CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
We need to talk.
The words didn’t change no matter how many times I checked them.
The note from Cam had been delivered to my dorm before sunrise.
The block letters were printed on the thin paper used by all Comms Offices.
For Cam to have gone out of her way to use public comms it must have been important.
There was only one topic she’d deem worthy.
While I’d read and reread the message dozens of times, I’d yet to respond.
It was the morning of the Prevere race and I already had plenty to do. I showered and dressed. I got Gottyk awake, fed and cleaned. The marketing team had been in to repaint the sponsors on his wings so I covered it all in waterproof coating.
That had reminded me it was due to rain, so I’d lingered in the aviary tunnel to catch Josie and discuss strategy.
There had been no time for me to get to a comms terminal. Even though she hadn’t said anything since the Kiestral race. Even though she’d promised to let me know if anything happened back home.
‘Lena!’ Josie tossed a copper pellet at me. It bounced off my forehead. She had good aim.
‘Right, yeah sorry.’ I started moving, reaching instinctually for the broom propped up nearby.
‘What’s wrong with you?’ she asked, stepping in front of me.
I looked around. Gottyk’s aviary was already spotless. She hadn’t been asking me to help. I stared at her, my chest too tight.
‘Um—’ was all I got out before Josie decided to take matters into her own hands.
She swiped the note out of my hand. The paper was covered in creases, having been folded over and over while Josie had briefed me.
‘Is it Theo? I knew you two had a weird thing going on after dinner the other night. You came back all twitchy.’
Theo was the least of my problems, which really put into perspective how bad this was going to be.
‘No. Though if you’re going to open up that topic I feel like you have something to spill too.’ Anything to change the subject. I did my best not to grab back at the note.
‘Oh, please,’ she said, tossing her glossy hair back over her shoulder. ‘It’s nothing serious with Jas. We all need to let off some steam now and then.’
‘Wait, what?’
She was far too calm to be revealing information this shocking. ‘He’s cute, available and discreet. There’s nothing wrong with it. Honestly I think you could do with a tumble with someone to help you relax – you clearly need it.’
I blinked, reeling. ‘That’s not what I meant. I’m not judging you. I just thought it was Colly who had a crush on you.’
The look she gave me sent chills down my spine. ‘Colly is eighteen, barely more than a child. I’m over ten years older than him, Lena. Do you think I’m some kind of creep? Anyway, Jas isn’t a crush, he’s fun.’
I clearly hadn’t been paying attention.
‘Okay, fair enough.’ I cleared my throat, about to drag this conversation out as long as possible.
That’s when Josie read my message. She frowned.
‘Is this from your sister? What did she say?’
‘Uh …’ I bounced on my feet, suddenly wanting to leave.
Her eyes widened. ‘What did she say?’
I pouted and took the note back. ‘Well, I haven’t actually contacted her yet.’
‘Are you insane?’ she shouted at me.
We’d made it through hours upon hours of her being frustrated with me during strategy briefings, but I’d finally tipped her over the edge.
‘Lena, get to a comms terminal right now and speak with her! We need to know. What were you going to do? Just ignore it and hope nothing happened?’
It felt like a bad idea to nod and admit to that being my exact plan.
She grabbed the sleeve of my jumpsuit and dragged me to the aviary exit. ‘Go right now. You have a few minutes before you need to get ready.’ She hauled open the heavy door. ‘Tell me over comms before race star—’
Bach Lotiere stood in the hallway. His all-seeing blue eyes bounced between the two of us, his eyebrows raised.
To be fair to him, it was a surprising situation. Josie essentially had me by the scruff of my neck and was throwing me out of my own aviary. I was looking sheepish and not putting up a fight.
This is why I avoided him, because I constantly embarrassed myself. Before all of this mess at least I’d been able to do it in private.
‘Good morning, Bach.’ Josie smiled. ‘Go ahead and start getting ready.’
She gestured along the hallway, still holding on to me. Bach took one step forward before looking back at us. At me.
‘Are you okay?’ he asked.
I nodded vigorously, my cheeks heating as I did.
‘She’s fine. Just needed some advice on quantities of talon varnish.’
Bach’s eyes narrowed. Then he simply nodded and went on his way.
If I tallied my interactions with him, this tipped everything back to the negative, outweighing him calling me a good rider in the Victrolia forest.
‘Go, Lena.’ Josie brought me back from replaying the glorious memory again. ‘This is important for both of us.’ She looked into my eyes, exuding far more confidence than I could muster. ‘Please. If we know what to expect, we can at least plan for it.’
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. ‘Okay.’
She let go of my jumpsuit and set me free into the hallway. The thick pine doors closed behind me, leaving me alone with the giant portraits of Bach and Thorne. Doing my best to ignore them and to not think about potentially seeing the real Thorne any moment, I headed for the comms terminal.
The Prevere headquarters were similar in layout to Kiestral’s. Both were a giant set of tunnels inside mountains or cliffs. Though where Kiestral was made up of golden sandstone decorated with orange and white, Prevere was deep slate-grey with cooling blue and white throughout.
Much like Kiestral, the identical lighting all the way through the headquarters made it a nightmare to navigate. I swore under my breath, wishing for a giant map with a ‘You are here’ arrow at every corner.
Eventually I reached the main thoroughfare. This close to race start it was bustling with team crew, important guests and Volitant staff. The latter still made me twitch if they moved too quickly. The stairwell attack still felt fresh.
A bank of comms terminals ran along the far wall. There would be more in the private team rooms, but these were for anyone and everyone. I didn’t want to tempt fate by acting suspiciously. I sidled up to an empty booth and pulled out the note.
Cam never used the same comms terminal twice if she could help it, but she had left a contact code for me to use as part of her message. I lifted the terminal handset to my ear and turned the device on.
‘Kuramines Communications, how may I assist you?’ The male voice managed to sound polite and condescending all at once.
‘I’d like to contact terminal …’ I paused, peering at Cam’s contact code. ‘Gedeinia, dash, eight, nine, three, dash, four, one, two.’
‘Of course. One moment, please.’
The voice disappeared, replaced with a low humming noise for a few seconds.
‘Hello?’ It was Cam. She never announced her name when answering comms. She always left room for plausible deniability, but I could recognize her anywhere.
The emotion I felt at hearing my big sister’s voice caught me off guard. I twisted the cord running from the handset between my fingers.
‘Hey, it’s me.’ Plausible deniability ran in the family.
‘Took you long enough.’ It was nice to know Cam was calm enough to chide me, despite the circumstances. ‘Your favourite rider is back. He must have finally passed his potency test.’
Hearing her refer to Thorne as my favourite rider felt so wrong, even if it was to avoid names for any eavesdroppers. ‘When?’
‘Late last night. But no word on where he went after.’
My hands grew sweaty. That was bad. There were several train routes from Gedeinia to the Kuramines. Any of them could bring Thorne here within two days and a few were high-speed – enough to do it in less than one.
‘Okay, thanks for letting me know.’ The inside of my head felt fuzzy.
The connection was quiet for a moment before Cam spoke again. ‘Do you want me to visit?’
‘No,’ I answered quietly. She wouldn’t get here faster than Thorne, and even if she did, what could she do? I’d already dragged her into enough trouble as it was. ‘Thank you for offering. I think I’ll just …’
Just what? I had no idea.
‘Kiddo.’ The nickname made me feel eight years old again. ‘Show them what you’re made of.’
A lump formed in my throat. She’d said that to me before every Junior Drake and Wyvern Cup race. Never do your best or good luck.
I coughed the emotion away. ‘Thanks, I will.’
A click followed by silence marked the end of the connection. Cam wasn’t one for goodbyes.
I rubbed at my face, hoping to get some intelligent life back into myself. I blew out yet another sigh and turned, facing the thoroughfare again.
Thorne wasn’t here, not yet. I still had time. Once I got into the air no one could stop me from finishing the race. I pushed aside the fear and doubt. Cam was right – it was time to show everyone what I was made of.
‘This is my last race.’ I stood behind Theo in the atrium, suited up and acting like Thorne, disinterested and impatient.
Theo shifted, but resisted turning towards me. We carried on observing the other riders draw lots for the start positions. We’d both been lucky, having pulled fourth and fifth, and now stood apart from the others.
He responded under his breath. ‘What makes you think that?’
‘Thorne is back.’ I wavered as I whispered in the stolen voice.
Theo inhaled sharply, going into a coughing fit of surprise. I waited for it to die down before risking more.
‘Deny everything,’ I continued. ‘No one but me knew anything about this, okay?’
‘Pald—’
‘Just say yes, Vaspre. Say you understand. It was just me.’ I cut him off before I could hear his protests, complaints or threats. It had been hard enough to decide whether to tell him. The past few weeks had blurred my feelings towards him, caught somewhere between resentment, nostalgia and lust.