“Then she’ll let Loom be free?”
“Killing the Dragon King means nothing. It’s like severing a Dragon’s hand. It will grow back time and time again. Not only must we sever the hand, but we must replace it with something that suits us better. Only then will Loom be truly free.”
Florence let the information soak in. She took off her top hat, brushed off dust that had settled on the brim while she was cleaning out her laboratory, and returned it to her head. “If everything you say is true . . . we must work with House Xin.”
Arianna was quiet, prompting Florence’s attention. The woman had that same faraway look.
“Ari, what happened up there? The Dragon King knew you by name.” She tried to be gentle, but it was a topic as sharp as a scalpel. “Why?”
Still, Ari was silent.
“How did you crash-land with a glider in Dortam?” Florence pushed a little harder.
Nothing.
“Arianna, please, I need to know.” Why? Why did she need to know so badly? Why did it keep her up at night and draw her patience thin to think Arianna was keeping yet another secret?
“Yveun captured me. I escaped on a glider. I crashed.”
It was the most unsatisfying explanation ever. “Yveun, the Dragon King, captured you?”
Arianna picked up her gearbox again. Florence was on her feet, reaching across the table to put her hand between Arianna’s tool and the box. The woman brought her violet eyes to Florence’s.
“Why didn’t you fight?”
“You don’t think I did?” Arianna scowled. “You don’t think that, succession be damned, I wouldn’t have killed him if given the chance?”
“What did he do to you?” she whispered.
“He made me weak.” Arianna cursed, throwing down her tool. It was a fit of passion Florence had never seen from the usually reserved woman. “He made me feel weak, and vulnerable, and helpless. Again. Again, I could not stand against him or his agents to defend what and who I love.” Arianna looked back to Florence; for the first time ever, her eyes beseeched her student for answers. Answers that no one had. “I am loyal to Loom and our fight with every breath I have. I am loyal to you, Flor. But no matter how hard I try, I cannot kill him. If I face him again, I will fall. I fear I will take Loom down with me.”
Florence felt a dull ache of sympathy for the woman who clearly harbored so much pain and self-loathing. Slowly, as though she was trying not to startle a wounded animal, Florence stood. She rounded the table and reached to clasp one of Arianna’s tall shoulders. Under her fingers, she knew there was a tattoo, a mark signifying the day they’d met, and a bond that would exist no matter what paths they traveled.
“You do not have to strike him down, Arianna. Go to Ter.3. Go home and realize that your strength has not left you. And when you see the truth of that, as I do, give me the greatest canister this world has ever known. Give me the Perfect Chimera, and I will hone it as a weapon to deal the final blow.”
Arianna’s hand clasped Florence’s opposite shoulder.
“And give me House Xin to see that this chain of succession the Dragons so value puts someone we want on their throne,” Florence continued. How could Arianna think she needed to have the strength to vanquish their foe when she was already the lynchpin holding the entire fate of Loom in place? The woman who wanted nothing more than to sit locked away in a workshop had saved them time and again. “Load the gun, Arianna, and then rest. I’ll pull the trigger.”
Florence saw hesitation in the woman’s eyes, or maybe it was nostalgia. But it hardened like molten steel into a resolve that would hopefully last long enough for them to abolish the scourge of Dragons that plagued Loom once and for all.
“I will, Flor. I will do this one final act of rebellion, for you.”
Florence knew the most important thing was that Arianna had agreed to do what they needed. Which made it all the more confusing that her heart clenched at the notion she was doing it all for her alone.
Arianna
Arianna leaned back against the upper deck windows on Louie’s airship. Checking the magic discharge was unnecessary now, but it gave her an excuse to be away from everyone. Up here, there was nothing more than a gray sky, the wind, and the earth slowly changing below.
The last time Arianna had traveled this route, it had been by train. She had sat next to Master Oliver, pressed up against the window of the train car, watching Loom unfold before her in a way it never had before. She had pressed forward, hungry for the vast unknown the world seemed to offer.
But this time was different. This time she watched the spiraling trails of magic fade away into the dusky morning over the back of the airship. The world wasn’t unfolding before her but collapsing in her wake; it slipped away like a ribbon running wild, and the spool was nearly out.
She knew her body had changed from becoming a Perfect Chimera at such a young age. It was obvious before any others had pointed it out. She could run faster, endure more injuries; her bones were thicker and her height dwarfed most Fenthri. After being on Nova, she knew she was built more like a Dragon than one of her own gray-skinned race.
Arianna looked at the line that ran around her wrist where the soft blue skin of her hands met her natural, steel-colored flesh. These hands had tried to dismantle her world. She would use those same hands to be that man’s downfall—to annihilate all who sought to oppress Loom.
The door to the deck opened.
“Am I taking your spot?” Will asked, from where he hovered on the threshold.
“Yes.” Arianna turned her eyes forward, pointedly ignoring the child.
“Sorry about that.” He clearly wasn’t sorry, and sat down next to her. Will drew his heavy coat tighter around him, pulling up the collar to shield his face from the wind that whipped around them. “How are you not freezing to death out here?”
“If it’s too cold for you, perhaps you should return indoors?”
“I just may.”
Victory, Arianna thought.
“I’ll wait just long enough to lose him.” Will peered over the window ledge and looking into the upper deckhouse before ducking down again.
“Okay, I’ll bite.” Wasn’t as if she had anything else to do. “Lose who?”
“Vicar Willard. The old man just won’t shut up about how to make the engine run more efficiently.”
Arianna laughed. “Oh, to be young and stupid—”
“Hey!”
“—and not capitalize on the opportunity to learn from a vicar.” Arianna adjusted her goggles. Granted, she had some mixed feelings about Vicar Willard, but she was allowed—they had history.
“At first I did.” Will was instantly defensive. “But he corrected everything.”
“That’s because everything in this rig is wrong.”
“No, it’s not. It runs just fine, thank you,” the boy insisted.