Stormbreak (Seafire #3) - Natalie C. Parker Page 0,46

rescue Amina and make their small family whole again. She wanted it so badly that for a moment her lungs flattened and refused to fill again.

“You should get some rest.” Caledonia’s voice was soft. “If she can get to us, she will.”

At this, Hime shook her head sharply once. I’m not leaving. Not yet.

“Then we’ll stay with you,” Pisces said, determined.

Caledonia nodded, a small spot of relief opening in her lungs. This, at least, she could do.

Hime’s lips trembled as her sisters wrapped her in their arms and turned their eyes to the same dark point on the horizon.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Sand slid beneath the balls of Caledonia’s feet as she and Pisces walked along a narrow strip of beach the next day. Her ankle ached a little less with each step, but it was still slow going. Waves rushed toward their toes, seeping into the sand where small crabs burrowed, and little birds skittered back and forth at the edge of the water.

After holding vigil all night with Hime, waiting and hoping and fearing the worst, the day had dawned on the sight of five new ships. Hime rose immediately, ready to receive every ship on her own, to mark every member of their crew with her own eyes. She was a spear of determination in the face of looming sadness. But where she cleaved stubbornly to hope, Caledonia felt her own heart begin to grieve the loss of her friend.

Amina had not been aboard any of the new ships, and Hime had reluctantly returned to her cabin alone. Exhausted, Caledonia had done the same, finding Oran still asleep in her bed. She’d crawled in next to him, grateful when he’d merely tucked an arm around her instead of asking where she’d been or whether or not anything was wrong. For a few hours, she’d fallen into sleep as a stone through water and only awoke when Tin roused her, regretfully bringing a stack of requests that only the captain of the fleet could answer.

The day had passed in an unending series of decisions, and now Caledonia was ready to apply her mind to what came next. For that, she needed space and the ocean over which she could cast her thoughts and reel them back in one at a time.

Pisces walked quietly at her side, unwilling to let Caledonia out of her sight.

“Pi,” Caledonia called, reaching for her hand.

Pisces threaded their fingers together and gave Caledonia’s hand a firm squeeze. “What are we going to do, Cala?”

Long ago, they’d sat on this very beach pondering that same question. Caledonia felt just as lost now as she had then. Just like then, she was licking her wounds, counting the dead, and trying to decide what was possible with what was left. Just like then, her thoughts were consumed by a sharp jaw, an explosion of sun-bleached hair, and cutting blue eyes. How could so much have changed and also so little?

“I’m thinking that Gloriana’s report means we have more than one enemy out there.” In the little time Caledonia had had to herself, she’d worried this issue back and forth in her mind, always with the same frustrating lack of results.

“You think they’ll work together? Even after an assassination attempt?” Pisces asked.

“Oran says there is no love lost between Lir and Tassos,” Caledonia said. “I doubt they’ll unite. That’s good for us because it means Tassos is a buffer between us and Lir. However temporary. But that doesn’t mean Tassos won’t decide to attack us himself.”

“Two enemies, then,” Pisces said, voice grim.

“We don’t have the power to move against Lir, much less Lir and Tassos,” Caledonia said. “And I don’t know how to fight either of them in a way that doesn’t trap us. We move against Lir and he smothers us. We move against Tassos and Lir waits to see who survives. We don’t move at all and when those two are done with each other, the victor will come for us.”

“We need a bigger army.” Pisces stabbed a toe into the sand. “Or maybe we just try and punch the Net. If we wait until Lir draws Tassos out or at least thins his forces, our chances will almost be good.”

Not long ago, punching the Net had been the dream. The line of ships stretched from the Holster to the tip of this very archipelago a mere ten miles southeast of their current position. Aric had put it in place so long ago, Caledonia didn’t know a world without