Between Burning Worlds (System Divine #2) - Jessica Brody Page 0,96

frozen grass, punctuated by craggy outcrops of rock.

“Um,” she said anxiously, glancing around at the unforgiving landscape, “This is the Terrain Perdu.”

Etienne shrugged, as though this were an insignificant detail. As though it weren’t a well-known fact that no one had ever survived a single night out here in this frozen tundra.

“You call it the Terrain Perdu,” he said nonchalantly. “We just call it home.”

- CHAPTER 27 - MARCELLUS

OVER THE SPAN OF HIS nineteen years of life, Marcellus had seen many things and visited many places. He’d circled this planet countless times. He’d flown billions of kilomètres amongst the stars. He’d traveled to every planet in the System Divine.

Except Albion.

Because no one from Laterre ever visited Albion.

Marcellus had heard plenty of stories about its picturesque blue skies and flawless weather. Being the most similar in landscape and climate to the First World, the families of the Human Conservation Commission had squabbled ruthlessly over the planet when the System Divine had first been discovered. But no two families had fought harder than the Paresse family and the Bellingham family. It had been the start of a five-century-long feud that still waged to this day, marking Albion the number-one enemy of Laterre.

And now, Marcellus had just volunteered to go there.

“Are you insane?” Gabriel shouted. “You can’t go to Albion.”

“Didn’t you hear him?” Cerise fired back. “The general is building a weapon that will be delivered in two weeks. He must be stopped!”

They were standing in the middle of the Tourbay, with Cerise’s cruiseur idling nearby. Even though the Sols were rising and the skies were slowly brightening, the abundant mist of the boglands provided an effective cover. Just as it once had for Mabelle and her Montfer cell of the Vangarde. Before her life was snuffed out in an instant.

Marcellus hastily pushed the thought from his mind. He had to compartmentalize. He could not find the courage to do what he’d just sworn to do and grieve at the same time.

“But you can’t just go to Albion!” Gabriel said, exasperated. “It’s an enemy planet. You’ll get shot right out of space before you even get close! It’s a suicide mission.”

Marcellus kneaded his hands together, his heart pounding in his chest.

Was he insane?

Was this a suicide mission?

“Maybe so,” Marcellus admitted. “But I have no other choice. This has to be done.”

Gabriel scoffed. “Oh, so you’re just going to waltz right onto Albion and be like, ‘Hey! I hear you’re making a weapon for General Bonnefaçon. Any idea who’s working on that, because I’d like to talk to them.’ ”

“No, genius,” Cerise snapped. “I can send a message back to the source through the probe. Alouette can code it, right?” She looked at Alouette who nodded. “We’ll pretend to be this Denise person, because clearly the source trusts her, and we’ll ask the source where to meet.”

Marcellus gaped at Cerise, thoroughly impressed.

“Are you all insane?” Gabriel screeched. “Even if you do somehow miraculously manage to get into Albion airspace, have you not heard the rumors about the Albion Royal Guard? Plucked out of their houses as infants and trained to be killers?”

“No one is asking you to come with us,” Cerise snapped.

Marcellus blinked and reeled on Cerise. “Wait a minute, us?”

“I’m coming with you,” Cerise said, as though this had already been decided and the detail had simply slipped Marcellus’s mind.

“You absolutely are not coming with me.”

“Yes, I am,” she declared. “You’re going to need my help.”

“No, I won’t. Just go back to Ledôme and—”

“I can’t go back to Ledôme!” she shouted, startling Marcellus.

“Why not?”

“Because …” She took a breath, steadying herself. “Because I just can’t, okay? I’m going with you, Marcellus, and that’s the end of it. You’re going to need a good hacker. And you’re going to need someone who can get you a voyageur. Have you already forgotten about this?”

Cerise tapped on her TéléCom and turned it around so everyone could see Marcellus’s arrest warrant glowing on the screen.

Marcellus felt like he was being sucked right into the marshy ground beneath his feet. He had almost forgotten about that. The entire planet would be out looking for him. He couldn’t just walk into the Vallonay spaceport and order a voyageur.

“And you’re not the only one who’s wanted,” Cerise shot a pointed look at Alouette and Gabriel.

“What?” Alouette asked.

Cerise sighed, like she was growing impatient with being the smartest person in the group. She flicked her finger across the screen of the TéléCom again. The image of Marcellus’s face grew smaller, and then,

readonlinefreenovel.com Copyright 2016 - 2024