“What will you do, after it’s all over?”
Arianna stared down at the girl, the question seeming to curdle time into a sticky weight there was no escaping from. She could keep them here in this moment, if she wanted, but Arianna couldn’t even seem to find a breath. Florence was leaving to continue her role as the Vicar Revolver. Cvareh was championing a cause that would make him King of the Dragons. And she . . .
“Will you stay the Queen of Wraiths?” Florence’s mouth pulled into a smile. However well the girl knew her, there were still barriers and boundaries her mind wouldn’t let her cross, where Arianna wouldn’t permit her entry. She wouldn’t let Florence know of the turmoil the future presented.
“Perhaps.” Arianna tapped her winch box. “I am fairly talented at the whole affair.”
“Vicar Willard tells me you’re also talented at being a master and teaching students.”
“Vicar Willard is a liar,” Arianna retorted with mock sweetness, earning a laugh from Florence.
“Come back to Dortam,” Florence offered. “I can see a place for you at the Revolvers’ home. You could run the refinery there.”
“You mean the one I used to steal from?” Arianna arched her eyebrows.
“Who better? You can make it more secure than ever before.” The whistle of the train sounded and a Raven scuttled over, giving a light tap to Florence’s shoulder.
“We’re leaving shortly.”
“Yes, I know.” Florence tipped her hat, sending the girl away. “In any case, think on it, Ari. I still need you around.”
And then she was gone before Arianna could formulate another word.
She disappeared into the curling steam of the engine amid a bustle of men and women loading up the short locomotive with supplies. Arianna, a good head taller than the rest, watched the dark-haired woman go. People parted for her out of respect for the circled Revolver pin she wore on the lapel of her coat.
Arianna was glad Florence hadn’t pressed the matter further. I love you—she’d heard the girl. Arianna knew all too well the heartache clinging to a lost love could reap, and there would never be anything between them. If not because she was the mentor and Florence the student, then because the girl was a child of the future, and Arianna would always be shrouded in the shadow of the past. It was best for both of them to let go, move on.
Plus, Arianna had her own battles to fight.
“You actually let her go.”
Arianna’s head whipped to the young man who had suddenly appeared next to her. “Your reward for sneaking up on me is my not lodging a dagger between your eyes.”
Will hummed in low amusement at the idea, but continued to drive on the path of his earlier sentiment. “I always thought there was more between you two.”
“There was everything between us, in different ways, at different times.” The platform had been cleared and Ravens began to shout to each other. The great gears inside the train ground to life. “She needed me, and I needed her. We’re both better for what we got out of the arrangement.”
“Arrangement?” Will crossed his arms over his chest. “How . . . clinical.”
“I’m not an Alchemist.”
“How precise, then,” he corrected. “Will you go back to her?”
“Just how much did you hear?” Arianna finally peeled her eyes away from the vessel that was taking Florence from her.
“Enough.”
“You’re getting too good at this job.” She was creating monsters left and right. Perfect Chimera and now a competent Will? What next? A tolerable Helen?
“Learning from the best.”
She snorted at the idea.
“If you don’t want to be Queen of Wraiths, give it to Helen. She wanted to take over for Louie; you’ll endear yourself to her if you offer her the same.”
“I don’t care about endearing myself to her.” The potentially harsh statement was void of real bite. She couldn’t fault Will for looking after his friend. Nostalgia made her soft. Florence made her soft. All this sentimentality was really beginning to dull her.
“That much is obvious,” Will acquiesced. “But she is trying to endear herself to you, nevertheless.”
Arianna arched her eyebrows, prompting him to continue.
“She’s returned from Nova.”
“I was beginning to think she got lost up there.” It had been two days since Helen left. Arianna had expected an extra day due to glider exhaustion—all the new Perfect Chimera were becoming accustomed to piloting the machines and managing their magic—but she was also expecting the little crow to be side-tracked by the vast and new lands of Nova. “Take me to her.”
Will started for the end of the platform, where the light rail would take them back to the guild proper. “She brought back more flowers and is already preparing for another trip up. It seems the fighting has increased on Nova.”
“The Dragons do enjoy their blood sport.” Arianna’s mind drowned her in images of Cvareh fighting—fighting and losing.
“Something about House Tam no longer assisting Rok—”
“What?”
Will repeated himself and, then, added, “Helen said to make sure you knew.”
Arianna’s eyes turned skyward at the battle that no doubt raged on just beyond the clouds. She’d learned of House Tam’s influence on Nova as the silent enforcers; if they were no longer assisting House Rok, that meant power could shift—was, in fact, already shifting.
“Will, see Helen is outfitted with more guns, however many we have. Take the airship to Ter.3.2 and gather any from there as well.” Her mouth moved fast, but not as fast as her mind. “Then, bring up all the Perfect Chimera who are ready and willing.”
“All of them?”
“A constant stream.” They had the manpower. If Tam was backing out from House Rok—for whatever reason—they had the numbers to overwhelm them. “It’s time to strike.”
“Where are you going?” Will motioned to the trolley approaching down the narrow rail.
“I’m headed up first. It’ll be faster for me to get to the gliders this way.” She paused on the edge of the platform, her clip already flying toward a far steam pipe. “And tell Helen that if she wants Louie’s ‘kingdom’ then it’s hers. But the title is mine.”
“More than fair.” Will gave a solemn nod.
Arianna returned the gesture a moment before her winch box sprung to life, pulling her in sweeping arcs around the outside of Garre to the hangar where gliders were kept.
Florence
“Welcome back, Florence,” Emma greeted her the moment she stepped off the train.
“I should take your presence to mean that something has gone wrong?” Florence asked, barely taking time to sling her bag over her shoulder before they began walking off the platform.