Chapter 63
Elegy knows there’s a deadly substance working its way through her body, and she almost expects to feel it, like a poison burning through every cell. But she feels the same. It will take hours for the Fever to grip her. She needs to make sure everything is in order before it does.
Fenn is almost gone. Fenn Kovek, whose real name is Fenn Vidar, like his father. One of the members of her fulcrum.
Only . . . obviously he’s not. Because Rava Vidar is standing right in front of her. One who bears the Vidari name, indeed. Another clever bait--and--switch from the augurs.
Holding the sword right where Theren put it—-right up against Rava Vidar’s throat—-Elegy reaches into her back pocket to take out the vial of the drug the priest gave her.
“Hello again,” Elegy says to Rava, her voice quiet.
“Cedre swine,” Rava says, like it’s a greeting.
“You’re going to drink this,” Elegy says, holding up the vial. “Or one of my friends is going to hold you down while another one pours it down your throat. Which do you prefer?”
Rava sneers at her over the blade held to her throat, but she slowly raises her hand, palm up, to take the vial. Elegy gives it to her, and their fingers brush in the exchange, hers cool and Rava’s warm.
Rava unscrews the top of the vial and pours its contents into her mouth.
“I don’t know why you’re still trying,” Rava says, “when half your population is currently dying of Fever. There’s no way you can hold off a -Talusar attack now.”
“I’m aware of that. That’s why I’m taking a very important hostage.”
She smiles at Rava. Rava’s eyes roll back into her head, and Nyx surges forward to catch her by the arms. Elegy lowers Theren’s sword, which is heavier than she expected it to be. Her hand is shaking.
“You’re not taking her,” Nyx says. She touches her fingers to Rava’s throat almost tenderly, feeling for a pulse. But when she looks up at Elegy, her eyes are hard with anger. “She has committed the highest possible crimes against my people—-”
“You’re severely outnumbered,” Elegy says to Nyx. “If you think you can stop us from leaving with her—-”
“I’m outnumbered in this room, but you’re outnumbered in this building,” Nyx says, and she comes to her feet, her sword still clutched in her hand. “I can get you through it unharmed, but not if you kill me first.”
“I suggest a compromise,” Elegy says. “I’ll appoint you as Rava Vidar’s warden, with protected status among the Cedrae. You’ll come with us on our journey on the Sundial. When we return to Earth, you can take Rava into Talusar custody, no questions asked.”
Nyx narrows her eyes at Elegy.
“You want me to board a Cedrae spaceship on a journey you’ve never made before,” Nyx says. “And just . . . trust that you won’t kill me?”
“I’m offering you shelter after you turned against Ileth Vidar’s daughter, something I think you’ll find it difficult to hide when she sends her truthsayers to determine what happened here,” Elegy says sharply.
“In addition to the free pursuit of the justice you say is important to you. And the fact that I’m not ordering my friends to kill you right now, while you’re outnumbered and alone, should earn me some trust.”
Nyx’s hand is tight around her sword hilt.
Her eyes skip around the room, taking in Hela and Arias, Theren and Elegy, the limp form of Rava Vidar on the stone.
Elegy has a feeling Nyx could take a few of them down with her, if she chose—-she’s one of Rava Vidar’s lessers, after all.
But she’s unmoored, her faith in her commander broken and the cost of her decisions hanging over her head.
“You aren’t worried about Talusar retaliation against Cedre if you remove its favored daughter from here?” Nyx says.
“Not when I inform your emperor that I’ve taken her alive,” Elegy says. “I expect an armistice until our return, in fact.”
“Your return will be bloody, if so.”
“At this point, that’s inevitable.” Elegy holds out her hand. “I give you my word, you’ll be returned here safely, with Rava Vidar’s life in your hands, and yours alone.”
Nyx considers Elegy for a long moment. She swallows hard. Then carefully, deliberately, she puts her hand in Elegy’s and shakes.
Several minutes later, they all stand on the roof of the monastery, watching the Sparrow descend.
Scattered among them are four bodies.
In the aftermath of Fenn’s death, it wasn’t the Knight’s body that Theren wanted to take with them, but Kesia’s.
He’ll be honored here, he said, of Fenn.
The “and she’s still my mother” went unspoken.
Arias, who struck the killing blow, didn’t argue, just heaved Kesia’s body over his shoulders and carried her from the room.
Hela had already gone back for Parekh.
Elegy blinks tears from her eyes as the ship draws near and lowers its hatch.
She remembers crouching next to the climbing wall during basic training, making her interlaced fingers into a cradle for Parekh’s foot.
She remembers how proud Parekh was when she told a long--estranged Elegy that she was now a Tertiary.
Now blood stains her lips and hands, and the color has drained from her skin, leaving her ashen.
Elegy boards the ship first, then stands by the door to usher the rest in: Nyx and Theren, with Rava’s sagging, half--conscious body stumbling between them; Arias, who lays Kesia Forint’s body down on the floor next to the jump seats; Orda, now conscious but barely upright, his wounds temporarily sealed so they can get him to a hospital; and finally, Hela, carrying Parekh.
“Go,” Elegy says to Isre, and he pulls away fast and sharp, because Valla’s ships will find them any minute now. “Let’s head straight for the Sundial before anyone can ask questions.”
Air rushes through the cabin, the hatch still closing as they lurch away. She stands behind the seat and watches as the gentle lights of Dexa fade beneath them. All around the outpost is wilderness, dark and formless.
And the Fever is still crawling through her.