Page 73 of Storm Caller

She fixes me with a penetrating look, and I swallow the knot in my throat.

“Understood.”

“Good.” Then she pauses and scans me from head to toe. “And while we’re at it, you will keep everything you witnessed in the Tiera Frais to yourself. You should never have seen any of that, and it’s for everyone’s protection that they continue to believe there is nothing to be found in the Wastes.”

I already anticipated this.

“Will I be arrested if I tell anyone?”

The general rolls her neck. “Scavengers who wander too far and return with ‘stories’ are dealt with, Poet. Don’t forget that. My protection only extends so far.”

We share a look. It feels like a standoff. The Shield is letting a whole list of things I shouldn’t be getting away with slide, all because the general claims that she needs me. That New Manhattan needs me. She must have convinced the chancellors of my innocence without revealing my secrets.

Still, it feels like there is so much more happening that I don’t understand.

Suddenly, the doors to the lobby slide open.

“Poet,” comes my mother’s voice, and before I know it, I’m enveloped in her comforting scent. She’s sobbing against me, crying so hard she’s shaking. We stand like that for a moment before she pulls away and cups my face in her hands. “Skies, we were so worried.”

“I’m okay, Mom,” I say. “I’m okay.”

My dad walks over, hands in his pockets. He tips his head at the general, who returns the greeting.

“Dad,” I say, wiping my eyes.

“Poet. I’m glad you’re free.”

“You’ll come home with us?” my mom asks. “You need to recover. You’re so pale and thin. What happened to you out there?”

She blinks her brown eyes as the word home knocks something out of me.

What is home?

She’s wondering what happened to me out there. But there, I was safe. Cared for.

I love my mom, but she isn’t home anymore.

“You . . . kicked me out of your lives. Dad said he no longer had a daughter.”

The words ring hollow in the empty lobby, and I can’t bring myself to look at him.

They came for my trial, but I haven’t forgotten how they disowned me when I chose House Aria over Fiama. How my dad refused to listen to what I wanted and tried to force me to marry a man like Knox.

My mother’s expression falls, and I hate hurting her, but I can’t pretend that none of it happened.

“Do you take back what you said? Will you accept me as I am?” I ask, directing the question to my father. “I’m House Aria. That hasn’t changed.”

He meets my eyes and says nothing before his gaze shifts away.

He isn’t over it.

“That’s what I thought,” I say.

“Poet,” my mother says, her gaze jumping between my father and me. “Let’s talk about this.”

“I think it’s better if I return to Amery,” I say. “School starts soon anyway.”

“I agree,” Sol says, appearing at my other side. “Cadets continue their training during the semester break, and she’s already missed some vital lessons. The first year was hard, but the second year will be grueling. She can’t afford any more time off.”