“It has to be what way?” I ask apprehensively. “Gabriel was sick—out of his mind—he—” Balmora leans forward a little. I consider rushing her and pulling her off the ledge, but the risk that she’ll fall is too great. I inch closer.
Balmora turns and gazes down at me. Wind lifts her hem and stirs her hair. Her waving gown reminds me of the flags that top each tower of the fortress. “He said he couldn’t stop your mother, but you can.” It’s like she’s in a trance. Emotionless. Withdrawn.
“Stop her from what?”
“From taking over the world with her monsters.”
“What monsters?” I ask. Balmora’s foot moves, and her heel now teeters off the edge of the wall. I reach out to her, gesturing for her to take my hand and climb down. “Don’t, Balmora,” I beg. “We can change the world together—you and me.”
“He said, ‘Tell Roselle to follow the crow to the trees in the sea.’”
“Kipson Crow? Did he mean Agent Crow?”
The sound of another hovercart crashing into our abandoned one rattles the air behind us. Reykin calls my name, and I hear a few of Balmora’s attendants with him. I want to scream at them to leave, but I don’t dare take my eyes from Balmora.
“I don’t know what he meant,” she drones. “He made me promise to tell you, and then, he said, I could join him.” Her dazed eyes shift to the young girl next to me. “Good-bye, Quincy,” Balmora whispers. And steps off the ledge.
Chapter 17
The Heir
I lurch forward, hoping to grab Balmora, but she’s gone. A strangled sob comes from Quincy beside me. Screams tear through the air from the secondborn attendants behind us. I force myself to look over the edge, hoping to find her clinging to a ledge, but the tide is out, and the stones that support the base of the fortress are uncovered. Balmora’s body is a mangled mess on the rocks far below.
The wind beats my hair against the sides of my face. I turn away and catch Quincy before she can look over the balcony wall. “Don’t,” I whisper, holding her to me in a hug. I can’t tell which of us is shaking worse. Quincy whimpers softly, the quiet crying of a girl who has been taught not to show her sorrow. I gaze toward the tower. Reykin is standing on the threshold to the balcony. By the grim expression on his face, I think he witnessed what happened.
With long strides, Reykin crosses the balcony alone and peers over the low wall. Rogue isn’t with him, and I wonder numbly where my puppy is. Reykin’s expression is blank, betraying nothing of what he’s thinking.
Alarms peal, distant at first, but growing steadily closer. Death drones converge around us, rising to hover around the balcony. Their bone-jarring tones rattle my teeth. Reykin gets between me and them. My Halo stingers arm and behave aggressively toward the death drones. The air grows foul with the noise of drones.
Reykin’s physical presence buffers me from the chaos. His shoulders arch around me like a shield. Carefully, he herds Quincy and me back inside the tower, away from the death drones. The Halo stingers drift with us. Armed Exo and Iono guards enter the tower bedroom. Balmora’s secondborn attendants flutter around, some crying.
The pit of my stomach aches when I cast a glance at Gabriel again. I’ve been wrong about so many things, but especially him. I can’t decide if he was noble or a coward. The one thing he is now is gone.
“This way.” Reykin directs me to leave, but we’re stopped by the guards. Using his moniker, Reykin contacts Dune, and moments later, the leader of the security team gets orders from my former mentor to bring me to the Halo Palace.
“Quincy comes with me,” I growl, trying to hold back my tears. It’s strange, this ache. If I could pinpoint its source, I might be able to do something about it, but it’s all-encompassing.
We’re escorted from the tower. On the way out of the fortress, Reykin collects Rogue from the lap of a middle-aged secondborn woman with a gap between her teeth. The puppy is completely passive, in the grip of a serious nap. I want to bury my face in his fur, but I dare not touch him. I’m not good at loving. I’m only good at killing. Death. Destruction.
“Sad to see him go,” the woman says with a grin. In my daze, I mistakenly think she means Gabriel. But then she holds up the puppy and hands the bundle of love to Reykin. He nods, and we cross the shallow water over the sandbar to a waiting aircraft.
Inside the airship, I huddle next to Quincy. Reykin sits beside me. We’re so close that our thighs touch. I still hear my heart in my ears. The puppy sleeps soundly on his lap, intermittently wagging his little tail. Reykin watches me. Shame heats my cheeks. I should never have accused him of murdering my brother. Gabriel did that himself. All I want to do is lay my head against Reykin’s shoulder and sob for the brother I once loved. That Gabriel was worthy of my tears, but I know my brother wasn’t that boy anymore.
“I’m sorry I accused you,” I croak. “I thought . . .” I look away so I won’t cry.
Reykin’s warm fingers close over my hand. “Not a poor assumption, given what I’ve said to you in the past.” He squeezes my hand. “How long?” he whispers. I know what he’s asking. How long has my brother been at the fortress, right under his nose?
“Since the night you gave me Rogue,” I reply.
“Who knows?” he asks. I indicate Quincy with a dip of my chin. Her cheek rests against my shoulder. “Quincy?” he beckons. The girl doesn’t lift her head, but her arm around mine grows tighter. “How did Gabriel come to be in the Sea Fortress?”
Her voice is monotone and distant. “Do you mean the dead man?”
“Yes,” Reykin replies.
“I don’t know. I only found him like that this morning,” she lies. “Secondborn Commander was on the wall of the balcony. She was distraught, so I ran to get Roselle, hoping she’d be able to help.”
“Do you know who the man was?” he asks.
She shakes her head. “His moniker says he’s a Sword, but I didn’t look at him closely.”
No one can know what we’ve done. Now that I’m firstborn and the heir to The Sword, I might get off with some ridiculously light punishment, but Quincy could be killed for helping to bring Gabriel and Balmora together. I can’t let that happen. We stick to her story or she dies.
“Quincy,” Reykin says softly, “did you know that this puppy is magic?” Quincy side-eyes Rogue, then looks at Reykin. His face shows no hint of humor. “It’s true. Nothing bad can happen to you while you’re holding Rogue. He’s special like that. Do you want to try it and see?”
She looks back at Rogue. Reykin lifts the puppy, holding his little warm body out to Quincy. She doesn’t move at first, but then her arm slips from mine, and her small, shaking hands take the furry creature and bring him to her chest. She presses her cheek to the top of his head, and Rogue’s floppy ear caresses her skin. A silent tear slips down her face.
Our aircraft touches down on a hoverpad connected to the floating halo. Reykin keeps everyone at bay from Quincy and me. With his arms locked around us, he escorts us inside. The guards here seem different, and the reason isn’t immediately apparent until we get to the first security checkpoint. The hostile, suspicious stares that normally greet me have changed to surprise and open curiosity. The golden light of my moniker means I’m now treated with deference.
By the time we reach Dune’s apartment, I’m trembling. My skin is chilly. I keep replaying everything in my mind, questioning my decisions. If I’d gone to Balmora and pulled her off the wall before she had a chance to tell me Gabriel’s message, she wouldn’t have been able to jump. If I had stayed with her and helped her convince Gabriel not to take his life, they’d both be alive.