Torn Sky (Rebel Wing Trilogy, Book 3) (Rebel Wing Series) (20 page)

In the airy kitchen of Aris’s parents’ house, her mother Krissa flitted about like a madwoman. The long slate counter heaved under endless platters of starberry pie, olive sandwiches on crisp thin-sliced bread, thick chunks of feta and tomato doused in silky basilis sauce. The scents of roasted potatoes and browned butter drifted through the rest of the house and into the high-walled courtyard.

Aris hugged her mother from behind, her strong arms holding the woman still for a brief moment. Krissa craned her head back to kiss Aris on the cheek. “I’m
so
thrilled you’re here, my doll,” she said. “Now let me cook.”

Aris laughed.

She and Milek had arrived in Lux late the night before, three and a half weeks after Ward Nekos announced the end of the war. It had taken that long for Milek to heal enough to travel, and for their leave to be approved. They’d been granted a month’s vacation. A whole
month
. Aris couldn’t wrap her head around it.

She left her mother to her work and headed into the living room to check on her father, who had taken the day off. She found him perched on the back of the white sofa, stringing twinkle lights along the wall, Milek uncoiling and handing them up to him. Milek’s left arm was still heavily bandaged, but he was slowly increasing his range of motion each day. On the floor nearby, Samira’s son, Jaff, watched them, transfixed.

“Have you seen Kori?” Aris asked, leaning against the white-washed wall. “Dysis and Jax will be here any minute.”

At the sound of her voice, Milek turned and shot her a smile.

From his precarious position atop the sofa, Gus said, “I think he’s in the courtyard with Samira and Hazel.”

She lingered a few seconds longer in the doorway. Watching Milek and her father work together on a task so
normal
felt like she’d entered another dimension. Or a dream.

She didn’t want to wake up.

Aris reached the courtyard just as a Military wingjet soared overhead and slowed. It made a sweep and then drew into a hover above their private landing pad. She hurried to Kori, who leaned heavily on his crutch in the corner of the courtyard, watching the wingjet. She couldn’t believe, after everything, that this moment was actually about to happen.

She crouched in front of the boy. His golden-brown eyes kept flicking toward the archway leading to the landing pad. “How are you doing? You okay?” she asked.

His eyes focused on her with an effort. She could see through the cracks in his defensive armor as he shrugged. Beside him, Samira put a hand on his shoulder.

“You’ve got this, kid.” She ignored Aris.

As soon as the wingjet landed, Aris ran through the archway, her short blue dress fluttering against her legs. “I owe you big-time for this. Thank you for finding them!”

Jax grinned as he disembarked from the flyer’s seat. “Of course. I told you I would. It was easy, now that official channels are open. Ward Vadim helped grease the wheels.”

There were still pockets of fighting within Safara, but between the influx of Castalian troops and the steadiness of the interim ward, peace was coming quickly to the dominion. It would take longer to rebuild the infrastructure; Ward Balias had severely strained the dominion’s resources and left many of his people without food and clean water. The irony was that with aid groups flooding the dominion with resources, Safara was now benefitting from the very things Balias had claimed he was fighting for.

Dysis jumped down from the gunner’s seat and gave Aris a hug. “Hey you.”

Together, they ran to the back of the wingjet. Aris helped a slim woman carrying a small child from the back of the cargo bay. The woman’s flowy, patterned dress threatened to swallow her as the cliff breeze caught it.

“We’re so glad you came,” Aris said, holding tight to the woman’s arm.

“My Kori is really here?” she asked, and Aris felt tears prick her eyes.

Jax stood off to the side with Dysis. Aris pointed toward the archway, where Kori stood frozen, his angular face caught in an expression somewhere between disbelief and anxious hope.

Slowly, Aris led the woman and her daughter to him. Jax and Dysis followed, giving them some space.

“Kori?” The woman’s tremulous voice carried on the breeze.

Aris held her breath.

Kori paused another moment, and then he jerked forward and wrapped his scarred arms tightly around his mother and sister. The woman began to weep.

Aris smiled back at Jax and Dysis. She’d promised Kori she’d find his family at a time when she was grounded in Safara and couldn’t even find her own way home without help. She’d had no idea if it could be done—if his family was even alive—but Kori’s pronounced limp and fiery defiance had spoken to something deep inside her. That this moment was actually happening . . . that Jax had actually found them . . .

Aris couldn’t quite see clearly through her tears.

“When will the refugees go back to Safara?” Dysis asked, her voice soft enough that it didn’t interrupt the reunion.

Aris sniffed, trying to pull herself together. “A few weeks, maybe a month. Might take longer for those here in Lux, as most of the children don’t have homes to go back to. But Ward Nekos has set up a task force to help return the child soldiers to their parents, so hopefully there will be more scenes like this soon.”

Together, they watched Kori pick up his little sister, his slight body already seeming stronger. Aris had never seen him smile before, and the expression gave his whole face new life.

New life.

That’s what the end of the war had given them all.

“Do you want to take care of the other thing now?” Dysis asked, glancing pointedly at Samira, who stood inside the courtyard, close to where Hazel played in a pool of shade created by the large, leafy palms that arched over the high wall.

Aris swiped at her face and straightened her shoulders. “Yes, please.” She threaded an arm through Jax’s. “Samira can be prickly. I don’t know how she’s going to react.”

Jax smiled, his eyes sparkling. “Oh, I know. It’s one of my favorite things about her.”

Aris let out a little laugh. She’d forgotten Jax had spent a lot of time with Samira and Alistar when they’d first come to Lux. He’d been the one appointed to question them about the flaming scorpion.

She, Jax, and Dysis wove around Kori and his family into the courtyard. As Aris passed, Kori looked at her, really looked at her, his gaze steady. His defensive armor was gone. When he smiled, she almost started crying all over again.

Samira watched the group approach, arms crossed over her chest. The sunlight brought out the slight red in her dark braids. “More requests? I went to Castalia, as you demanded. My brother died for your victory. There’s nothing more your dominion could possibly want from us.”

“That’s true,” Aris replied. The night before, she’d told Samira how sorry she was about Alistar, how much she’d respected him. How he’d try to save her and Milek, how much she owed to him. Samira had left the room without a response, her face tight. “But there’s something my dominion would like to offer
you.
” Aris nodded to Jax, who removed a shining gold medal from his breast pocket and held it out. “Atalanta has given your brother a posthumous award for bravery and selflessness. They’d like to hold a ceremony to honor him, but I said I would talk to you first. It will be up to you if you’d like Alistar’s actions made public.”

Aris remembered how she felt when Milek had come to her and offered her a promotion and a place in the military as herself. He’d given her a choice. She wanted to give that to Samira now.

For a few seconds, Samira stared at her, emotions flitting below the hard lines of her face. She reached for the medal slowly, as if she expected it to bite.

“A ceremony,” was all she said.

“Also, a fund has been set up for you and your children.” Aris glanced down at Hazel, who was sitting on a soft blanket, playing with a stack of leaves. “If Alistar were an Atalantan soldier, dying in service to his dominion, his family would be supported. Ward Nekos thinks you and your family should be, too.” Before Samira could respond, Aris added, “You don’t have to stay in Atalanta. The fund is yours to use how and where you see fit.”

For a long time, no one said anything.

Samira’s husband and brother had been killed in the same war, on opposite sides. She and her children were caught out of place, out of time. She’d been living in someone else’s home for weeks. Aris knew Samira wasn’t one to accept help lightly.

At last, Samira shifted and cleared her throat. “Alistar deserves recognition for what he did. I told him he was stupid for risking his life like that, and I was right. But he saved his people, and yours.” She eyed Aris warily. “I’ll accept whatever your dominion decides to pay for his sacrifice. I won’t act like I’m ashamed, or like he betrayed Safara. He may never be honored in my dominion like he should be, but at least he’ll be honored here.”

“Samira—” Aris began, but the woman wasn’t done.

“I want to use the money to care for the orphans here,” she said, her chestnut eyes blazing. “Will you find out who I need to meet with to split it into trusts for all of these children, Hazel and Jaff, too? Can you do that?”

Aris nodded, and Jax stepped up, closer to Samira. “I’m staying in Lux for a while, as your liaison,” he said. “Whatever you need, I’m here to help.”

“Thank you,” Samira said, her expression softening a hair.

Aris wanted to hug the woman, but she knew the contact wouldn’t be welcome. Instead, she said softly, “My family is your famiy. You are welcome here for as long as you need.”

Samira nodded, and a swift, unacknowledged understanding passed between them.

“I can’t believe you grew up here.” Dysis rested her hands on the translucent wall of one of Lux’s raised pathways and stared out at the sparkling blue of the ocean. “No one really lives in places like this. They’re for vacations. Or, I don’t know, dreams.”

“It feels like a dream now, after the past year.” Aris laughed a little. “It doesn’t feel real to me anymore either.”

“So will you stay?” Dysis asked. “After our vacations are up, I mean. Will you transfer here and go back to the Enviro sector?”

Aris leaned her arms on the wall. “I don’t know. Milek and I have to figure that out.”

Major Vadim was inside Aris’s house with her family; they’d all eaten lunch here, with her mother cooking an elaborate meal and flitting around asking if everything was alright about a million times. Aris’s mother got like that when she was anxious.

“There’s something I need to talk to you about,” Dysis blurted, before she could lose her nerve. She wasn’t sure there was any point in saying anything—who knew what would happen—but she was
here
, in Lux, and . . .

And so was Calix.

“What is it?” Aris asked, brow raised. Most of the bruises on her face had faded to yellowish shadows. She looked more relaxed than Dysis had seen her in months, maybe ever. But they all still carried the war with them. Aris was no exception.

“When I was hurt and stuck in sick bay,” Dysis began, already promising herself that if there was
any
weirdness in Aris’s response, she’d forget the whole thing. “Calix and I were kind of forced to spend a lot of time together.”

Aris smirked. “You’re not asking my permission to see Calix, are you?”

The question completely threw her off. “I . . . um, I just . . .”

Aris full-on laughed. “When have you ever needed permission to do anything, Dysis? Tell me you haven’t lost your edge—”

“I just didn’t want to lose my best friend,” Dysis said, exasperated.

Aris’s face fell into softer lines. “Oh.”

Dysis turned back to the sea. “Look, it’s no big deal. I don’t even know if it’s anything at all yet. I just wanted to respect your history with him. Let you know that something maybe was going on. A
courtesy
. I wasn’t . . . uh . . . asking permission.”

Aris bumped her arm. “Just don’t let him treat you like a doll.”

Dysis looked at her, brows raised. “He wouldn’t dare try.”

“You’re right, he wouldn’t.” Aris smiled, but with a hint of sadness. “Not with you.”

For a few minutes, they stood in silence. Then Aris sighed. “It
is
beautiful here. I’d forgotten.”

Dysis watched a fanax dive toward the water, its dark wings clashing with the bright sunlight. “Do you think Pallas knew no one would get hurt if she dove into the ocean before the bomb exploded?”

Atalantan reporters didn’t seem to know what to do with Pallas. She had been a spy for Safara, the one who led to the destruction of stationpoints and who knew what else, but she was also the dominion’s savior. Panthea was full of living, breathing people because of her.

Aris might have been thinking about Pallas, too, because she didn’t seem fazed at the change of topic. “When I saw her, she was hell-bent on killing Balias. But she was hurting, too. Her whole family had been tortured and killed . . . and they’d used her to betray us. I think . . . I don’t know, but I think if she’d been trying to kill Balias, she would have dropped the bomb on the prison, like she’d planned. Something changed her mind.”

“Would you have done it? Spied on your unit to save someone you loved?” Dysis had been thinking about it ever since Pallas had told her they’d abducted her family.

“I don’t know,” Aris said. She wrapped her arms around herself, as if she felt a sudden chill. “I wouldn’t have dropped the bomb, I know that. I was ready to sacrifice Milek and myself to make sure it didn’t hit Panthea. But the other stuff? I don’t know.”

Dysis took a deep breath. “A year ago, I would have. Without a thought. If someone had come to me when Jax was missing and told me they’d save him if I spied on my unit, I would have done it.”

Aris cut her gaze to Dysis. “But you wouldn’t now?”

“Family isn’t just about blood, is it?” It was the closest she could come to telling Aris what their friendship meant to her.

Aris seemed to understand. She bumped against Dysis’s arm again and shot her a smile. “I, for one, am happy I’ll never have to make that choice.”

“It’s weird to think it’s really over, isn’t it?” Dysis wasn’t sure what she’d do next, except that she didn’t want to go home, back to her job teaching mechanics to the children in her village. She’d stay in Military, if they’d have her. Maybe join one of the teams being sent to help Safara rebuild, or take a job as a town protector. There were plenty of Atalantan towns to rebuild, too.

Aris straightened abruptly. “It
is
over. And we’re on vacation. I think it’s time to celebrate.”

Dysis raised a brow. “What did you have in mind?”

With a grin, Aris twirled into the center of the pathway. “I’ll go get Milek. You find Calix. He lives three houses down, on the right. Tell him we’ll meet at The Toad. He’ll know what you’re talking about.”

She didn’t wait for Dysis’s objections; with a flutter of her dress, she disappeared into her parents’ house.

Dysis lingered for a minute. Somehow, without imminent death hanging over her head, she felt almost shy when it came to Calix. They’d seen each other only briefly at Mekia before everyone had been awarded leave. Dysis had left to help Jax hunt down Kori’s family, and Calix had gone home to see his parents. She wasn’t even really sure if what they had was anything at all.

But she was here, in Lux. Only three houses down. “What the hell,” she muttered to herself. She walked along the pathway and tried not to look at the shadowy silhouettes of trees beneath her. It made her nervous how the whole village was built on stilts high above the ground.

She reached Calix’s house shortly, a large, one-story house with a blinding white roof and pale-blue siding. Like Aris’s, it overlooked the ocean.

Calix answered her knock more quickly than she was prepared for.

“Er, hi,” she said awkwardly, hand still poised in the air.

“Dysis!” His eyes widened in surprise.

Right. He wouldn’t exactly expect me here, would he?

“Hey. I was helping Jax with a refugee thing. That’s why I’m in Lux,” she said quickly. “You know, not stalking you or anything.”

Calix smiled. “That’s a shame.”

Dysis froze. How did he manage to throw her off-balance like that? She really didn’t like the feeling, and she didn’t like this sudden shyness either. It wasn’t her.

So, before her brain could catch up with her intentions, she flung herself forward and brought her lips to his. A no-warning kiss even she hadn’t expected.

Calix’s arms went around her in the next instant, and her impulsive kiss became a slow, burning one. He pressed into her, running his hands down her back, across the silky material of her tunic, and tasted her with the need of a starving man.

Dysis’s brain went muddy and quiet, and all she could think about was his lips, his tongue, his hands.

Eventually, they broke apart, both of them breathing as if they’d just run miles. Dysis couldn’t put coherent thoughts together. Calix looked stunned himself. He ran a shaky hand across his short, dark hair, his green eyes still a little foggy.

She loved that he was just as undone as she was.

“So, Aris wants to celebrate,” she said airily, as if she didn’t want to push him backward into his house and kiss him some more. “She said we should meet her at The Toad, and you’d know what that means?”

It took Calix another couple of seconds to recover. “The Toad . . .” His voice trailed off. Then his eyes focused, and a little smile started to grow along his lips. “The Toad sounds good. Lots of dark corners and loud music.” He winked. Then he took her arm and led her down the elevated path without further explanation.

With his warm bare arm entwined with hers, and his eyes sneaking a glance at her every few seconds, she had to admit . . . dark corners and loud music sounded awfully nice.