Stormbreak (Seafire #3) - Natalie C. Parker Page 0,17

their position just outside, she turned. And there, trailing her down the dim corridor, was Oran.

He locked his eyes on hers and walked determinedly forward, passing her guards without a glance. He stepped inside the office and shut the door firmly behind him.

Caledonia’s heart skipped into her throat. She could feel her pulse thrumming in her neck, her fingertips, zinging hot down to her belly and between her legs. She took one shallow breath and then his arms were around her waist, pulling her against him.

Their mouths were fast and hungry, their hands just as eager. When their kisses became tugging at hair and clothes, and gasps became little groans, Caledonia pulled away.

“Not here,” she said, passing a thumb over Oran’s crushed red lips. “Not yet.”

Oran’s eyes narrowed suspiciously. “You want my real report.”

“I want your real report,” Caledonia admitted, though her body certainly didn’t agree. She wanted his hands on her skin, his mouth on her mouth, she wanted nothing between them but darkness.

With a sigh, Oran stepped away. Cold air rushed between them and Caledonia instantly regretted her request.

Oran nodded, and in an instant he transformed from the young man who saved smiles just for her to the Fiveson who smiled for no one.

“It’s done.” His voice dipped low, grim and hard, and Caledonia’s heart dipped with it.

She hated asking him to work in secret like this, but she could see no other way. They’d come too far, lost so much to win so little. Everyone was looking to her to change the world. They had hope, confidence, so much faith that Caledonia Styx would be the one to free the Bullet Seas from the deadly hooks of Aric’s legacy. She’d thought she had a partial solution in Amina’s silencers, but without the ability to create more, she needed another option.

One no one knew about except for her and Oran.

“I was able to build four. Any more right now and I think Kae will notice supplies going missing. I can get these to the Luminous Wake as soon as she’s docked in the canals. As long as you’re still sure?”

Caledonia nodded as she blew out an uncomfortable breath. “I’m sure.”

“The Hands of the River?”

The crushing sensation of rejection fell heavily on Caledonia’s shoulders. “They’re not an option.”

Oran’s lips tightened. He had been skeptical of their aid from the start, but if he felt any satisfaction in being right, he didn’t show it. Instead, he seemed truly disappointed.

“You don’t have to use these, Cala.”

A thin, tragic laugh escaped Caledonia’s lips. The memory of Aric using his Bullets as a living shield as she threw a star blossom bomb into their midst planted itself in her mind. She would never forget the chorus of their screams or the wet sound of their dying cries. She would never forget the burnt smell of the air even as it tasted of copper and pain. She would never forget that she had had a choice and, in an instant, killed a hundred Bullets in the worst possible way.

Had there been another option? If she’d given herself another moment, would she have found a solution that didn’t leave the deck of the Titan washed crimson and black?

She still didn’t know. But she did know that once a bomb was built, the question wasn’t if it would be used, it was when.

“I wouldn’t have asked you to build them if I wasn’t prepared to use them,” she said. The anger that threaded her chest as she spoke was partly for Aric, who had created a world in which star blossoms were ever a necessity, and partly for herself, for answering that need. She was supposed to be working toward a world without this kind of fear.

“I won’t ever judge you for it.” Oran spoke softly, his eyes holding on to her and keeping her afloat. “And I will make you as many as I’m able. Just say the word.”

Using star blossoms was a terrible option. The worst she’d ever entertained. She couldn’t really imagine what Pisces or Sledge would say if they knew she was building her own. It was better that they didn’t know. Better that the decision wouldn’t rest on their shoulders.

“Not yet,” Caledonia said, and Oran released a tight breath of relief.

Then she reached out, twisted her fingers in his shirt, and pulled him back to her. She whispered, “For a minute, I actually thought skintech could be the answer. But Lir still outnumbers us and I can’t build our fleet fast