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Across a small room was another door with a rounded window made of two thick panes. Blue light came through it. Electric light that moved like a living, starving thing.
Aether.
“This way. ” He stepped around her, opening the door, and suddenly she was stepping outside, onto a platform framed by a metal rail, her hair lifting in the wind.
It was night. She’d had no idea. That meant she’d been in the Komodo almost two days. A sea of metal surrounded her—the roofs of the Komodo’s individual units—and funnels of Aether twisted above. She saw the red flares. They had spread so much in just the time she’d been imprisoned. Everywhere she looked—east and west, north and south— the funnels lashed down to the earth, in some areas no more than a mile off. She felt the familiar prickling in the air and heard the shrieking sounds of the funnels—the sound of the Aether charging closer.
They were running out of time.
“We need to talk,” Loran said behind her.
Aria turned and faced him. By the shifting light of the sky, she studied his face. His expression was too soft for a soldier. Too pleading for a stranger.
He sighed, rubbing a hand over his face. “I don’t know where to start. ”
Emotion prickled behind her eyes. Her heart was slamming. Pounding to get out of her ribs.
He didn’t know where to start, but she did.
“You’re an Aud,” she said.
“Yes. ”
“You knew my mother. ”
“Yes. ”
She pulled in a breath and dove. “You’re my father. ”
“Yes. ” He looked at her, full on, the moment expanding between them. “I am. ”
A cold wave swept over her.
She had guessed right.
Her back thumped against the metal railing as that single thought ran through her mind: she had guessed right. Finally, she’d found her father and didn’t have to wonder anymore. The curiosity she’d carried around her whole life could be put to rest, once and for all.
Her eyes filled, the world blurring, not for this man—who she knew nothing about—but for her mother, who had known him. Had Lumina loved him? Hated him? Aria’s mind suddenly filled with questions again, and here, standing before her, was the only person who could answer them.
She shook her head, confused. This wasn’t sinking in the right way. He was her father. She should feel something besides curiosity, shouldn’t she? Something more than missing her mother?
“How long have you known about me?” she heard herself ask.
“Nineteen years. ”
“You knew when she was pregnant with me?”
“Yes. ” He shifted his weight. “Aria, I don’t know how to do this. I’m not sure if I can think of myself as a father. I don’t even like children. ”
“Did I ask you to be my father? Do I look like a child?”
“You look like her. ”
That stole
the breath from her lungs.
The sound of the storm rose up, filling their silence, and she thought about how much time she’d spent wondering about this man. Wanting to find him. He’d known about her the entire time and he’d done nothing about it.
