Page 154 of Sky’s Edge

And sleep would help, I hoped.

As such, my curiosity could wait until morning.

I needed to get my male in bed.

We arrived at his chamber, and the closet in it, and I saw I’d been unpacked.

We did the getting-ready-for-bed thing, and then we got in bed.

I immediately snuggled into him.

And he surprised me by sharing, “Preliminary briefing is that the citadel forcefield held, but it took a massive bombardment. There’s some minor damage just from the blasts the armor dome absorbed, because there were so many, it shook the earth. We lost four defense bots, and one Grenadier sustained significant wounds. He’s in a medi-pod at St. Lucifer’s. He’ll recover, but it’ll take longer.”

“Okay.”

“It’s clear their target was the destruction of the citadel, but also Manny and Zyr. Once the Grenadiers got them in the escape craft, several of the crafts attacking the island broke off to follow them.”

Fucking Tatra.

“And what happened to the ones doing the attacking?”

“Two flights of the Red Wing were dispatched within ten minutes of learning Sigil was under attack. They have supersonic. They were there in ten minutes more. They downed all the craft. There are three survivors. They’ve taken the survivors and any remains found to Gehenn Base in northern Sky’s Edge for identification, processing and interrogation.”

“Do you think this is Tatra?”

“Yes. We’ve already identified some of the craft used in the attack. They were decommissioned Red Wing shock fighters. According to records, they were recycled five years ago. In other words, they should no longer exist. As such, we’re now inventorying current and decommissioned battlecraft to see what else she might have spirited away.”

This wasn’t good.

“Are you sure she-slash-they didn’t know you were on Sigil, and because they thought you were, you were the target?” I asked.

“Unless I’m at a public event, I don’t announce where I am at any given time, so it’s a possibility.”

“But you think she was after Manny and Zyr and the citadel.”

“I think she wants to erase me, and in the meantime, for whatever fucked-up reasons she has, she wants to see me suffer. I think she also wants to erase my mother, even if she’s already done that.”

“So, with this latest, do you think it’s personal, rather than a larger plot?”

“I don’t know, baby,” he said on a sigh. “Actually, I have no fucking idea. It could be argued the troll attack was a huge operation that would cause havoc and hide the fact my death was the goal. Arnaud didn’t have a hand in it, so he can’t tell us. Tatra denied everything and then disappeared. All the tech they used for that self-destructed. We’re zeroing in on a few members of Arnaud’s personal council who lost themselves pretty fucking quick after that happened, but until we’ve got our hands on them and can interrogate them, we don’t know dick.”

“You’re zeroing in on them?”

“They know where one of them is. Where he’s hiding. But it’s in the Break, so we have to work with the Break to get him. I talked with Bainon, he’s dealing with things there so I could approve an extraction without further delay. This, I’ve done.”

“The others?”

“There are two more. Both in Land’s End. We haven’t pinpointed them, but we have a pretty good idea where they are. I spoke with Niall and Cormac. Considering what happened with Gayle, they’re not thrilled with having to play ball with me right now, so they’re refusing to allow the Blood Scythe to go in and get them. However, they’re planning to do it themselves, and hope to deliver them in twenty-four to forty-eight hours.”

“Okay, well, that’s good. Right?”

“None of this is good.”

“No,” I whispered. “You’re right.”

“But at least those things aren’t bad.”

“Yes. Progress. Information. Something.”