I hit the big red button, and my pod tumbles back toward home.
Toward him.
Chapter 34
Nik
Ishould have killed Zomah when I had the chance. Watching Delphie walk onto his ship nearly ended me. But I had to trust in our plan. Except sating my thirst for his blood, skewering Zomah on my sword wouldn’t have solved anything. It would only have prompted a small skirmish on the planet surface and a much larger one on the Eye as Zomah’s underlings vied for his vacant position. But nothing else would change.
We needed to end it all. So I trusted the plan. Trusted my Alara to make it happen. And I watched her, brave and beautiful, walk into danger without me.
Frix. I hate this plan.
“Jara!” Aqen calls from the transport. It’s already moving back toward the mountain, churning up stones, carrying the injured and the rescued to the healers. I jog to catch up, swinging up onto the platform, and the driver accelerates away.
The first person whose eyes I meet is both utterly strange and completely familiar, as though I’ve met her in a dream. My mother. So large in my memory, but so small huddled on the platform, steadied by two warriors. Nikkava’s still beautiful, but her eyes are too big in her lined face. Her pigment is pale, ashamed. Whatever she’s thinking right now, it’s wrong.
I kneel beside her and open my arms. Aided by the warriors, she crawls into my lap, shivering, and I shrug off my outer svelito wrap around her. She whispers something I have to lean my head close to hear.
“You should not have done that. Thrown her away like that,” she rasps. My mother’s first words to me in decades, and she scolds me. I would not want it any other way. It means her spirit isn’t broken.
“I didn’t. I wouldn’t. She is the star to my night.”
“Good. That is how it should be.” Nikkava’s eyes close, her breathing steady and slow. She’s going to survive this. If she could survive my father’s cold heart, the harsh climate of Usuri will be nothing to her.
Cradling her gently, I do my best to cushion her from the jolts of the vehicle as I watch Zomah’s transport take off, the shiny black ship growing smaller and smaller as it rockets upward. I count the seconds until a small, nearly invisible pod breaks away from the main body and lands very near where we calculated during our practice runs.
She did it. I knew she would, my warrior queen.
I kiss the top of Nikkava’s headscarf. “I can’t wait for you to meet her. She’s a lot like you.” I catch Aqen watching us from the corner of my eye, an odd expression on his face. “What is it?”
He blows out a shaky breath. “Seeing your mother in your arms... the last time you saw her, you fit in hers. So many years that were stolen from you, and yet your bond has not weakened. It makes me realize that I shouldn’t waste any more time. I think I’m ready to see Fenix again, when I have leave.”
My chest grows tight, thinking of how much this will mean to my brother. “My mother and the other females need an escort to Olethia. You will accompany them when they are well enough to travel. What you do there is your choice, but I will call you family no matter what.”
Green gratitude spirals over his cheeks. “Thank you, Jara.”
When we reach the mountain, Aqen gently takes Nikkava from my arms, and others carry the remaining females to the healers. The two injured priests are stripped of their weapons before they’re moved inside the mountain for treatment, too.
The remaining warriors gather around me in the airlock, looking grim. I know Delphie’s absence weighs on them, in part because they don’t know the whole plan. I couldn’t risk one of them engaging in harmless gossip and jeopardizing it. But now it’s in motion, and the secrecy is no longer necessary.
“You should be proud,” I tell them. “Our mission was a success. Little blood was spilled and none of it ours. Alioth smiles on us.”
“Her teeth are sharp,” they reply dutifully. Y’len shifts uncomfortably, drawing my eye. Her body is probably bruised from Zomah’s rough treatment. And she is responsible for one of the two injured priests that are with the healers now. He’s not dead, but he’s close to it. She needs to see a healer. But there’s something hungry in her face that tells me she won’t go until she knows Delphie is safe. That will heal her most of all.
“Ease your fears. My Alara escaped the priest’s transport as planned, and I’m going to retrieve her pod. While I’m gone, any who are suffering ill effects from the exposure, go see the healers. Any who feel mind-suffering after seeing two priests fall, do the same. If I find you have neglected these tasks, the consequences will be severe. The rest of you, attend to your duties and help where you can. This is a day to celebrate, but don’t open the gresha until I get back.”
They share uncertain looks, but I don’t have time to reassure them. My Alara is waiting for me. I grab the pack of breathers and healing supplies I prepared in advance and fire up the surface vehicle again. Testing the limits of its power, I speed across the stony plains to the small valley where I marked her pod landing. It’s in perfect condition and when I pop the hatch,the first thing I see is her smile beaming at me, brighter than Alioth.
“You came for me.” She holds up her arms, and I lift her from the cramped interior.
“Of course,” I grunt as I carry her to the vehicle platform, anxious to get her back to the mountain where it’s warm. “I’ll always come for you.”
“I know,” she says, twining her arms around my neck and leaning into my chest. “I love you.”
Something deep in me settles, hearing those words. She has said them before, but it felt lighthearted. This time they feel real. Deep. I’m all too aware that I could have lost her, and it makes me realize how stupid I was to believe that I could have survived if I’d sent her away. “I love you, too. I don’t ever want to be parted from you again. Next time you walk into danger, I’m going with you.”
“I can’t believe we pulled it off,” she marvels when I settle her on the vehicle’s platform, staring up at where the Eye still hangs in the sky. “We got them. How is your mom doing?”
