Stormbreak (Seafire #3) - Natalie C. Parker Page 0,59

you want me to put on gloves, Princelet?”

Hime’s cheeks blushed a pale pink at the name Redtooth had given her so long ago. She nodded, signing to explain, The fabric will compress to keep the swelling down. Splints will go on over them.

“You want me to put on gloves that compress?” This time, Oran’s laugh was loud and quickly followed by a wince. “I appreciate your sense of irony.”

Healing isn’t ironic, Hime answered, reaching for one of his hands. As gently as she could, she began the process of sliding the glove into place.

“I’m fine,” he said when she paused at the knuckle of one shattered finger. “None of this pain belongs to you.”

“Oran.” Sympathy flooded Pisces’s voice, spilling over into Caledonia and renewing her sharp guilt.

“It had to happen.” Oran grimaced as the glove applied a steady pressure around each of his fingers. Without a word of protest, he offered his other hand to Hime.

“Did it?” This time Pisces spared an accusation for Caledonia.

“It did,” Oran said. “Tassos has been waiting a long time to visit some of my own designs on me. If it buys us what we need to tip the scales in our favor, then it’s worth it.”

“You’ll be useless in a fight for a while,” Pine said. “Well. More useless.”

Oran frowned, eyes darting briefly to Hime as if hoping she would tell him that it wasn’t true. In response, she reached for three slender splints and began to bind them to his fingers.

Only three of the fingers are broken. The others are bruised deeply, maybe fractured. The gloves will speed the healing, she signed when she’d finished her work. Three weeks if you’re lucky and not stupid.

“Define stupid,” Pisces said.

Letting Tassos put you in the steel hand! Hime’s expression jumped from placid to outraged in a heartbeat. She turned to Caledonia and added, Letting it happen! Would you have let the same happen to one of us?

“That’s not fair, Hime,” Pisces soothed.

Isn’t it? Hime asked. I don’t recognize her choices anymore. We didn’t go back for Amina, now this, and I’ve seen what’s in the weapons locker. Did you think no one would notice?

“What do you mean?” Pisces asked. “What’s in the weapons locker?”

A sharp breeze of panic swept through Caledonia, too sudden for her to mask her reaction. Oran shifted on the exam bed, ready to take the blame, but Caledonia shook her head.

“Star blossom bombs,” she admitted. “Four of them.”

Pine sat up straight, dark eyes sharpening on Caledonia while Sledge turned and slowly paced across the room.

“I thought we’d agreed that was a one-time thing,” Pisces said, trying not to sound hurt, but failing. “After the Battle of Cloudbreak.”

“‘An act of desperation’ were your exact words,” Sledge nearly growled. “One we would never repeat.”

No one had blamed Caledonia for using the star blossom at the time. The results had been viscerally terrible, and no one knew that better than Caledonia, but they’d all agreed that Aric’s methods should never be repeated. If they wanted to change the world, they had to start with themselves and the very tools they used to change it.

Having the star blossoms was a betrayal of everything they’d agreed to.

Where did you even get them? Hime asked.

“That seems fairly obvious to me.” Pine shot Oran a contemptuous look.

“I asked Oran to build them.” Caledonia made her voice uncompromising. “Just in case.”

The room settled into an awkward silence. Sledge scowled while Pine shook his head and Hime’s mouth bent in a steep frown. Pisces stood apart from all of them with her arms wrapped tightly around her middle. She was trying to look stoic, impartial, but she couldn’t hide her hurt from Caledonia.

“And you’re right, Hime, I let this happen,” Caledonia said. There was no point pulling her punches now.

“This was between Tassos and me,” Oran added hurriedly. “Caledonia couldn’t have done anything to change that.”

“I could have,” Caledonia admitted. “I could have refused to let it happen, but I didn’t. Because I want what Tassos has to give us. I don’t think we’ll survive much longer without it. If you want to be mad about it, be mad. But don’t let it get in our way.”

What she didn’t say was that this was one more decision none of them had to make. This was one more wound they did not have to carry. Every one of them had their demons. Every one of them would be haunted by the things they’d done for the rest of their lives, but