Soul of Smoke (31 page)

Rhys’s brain seemed to have stopped. His mother. Queen Dowager.
Warbringer. Alive.

He looked down the table to Deryn, still standing, eyes blank,
face pale. It had been a thousand years, but if Rhys knew Mair, her re-emergence
now would hardly be a coincidence. She had something planned.

He pushed back his chair, and they all stood. “My mother, alive
or not, is a concern for once we’ve returned to Eryri.”

“But—” Deryn began.

Rhys cut her off with a sharp shake of his head.

“Four more vees are waiting to escort you,
mo’i
,” Tane
said. “They’re in the Cascades. Owain won’t engage a force of that size. There
would be too many casualties.”

Rhys nodded. “Good. If there’s nothing else—”

Juli cleared her throat, and the dragons all turned to her with
expectant eyes. “Kai needs to go home.” She met Tane’s eyes. Evan’s. Morwenna’s.
“She isn’t heartsworn. She has no reason to stay.”

“Of course.” Though Rhys had been the one to tell her to say
it, his pulse jumped. He saw Kai in his mind, straining to touch her mother’s
image with gentle fingers, both of their faces stricken and tearstained.
Griffith had been right that night on the ledge. Kai needed time, and so did he.
The news of Mair only made the situation more urgent. If Warbringer was alive
and making trouble, dragons would be even less likely to accept another Wingless
queen.

“I’ll take her.” Ashem’s voice was only slightly less flat than
the table. He didn’t approve of the plan, cobbled together as it had been in the
last few seconds before the meeting. “My heartsworn has some business to finish
at home before she can join us. I’ll stay with her, and we can take Kai back
with us.”

Also as planned, Deryn spoke. “We can hardly afford to lose you
for that long, Ashem.” Her voice was even flatter than his. In her words, Rhys
was “being a sundering idiot.”

“It shouldn’t be a problem, if the Invisible will come back
with us.” Rhys glanced around, and the others nodded. “Good. Ashem will go with
his heartsworn and take Kai home.”

This was why he hadn’t wanted her at the meeting. Kai had to
remain a secret. She would be safer, and he wouldn’t lose followers. Only Owain
had seen her, and the others had shown up so quickly after, Rhys hoped his
cousin would think she’d been with them. Though there wasn’t really a good
explanation for a Wingless on the battlefield, ever. Wingless didn’t fight.

He ignored a sharp feeling of loss. Surely, she could only be
happy to go home. “If that’s all?”

The others nodded and dispersed. Ashem approached as they left.
“I need to talk to you about Ffion.”

Rhys bowed his head. “I should have been there.”

Ashem looked away, his jaw clenching briefly. “She’s
pregnant.”

“She’s...what? Ancients.” Cold fear knotted his stomach. The
trauma of Griffith’s death would put Ffion in serious danger of losing the baby.
A baby who would grow up fatherless. He felt a sudden, fierce determination. “We
can’t let her lose the child, Ashem. It’s all—” his voice broke “—all of Griff
she’ll have.”

“That’s why I’m keeping her sedated. We’ll have to wake her to
eat and drink, but otherwise, we need to get her back to Eryri. To someone who
knows what they’re doing.”

Rhys nodded, realization dawning. “That’s what they were
arguing about. She didn’t want to go into confinement. Because of me.”

Ashem looked at the floor. “Rhys, we’re sworn to protect you.
Ffion hasn’t told me any of this. I took it from her mind. She didn’t realize
she was expecting until after we’d left Eryri. Griffith wanted to go back, but
she didn’t. She’s going to blame herself, though it was too late for them to
leave anyway, with Owain flying around like a sundering murderous seagull.” He
shook his head. “But if I’m to go to Colorado with Kai, you’ll need to get Ffion
back to Eryri as quickly as possible.”

“I will.” Rhys had been hoping he’d have more time with Kai to
explain. To apologize. Ffion’s need, however, was more pressing. “Tell everyone
to prepare to leave. I have to speak to Kai.”

Ashem ducked his head and was gone.

Rhys gripped the back of his chair hard enough that his
knuckles went white and the wood groaned beneath his hand. Cadoc, gone.
Griffith, dead. Ffion in danger of dying or losing her child or both. Even Ashem
would be gone. His vee—his family—was falling apart, no matter how tightly he
tried to hold it together.

There was a splintering sound, and he looked down. The back of
the chair had cracked beneath his hands.

* * *

Seattle really was as rainy as everyone said, though Kai
thought it felt more cozy than dreary as she leaned on the railing. Across Lake
Washington, the nebulous lights of the city proper glowed yellow against a navy
sky. She knew she should be cold, but didn’t seem to feel it anymore. Without
cold, wetness wasn’t much of a bother.

“Are you all right?”

Kai spun. A tall, beautiful, East Asian woman in red and black
stood next to her. Her sleek hair was pulled back in an elaborate twist held
with a pair of enameled combs and dripping with charms. “Who are you?”

The woman smiled. “Jiang.” She tilted her head. “Who are
you?”

Kai looked out over the city, her mouth twisting. “No one. Just
a human who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

Silence fell over them. After a moment, the woman spoke again.
“I’m a member of the Lung Clan. We’re empaths.”

Kai pressed her lips together, trying to bring her brain into
the present. “You can sense emotion?”

Jiang nodded.

Kai laughed without humor. “And mine are violent enough to
bother you?”

Jiang shook her head. “No, but, feeling the way you do, I
didn’t want you to be alone.”

Kai opened her mouth to ask Jiang to leave, but she suddenly
felt lighter. Warmer. She would be going home soon, after all. She should be
happy about that. Instead, she said, “Thanks.”

Another silence fell. Minutes passed. Kai blinked tears and
droplets of misting rain from her eyes and pulled up her dripping hood. “What
are you doing out here?”

Jiang came to stand next to Kai at the railing, looking out
over the city. “Guarding the roof. I’m part of the Invisible. Part-time.”

Kai got the distinct impression Jiang wanted her to ask about
“part-time,” but the sound of the door sliding open distracted her.

The outer walls of the penthouse were glass, the panes held up
by thin, sleek columns of white. Rhys stood in front of the rain-beaded windows
and closed the door behind him, his storm-heavy presence adding pressure to the
air.

“Majesty.” Jiang bowed, pressing the first two fingers of her
right hand to her forehead.

“Lung Jiang.” Rhys dipped his head. “I didn’t expect to see
you. I thought you were at Cadarnle.”

“Not for the next few months. In fact, I have a proposal for
you, Majesty. If Commander Ashem Azhdahā and Commander Tane Mo’o approve. It
involves Kavar.”

Curiosity crossed Rhys’s face. “Speak to them now.”

Jiang bowed again and went inside.

Rhys came to stand next to Kai, leaning over the railing.

Kai looked down forty stories to the street below. The cars
looked like beetles with headlamps, the noise of traffic dampened by rain and
height. “How was your non-human meeting?” she asked. “Oh, except it wasn’t
non-human, because Juli was there.”

Rhys straightened and tapped the railing with his fingers.
Twitchy again. “It was fine.”

“Right.”

Silence.

“Did you come out here to talk?” Kai asked after a long
moment.

Rhys nodded, but didn’t speak.

“Okay. I have a question. I mean, we’ve talked about the
mantle. I understand why you don’t like to use it, even if I think it’s a lame
excuse. But what about Owain? Why didn’t he use it on you? Why didn’t he use it
on me, when you jumped in my head and made me melt his eyeball?”

Rhys rubbed his neck. “Owain and I can’t use the mantle on each
other any more than we can use it on ourselves, and it doesn’t work on Wingless.
It never has.”

“But why didn’t Owain use the mantle on everyone else? He
could’ve made them stand there while he killed them, couldn’t he?” Kai
asked.

Rhys took a moment to answer. “Owain wants to keep as many
dragons alive as he can. Remember, once I’m out of the way, he wants to go to
war against humans. He’ll need an army.” He let out a breath. “Aside from that,
the mantle’s power is limited because it’s torn. The night you brought Deryn to
our camp, I used it to send Kavar away. But I couldn’t send Demba or any of the
others, because I only had enough power for Kavar. That’s why Ashem had to take
you. He had to escape the others.”

Kai frowned. “You used the mantle on Kavar? I thought you
didn’t like it.”

Rhys wiped rain from his forehead. “I wasn’t going to let him
kill Deryn. Or you.”

Kai internalized his words. He’d used her to save himself
today, but how many times had he saved her?

The question muddled Kai’s emotions further, so she shoved the
entire messy lot of them to the back of her mind. “I don’t understand dragons.
I’ve never heard of a war where the point was to
not
kill the other
guys.”

“We’re a careful, long-lived people. In a thousand years, we’ve
only lost a few hundred dragons to this war. We’ve only had a true battle once.
Ten years ago, when Iain died.”

She looked up in disbelief. “You definitely don’t do war like
humans.”

“The results are close enough.” His expression was distant.
“And I was arrogant enough to think the stalemate might last forever. That’s why
I thought it was safe for Deryn and me to leave Eryri at the same time.”

They fell into silence. After a minute, Rhys spoke. “I thought
you might want to know that Ashem has been in contact with Cadoc. He’s fine.
He’s close, actually.” Rhys glanced to the southeast, where the Cascades and
Mount Rainer would be visible in daylight. “My sister, Seren, has run away
again. I’m putting Cadoc in charge of the search for her.”

“How generous of you.” Kai’s voice was dry.

He gripped the railing. “He’s cursed, Kai. He can’t come
home.”

Kai threw her hands in the air. “Then maybe you should have him
try to free himself. Maybe you should help him. He’s been tortured. He needs
rest.”

“Citlali will look into breaking the curse. I’m trying to keep
him too busy to wallow.”

“Oh.” A memory tugged at the back of her brain. “He wanted me
to tell you Mair is alive. Something about her wanting to help?”

His brows furrowed, and he stared at her for a long moment.
Long enough that she stopped twisting her carabiners. “Who’s Mair?”

He looked over the city. “My mother.”

Kai blinked, confused. “I thought your parents were dead.”

“So did I.”

“What are you going to do?”

He shook his head. “I won’t believe it’s her until I see her
myself.”

Kai wiped rain from her face, frowning, her mom’s agonized plea
flashing through her mind. “Cadoc definitely seemed sure. I know people think
she’s to blame for this whole war, but... I don’t know. She’s still your
mother.” Her thoughts turned to her own mother, and she swallowed against a
sudden tightness in her throat.

As if he could read her thoughts, Rhys said, “I’m sending you
home, Kai. You and Juli, with Ashem to protect you. Go back to your life for as
long as you can. It’s...better that way, for both of us. Safer.”

Kai stared at him. She couldn’t have heard right. “Go
home?”

Rhys ran his hand through his hair, shaking water from it. “If
I take you to Eryri, Owain will find out about you in days. You’ll be a target.
If he hurts you, he hurts me. This way he won’t know you exist. Not even Evan
and Morwenna know. That’s why I kept you from the meeting. Being heartsworn to a
human could cost me soldiers and support on the Council. If I lose too many
people, Owain will win.”

“But... I don’t understand. Don’t they already know that we’re
heartsworn?” She gestured at her left arm. “Didn’t they see?”

Rhys shook his head. “No, and I don’t think Owain knows either.
At least, not that you’re heartsworn to me.

This is what I wanted
, she reminded herself harshly.
She had to see her family again, to figure things out with her parents. But even
though she was angry with him, she also wasn’t ready to leave Rhys. The thought
of not seeing him hurt her heart. She swallowed. “When?”

Rhys looked toward the city. He was dripping, his hair almost
black from the rain. “Now. It will be safer if you fly at night, and I have to
get Ffion back to Eryri.”

Poor Ffion.
Even now, Kai couldn’t imagine losing
Rhys. How much worse it had to have been for Ffion to lose Griffith?

“Does Juli know?”

Rhys nodded.

The iridescent scales of her indicium blurred beneath droplets
of rain. Somehow, in just over a week, dragons had become reality and her family
a dream. Then she’d seen her mother on the news, and everything had snapped back
into place. “How long will I stay at home?”

“Until it’s safe.”

“But you’re going back.”

“I’m the king.”

Kai squeezed the slippery railing beneath her hands.
Without you
,
who will teach me to control the fire?
He
wasn’t cold, exactly, but he was so matter-of-fact. Kai didn’t want him to be
matter-of-fact. She had no idea what she wanted.

“Before you go...” He hesitated, his gaze far away. “Would you
take down your shields?”

Kai grasped one of her carabiners. Open, closed, open, closed.
“So you can be in my head?” Nausea pooled in her belly, remembering how he’d
shoved her aside, so much stronger than her. She could never be his equal. She
might as well be his pet. Swallowing the bitterness, she shook her head.

His voice was low. “Kai, please.”