not just because of the child burrowing into Kira’s side but also for the woman lying comatose in her glass coffin.

Like Elena, there was evidence around his eyes that he wasn’t sleeping.

There was a barely visible scar that ran along his jaw and creases in the middle of his forehead and around his mouth from the permanent scowl that had taken up residence on his face.

He’d gone quiet since their return from the Tsavitee planet. Scary silent in a way that meant trouble.

Last time Kira had seen him like this was when they’d lost their squad at Rothchild. He’d been savage in his grief and fury. In both word and deed. Their relationship hadn’t survived the fall out.

Kira hoped history wouldn’t repeat itself.

Raider needed to hold himself together. For Elena’s sake if for no other reason.

Elena’s tear clogged voice came from Kira’s side. “How long did they say she had to stay in there?”

Kira looked down at the girl, smoothing Elena’s curls away from her face. “They don’t know.”

Elena pulled back to look up at Kira with a pleading expression. “But she’ll be alright?”

Kira didn’t know how to answer that. Elena counted on her for guidance. Deceiving her, even with good intentions, felt wrong.

If the worst should happen and Elise’s condition became permanent, that lie could damage the trust they had built between them.

“Yes,” Raider interjected with a hard look of warning for Kira.

She remained quiet.

As Elena’s father, this was his decision to make. Even if she didn’t approve. Life had taught her that sugar might help bad news go down easier but in the long term it only disguised the bitter taste of reality.

Kira gave the two waiting nearby a grave nod. “Wren. Auralyn.”

Elise’s father and aunt murmured quiet greetings as they took their place beside them. Both wore the dark blue synth armor that proclaimed their status as oshota. They stood at attention as Kira signaled that they were ready.

The floor under Elise’s coffin lowered. Water lapped at its sides, climbing inch by inch until it was swallowed entirely.

Elena leaned her head against Kira’s side. “This is my fault, isn’t it?”

Horrified, Kira’s gaze snapped to her niece. “Don’t ever say that. Parents protect their children. Always.”

Elena’s head dipped, her shoulders sagging.

Kira stifled the rest of the words she wanted to say.

It was no surprise that her niece blamed herself for what happened to Elise.

Guilt was an old, familiar friend of Kira’s.

Hearing that something wasn’t your fault was different than actually believing it.

Elena had to come to terms with the situation in her own way.

All Kira and Raider could do was be there to support and guide her while she did.

With that in mind, Kira crouched, bringing herself to eye level with her niece. She waited patiently until Elena was looking at her before continuing. “Elise did what she was supposed to. What any parent would do in a situation like that. The same thing I would have done if I’d been there.”

In a way, this was a good thing. It meant there was hope for Elise. That something of the friend she knew still remained. That the Tsavitee and their masters hadn’t completely perverted her mind.

Kira took Elena’s hand, holding it in hers. “As long as she’s breathing, there’s hope. That’s all that matters.”

Raider grunted in agreement. “We won’t give up on her.”

His gaze met Kira's in silent promise. If it took decades or centuries, they would continue searching. Whatever it took to wake her up.

Kira broke eye contact to look at her niece. “You got that?”

Shadows and doubt still lingered at the back of Elena’s eyes, but Kira was relieved to see that there were fewer than there had been before.

“Yes, Auntie,” Elena whispered.

Kira squeezed Elena’s hand in reassurance before rising to cast one last regretful look at Elise’s watery resting place.

This isn’t the end, Sunshine, Kira whispered silently. The words as much for Elise as for herself. They’d come back from the impossible before. They could again. She refused to let this be a permanent goodbye.

Elena leaned her head against Kira’s side. “What happens now?”

“We wait for her to wake up,” Wren rumbled.

Despite his expressionless face, there was no hiding the depth of grief and turmoil wracking him.

Wren was in hell.

Kira didn’t know how to help him. The long lost daughter he’d just found was deep in a coma from which they didn’t know when—or if—she’d ever wake.

That was a head fuck if there ever was one.

Yet, he was still standing. A source of strength and support not only for his granddaughter but Kira as well.

Next to him, Auralyn stood at rigid attention. The boredom that normally characterized her expression absent. For once, she looked fully present. Focused. And a little angry.

Sensing Kira’s gaze, Auralyn glanced at her.

They stared at each other for several seconds before Auralyn dipped her chin. Almost as if she was making a silent vow. The content of which Kira wasn’t privy too.