Bonds of Brass (The Bloodright Trilogy #1) - Emily Skrutskie Page 0,74
It feels like coming home.
But the feeling doesn’t stick. Dread builds in me as we get closer and closer. This place is big. Bigger than I ever could have fathomed. This is what the Archon-loyal have been doing while I gave myself over to our conquerors and became a soldier in their hands. Seven years of work went into this establishment, and I don’t know if I’m ready to face what that means about me and my loyalty, not only to the Umber Empire but to its heir himself.
My hands fidget on the controls, my fingers tapping out a soft beat where neither Gal nor Wen can see.
“Base to Shuttle Thirty-Seven, we’re authorizing a landing pad for you. If you surrender there, we’ll take you in peacefully.”
“Understood,” Gal says, and closes the line. A moment later, the navigation flickers with a beacon laid over the resistance compound. He slumps back in the copilot’s chair, running his hands over his eyes.
Wordlessly I reach over and lay a hand on his shoulder. His fingers find mine, and my heartbeat stutters at how natural it is, how natural it shouldn’t be. With Wen in the cockpit, there’s nothing I can say to comfort Gal directly, but maybe this is enough—the quiet, unwavering reassurance that I’m here, I’m watching out for him, and no matter where he goes, I’ll be there to defend him.
Even if it’s wrapped in layers upon layers of deception.
Even if it can never last.
CHAPTER 16
I’M THE FIRST one out the door. With the unfortunate Lieutenant Briggs propped up against me, I stagger down the steps and onto the tarmac, which is already boiling in the summer sun. Eleven soldiers wait for us, and a flicker of relief lights in me when I see that none of them have their guns drawn. Two approach, and I hand Briggs off to them.
“It was a simple stunner bolt,” I say. “Should be up in a matter of minutes.”
They nod, but neither of them look particularly grateful. I take a step back, lifting my hands with my palms turned out. Gal descends, tugging Wen after him. She’s doing her best not to look stoned, her brow furrowed in concentration as she wrestles with the smile threatening to break free from her lips.
Stumbling out of a stolen shuttle, flanked by the haggard and the high. This is how I come back to my people.
I scan our surroundings, checking the roofs of the buildings around us for sniper barrels, but all I see is how many buildings there are. How well made everything is. The compound may be hewn from Corinthian granite, but the soldiers’ uniforms are decorated with patches woven in green and silver. Emerald and platinum. The Archon Crown’s metal and stone.
Gal’s mouth opens. And in the suspended seconds between him drawing the breath he needs to steel himself and the moment he starts to speak, something crumbles inside me. I feel the rumble and drop, the wall giving way, and the next thing I know, I’m stepping in front of him.
“We’re deserters from the Umber Imperial Academy on the planet Rana,” I announce. I have to yell to be heard across the tarmac. “We have useful intelligence about the academy and its defense of the former Archon interior, which we’re willing to exchange for assistance with returning to our families.”
“Ettian, what are you doing?” Gal hisses in my ear.
“Starting things off on the right foot,” I reply, but suddenly I’m not so sure about that. Gal’s the negotiator. I just fly the ships. It’s not my place, and yet I all but shoved him out of the way to take point.
“Hold up—that girl isn’t a deserter,” one of the soldiers says as she steps out in front of the group. “That’s the thieving urchin we threw out three weeks ago. She’s been warned to stay away from this base.”
Wen shrinks behind us. She grabs the hem of my shirt and holds tight, her gaze flicking anxiously back and forth, absorbing every potential threat and every potential hiding place.