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Leto nodded.
Thorne released his hand.
He turned to Grace. “Will you be staying with him?” The moment he spoke the words, however, he knew the question was unnecessary. He understood her spirit and he could see her resolve. In fact, her chin almost looked mulish, tilted up as it was.
She nodded. He rounded the bed and put his arm around her shoulders. Shit, that earlier burning had put a wet sheen over his eyes. He squeezed, and she leaned her forehead against his shoulder. She stayed in that position for a few seconds.
After a moment, he met her gaze and sent, Are you all right?
Again, she nodded. “Don’t worry. I’m very much at peace. This is my path.” She put her fist against her chest.
Thorne cursed under his breath. Goddamn the Convent. That bitch, Sister Quena, would have taught submission above all things, but it was just so that she could wield her spiritual hammer over the devotiates.
You have choices here, Grace.
But at that, she lifted her chin a little more. “I know the difference between when to fight and when to relinquish control. I do know the difference.”
He released her and took a step back. Her voice held resonance, even vehemence. Did he really know his sister? But then for the past hundred years he’d only seen her, only related to her, in the Convent setting. Now here she was, staring him down. “Fine,” he said at last. “Understood.”
Grace straightened her shoulders. “There’s one more thing you should know.”
He inclined his head but all he could think was, Oh, God, what now?
Grace took a deep breath, which lifted his blood pressure another notch. “It would seem I’m … obsidian flame, the blue variety, though I don’t know yet what that means.”
Thorne blinked. He couldn’t have heard her right. Grace was the third member of the obsidian flame triad? How was this possible? He glanced at Marguerite, but she inclined her head.
Leto turned in Grace’s direction and tried to rise up on his elbows, but failed. When he landed against the pillow, he said, “You’re … obsidian flame?”
“I am. And the power I possess, which is what brought you out of Moscow Two, seems to come from the earth. I’m not sure of the implications.” Here she glanced at Marguerite, then back to Leto. “In fact, I have no idea what this is or what it will mean for the future.” She shifted her gaze back to Thorne. “Casimir made it clear that Greaves will want to destroy obsidian flame above all things. Both of you need to be prepared for that.”
“Grace,” Thorne whispered. He could sense it was true but he felt suddenly very sad. “I would not have wished this on you.”
Grace tilted her head. “But it is on me and I’m welcoming this new power. I don’t fear it. I have been praying for a very long time to be of use to my world, and now perhaps I can be. Do not pity me. There is nothing here to feel bad about.”
All Thorne could do was nod several times in a row. He didn’t trust himself to speak. He was way too angry about everything right now. That his beloved sister had essentially just been dragged into the front lines of the war started splitting something inside him very wide. The only thing that held him together was the fact that she seemed to desire what had come upon her.
Fine.
What-the-fuck-ever.
One last glance at Leto. “I’ll bring Endelle by tomorrow. You’d better still be alive.”
Another faint smile touched Leto’s lips. You know, he sent, you look like you could chew nails right now. Or spit fire.
A familiar, leading comment.
In former centuries, Leto would have offered a remark like that, Thorne would have responded, then Leto would have perhaps asked a pointed question and drawn him out, part of all that mentor bullshit.
But those were former times and though Thorne might have at one time sought counsel from Leto it was not something he could do now. And it wasn’t just that a hundred years had passed with Leto serving the monster of Second Earth. No, something was changing within Thorne’s heart. Right now the only counsel he trusted was his own.
He turned to Marguerite and held out his hand. She was still at the foot of the bed. She stared at his hand and lifted a brow.
“Are you gonna give me trouble, too?” he asked.
“Hell, yes,” she responded, but she rounded the bed and put her palm in his.
Thorne turned away from Leto’s bed and shifted to put his arm around Marguerite’s waist as together they crossed the room.
He had to let the situation go. Grace was right: There were times you just had to relinquish control. That Grace was now linked with Leto made this one of those times. This was her path, not his. His path, on the other hand, was running her thumb up and down his palm and working him up. Her rose scent was increasing, too, which meant she had something very specific on her mind. Given all that had happened, and all that he had just learned, the idea of taking Marguerite to bed really appealed to him.
When he reached the doorway where Diallo waited, the leader of the rogue colony turned into the foyer, let them walk past, then closed the door to the infirmary behind them.
Thorne was grateful. The last thing he needed to see or hear was his sister offering up her blood to Leto. He shuddered at the thought of it.
“Thank you for returning to speak with me,” Thorne said.
“Of course. You would not have summoned me for a trifling reason and I promise you, Warrior Thorne, I will always do my best to come when called. That is my promise to you.”
His words held a kind of weight that Thorne didn’t quite get. But it was clear that Diallo trusted him, which was a good thing.
In short order, Thorne explained the events of the last few hours. He spoke of the battle, the shifting mist, the involvement of a Fourth ascender, and Brynna’s role in helping Marguerite to achieve pure vision.
Despite the fact that he left out the very significant point about Marguerite coming fully into her obsidian power, Diallo turned toward her then met and held her gaze. “Your power has expanded significantly since I last saw you. I can sense it in you.”
“Yes, my obsidian flame power.”
“You are necessary, Seer Marguerite, in ways you do not understand yet, but I don’t believe it is your ability to reach pure vision that Second Earth needs from you.”
“How strange that you would say that when all my life I’ve been dogged for my Seer skills.”
“Which means no one has seen your true gift.”
“Which is?”
