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“Weapons down, all of you,” Sable said coolly.
She heard the clatter of wood and metal as guns, bows, knives dropped.
Sable walked past them. Past Twig, who was clutching his leg and weeping. Further down the ramp, Aria saw Reef and Gren. Deadly still, both.
Slowly, Sable’s gaze swept across the Hover and found Aria. He stared at her for a long moment, his eyes sparkling and energized. Then his gaze moved to Roar.
“No!” Aria yelled. “No!”
Sable put his hands up. “It’s over,” he said. “I want no more bloodshed. ” He looked pointedly at Marron, who stood just a few feet away from him, flanked by Horn soldiers. “But if any of you are interested in taking Peregrine’s position as Lord of the Tides, be advised that that position no longer exists. Any attempt to claim it will receive lethal consideration, as you’ve just seen.
“If you still think you can challenge me, I want you to remember one thing: I know everything. I know your desires and fears before they have even made themselves known to you. Yield to me. It’s your only option. ” His ice-blue gaze drifted over the crowd, eliciting a silent wave of tense, held breaths. “Have I made myself clear?
“Good,” Sable said. “This is a new beginning for all of us, but it’s not a time to throw away our past. Our traditions have worked for centuries. If we respect them—our ways, the old ways—then we will flourish here. ”
Silence. Nothing but the sound of Twig’s agonized cries.
“All right, then,” Sable said. “Let’s get started. Leave all your belongings in the Hover, step outside, and form into lines. ”
46
ARIA
Aria watched as Sable and his men sorted her friends into lines along the beach.
Roar went first, far away from her. Then Caleb and Soren and Rune. Brooke and Molly and Willow. She tried to identify Sable’s strategy in creating the groupings, but it seemed unorderly. He was mixing old and young. Dwellers and Outsiders. Men and women. Then she understood: That was the point. He was creating lines of people who would be least likely to band together in rebellion.
She felt no anger or fear as the sorting continued, and as the sun began its descent behind the lush hills. She felt nothing, until she saw that Talon was placed in Molly’s group. Molly would watch over him. Like Perry, she watched over everyone.
Preoccupied, Aria only then realized she stood alone. The Hovers were empty. Everyone stood in lines along the beach—except her.
Sable stood nearby; she felt his gaze on her, but she wouldn’t look at him.
“Take her back to the Hover,” he said.
Horn soldiers escorted her back to the window in the hold, which looked over calm water that was greener than blue, and so clear she could see the sand beneath. She stayed there, under guard, watching the daylight fade through the window. Even though the ramp to the beach was open, she couldn’t look toward land. Her eyes wouldn’t turn away from the water.
This had to change. She needed to accept this situation, to fight against it somehow. She tried to come up with a plan to get to Talon and Roar, but she couldn’t concentrate for more than seconds. And just to save Talon and Roar? How would that help? Sable held every one of them in his grip.
Somehow, he’d come away with control over everything.
“Oh, don’t be so glum. ”
She turned, seeing him stride up the ramp into the Hover.
He dismissed the two soldiers who’d been guarding her. Then he leaned against the inner wall of the Hover and smiled at her.
Outside, darkness had fallen—a soft darkness, unlike in the cave at the Tides. This darkness held warm shadows and the sound of rustling trees. Reef’s and Gren’s blood had been washed from the ramp, she noticed.
“Your friends are all well. ” Sable crossed his arms, the movement making the jewels of his chain sparkle in the dim hold. “A few fresh blisters but nothing terrible. I put them to work, which can’t surprise you. There’s much to be done. We have a camp to set up. ”
Aria stared at the chain and imagined strangling him with it.
“You’re not the first,” he said after a moment. “The first was many years ago. A landowner in Rim—one of the wealthiest men pledged to me. I’d only worn the chain for a few months when he accuse
d me of overtaxing him—which I did not. I am fair, Aria. I have always been fair. But I punished him for making the accusation. A hefty fine, which I thought was both lenient and fitting. In answer, he tried to choke me in the middle of a feast one night right in front of hundreds of people. If he’d survived, I imagine he would have regretted that decision.
“I may not tromp around with a weapon like Peregrine or Roar, but I can defend myself. Quite well, in fact. You’d be wise to put an end to that line of thinking. ”
