AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Maybe a little trouble is needed around here,” Erik says. I nod in agreement.
“We have enough trouble without a bunch of kids adding to it,” Falon says.
“Don’t get self-righteous with me,” I say, leaning forward and jabbing a finger in her direction. “I don’t care if Dante is my father, you and I are the same age.”
“You been in a lot of gunfights? Have you watched your best friend die in your arms?” Falon asks.
“I’ve watched more than one friend die,” I seethe. “I’ve seen people I love made into monsters and I’ve escaped Cormac Patton. Let me know when you manage to rip yourself out of the Coventry.”
“So the rumors are true. You aren’t only a Spinster,” Falon says. For the first time since we met, approval glints in her eyes.
“No, I’m the goddamned Creweler,” I say with as much venom as I can muster.
“Well, she certainly has your attitude problem,” Falon says, leaning back in her chair and looking at Dante.
“Don’t get me involved with this,” he says, putting a hand up.
“You got yourself involved when you left me in Arras,” I say, jumping from my seat and crossing to the first door I see. Erik is at my heels, but he doesn’t stop me when I exit into the next corridor.
“Who is he to treat me like that?” I mutter.
“He’s your dad,” Erik says.
I turn and hit his shoulder. “He will never be my father.”
“I know that,” Dante says, closing the door behind him. “I’m not trying to boss you around. I wanted to protect you from this.”
“You had no right to keep this from me,” I say.
“I’m sorry,” Dante says. “I kept it from you at first because it was protocol. I wasn’t about to drop this into your lap, but somewhere along the line, I didn’t want to tell you.”
“Because you don’t trust me,” I accuse.
“No, it’s more than that. I may not have been there when you were born. Arras, I might have a hard time wrapping my head around this—you aren’t the only one struggling with what this means,” Dante says. “And despite all of it—despite the fact that I knew you deserved to know—I couldn’t tell you.”
“Why not?” I demand over my swollen throat. Erik wraps an arm around my shoulder and steadies me, which makes it harder to hold my tears hostage.
“Because—like it or not—you’re my daughter, Adelice.” Dante pauses and dares to bring his eyes up to meet mine. “And I love you.”
He doesn’t offer me any more placation; he quietly exits back to where we left Falon. Erik pulls me into his shoulder and I free my tears, sobbing.
“I don’t know who to trust,” I whisper.
“Me,” he says, rubbing my arm. “And Jost. No matter what, you will always have us.”
I know that, but even as I cry in his arms, the distance between us feels like too much to overcome. It’s a distance we’ve created out of necessity, and if we breach it, I can’t guarantee I won’t lose Erik, but I know one thing.
I will lose Jost.
“Erik, I can’t lose you,” I say. “I can’t lose either of you.”
His arms tighten around me, and for one second I want him to storm the wall we’ve built between us. I want him to help me forget this. But instead he only whispers, “You won’t. I won’t let that happen. I promise I’ll never let you go.”
And even now, wrapped in an embrace, we’re a million miles from each other.
* * *
We stay on the observation deck, watching the aeroship pass along the Interface. A series of hooks and pulleys built along the ship’s external skeleton grip and gather the strands of the Interface. We’re not flying, we’re crawling across the web of strands. Dante approaches us as the skeleton’s gears and hooks latch and lock, tethering us to the Interface semi-permanently.
