Whispers of the Skyborne (Devices of War Book 3) (10 page)

I tipped my head in acknowledgement.

She walked to the only table in the room and poured liquid into a cup. Setting it on the palm of one hand, her other holding it steady in the Ino custom, she offered it to me with a bowing of her head. “Ino offers you drink.”

I returned the bow and took the drink, downing it as quickly as possible. I wasn’t there for traditional customs. I was there to speak to the woman who’d given birth to me. Or rather, I was there to buy my sister time.

The room was bare of anything; cushions, tables for refreshments, people, windows.

Mother wasn’t meeting me in the Family quarters.

My abdomen twisted as I swallowed a rising bubble of bile back down. This wasn’t a good sign. Perhaps now was the time to demand to know why she’d destroyed my Family.

What would be gained by keeping the knowledge of her guilt to myself?

Was I really prepared for outright war? Because confronting her to her face about the destruction of my Family, my tribe, would bring that. Ino. Shankara. Han. We couldn’t win against that. Possibly LeBlanc, too? No. There was no chance of winning. We were smaller tribes.

I simply wasn’t smart enough to know. Aiyanna would. Nix would. Carilyn would. For sky’s sake, Jamilah probably would have known. Why were all the women in my life far smarter than myself?

What if I killed her outright? My Mark was more powerful than hers. In person, I could take her by surprise. Kill her. No war.

That was still an option.

As time ticked by, my stomach twisted and my mind raced. Had her men caught Ino civilians being secreted onto my ship? What was she planning? I had to hope she expected nothing more than the stupid boy she’d always thought me to be. What if…

What if. I could not afford to travel down that path.

The metal grate of the elevator platform finally sounded, her slight steps clicking on the blue tiles.

I kept my back to her, my hands clasped behind me as I stared into the large, empty room.

Mother’s steps slowed as she approached. She walked into my line of sight and stopped several metres away. “El’Asim.”

I kept as much emotion removed from my expression as possible. “Ino Nami.”

It didn’t pass my notice she did not offer the welcoming greeting of Family.

She raised her chin. “What is your purpose here, Synn?” she asked in Sakin.

I noted the insult of language choice as well. “I was informed Ino City was under attack. I am here to see how the city fares. Why does Ino Nami greet the El’Asim when Ino Oki should be here in her stead?”

She narrowed her slanted eyes. “Are you here in an official context or as a brother and son?”

I studied her still, round face. “You tell me. Mother.”

She stood quietly unmoving, for a long moment. “I am sorry to hear about the loss of your tribe.”

I watched her every breath. No remorse. No empathy, sympathy, pity. Her dark eyes were empty of emotion. Cold. Calculating.

“I am, however,” she said, pacing away in the small steps her kimono allowed, “disappointed in how you handled their deaths.”

My hairs stood up. Had she killed them to drive
me
to initiate war? If so, why? What did she gain? “You would discuss
this
with me when you are supposedly under attack?”

“You scared most of the attackers away. They fled as soon as they saw your massive ships enter our radar.”

Except that I’d heard her say she couldn’t see us. Lies and bluffs.

She faced me. “Have you nothing to say?”

“Not yet.”

Her right eye ticked. “Have you no wish to honor the lives of your Family? Your second-in-command, your sister?”

“I will.” Oh, I would. But I had to be smart about it. Destroying her here, now, would get me nowhere.

Or would it?

A cool, interested expression softened her features, her lips parting. “What are you going to do, Synn?”

We were alone. No guards. Just her and me.

She’d ordered the destruction of my Family.

“How stupid do you think I am, Synn?” Her voice was a bare whisper as she stalked toward me. “Do you truly think I am unarmed, without protection?”

Saliva pooled at the back of my jaw and my gut dropped as I felt the bars of the trap snap into place. “Do you think I am so helpless, so inept?”

She raised a single eyebrow, her wrinkled lips pursing as she regarded me. “These months in solitude have done you well.”

“I have not been in seclusion.”

“You have not shown your face.”

“Publically, no.” Resolve blanketed my lava rage like a glacier. It settled through my shoulders, down my arms, my chest. The objective was to free Oki.

But I may never have a chance like this again in my life.

It would be so easy. My Mark could slice her open, burn her, wrap around her until she was nothing more than a husk.

She raised her chin, her round cheeks glistening in the pale
letharan
light.

She was my mother.

It hadn’t mattered to her. She’d thrown me away as though I were nothing more than trash.

But my
father
had instilled a sense of family, of belonging that I could not shake.

A triumphant smile slid along her lips.

I needed to delay her for another fifteen minutes. “Why?”

She tipped her head to the side with a chuckle. “What do you mean, why?”

“Why did you destroy my Family? Why did you kill hundreds of my people?”

Her smile turned into a smirk. “How did you discover it? Well, it’s of no matter, is it? No.” She shook her head, pacing in a small circle around me. “For reasons your mixed blood will never allow you to comprehend.”

I twisted to frown at her. “Blood? You murdered your own daughter.”

“She was not a true daughter.” Ino Nami stopped and assessed me. “We had thought the power of your Mark could overcome the shortcomings of your blood, but…” She trailed off, her gnarled fingers hovering over the Mark peeking over the collar of my shirt. “You have proved that is untrue.”

What was she talking about? “How?”

“You are standing here accusing me of doing what had to be done instead of rejoicing that it is complete.”

I was struck speechless. Her expression, her body language. She honestly believed that. “Rejoicing? Ryo was on board those ships.”

“Not a full-blood.”

“And Oki? She is not either. You were going to give her the city.”

She curled her lip in disgust. “I was never going to hand that mutt my city.” Her hand twitched, her arm twisting in a sudden and unnatural position before relaxing again. A maniacal sheen entered her dark eyes, almost as if a sliver of metal gleamed within them. “Where are your ships, Synn?”

What was going on? I’d always known she was cold, calculating, but something seemed wrong with her, something unnatural. “Why would I tell you that?”

“You have one docked here, do you not?”

I narrowed my eyes. “It is protected.”

“Really?” The corners of her lips rose, though it wasn’t a full smile. It was almost as if someone wore her face who didn’t know how to use it. “How well?”

Dread filled me. What if the rescue had been the trap? What if she’d sentenced Oki to be executed to draw me in for this?

“Ah, the young one sees now.” Ino Nami’s lips twisted slightly.

But the words, though spoken in Sakin, had a tinge of another accent, one my mother had never had before.

“Run, little one,” she said, her shoulders lifting as though years had been erased from them. “Run now.”

I released the rage I’d been holding back, calling on my Mark. This was the woman who had destroyed my family. This was my time to get revenge.

I still needed to buy a few more minutes to save my sister.

Fisting my hands, I unleashed my Mark.

Nothing happened.

My Mark had never failed me before. I had never been able to keep my emotions in check. Was this doubt? My Mark was stronger. I would win. Now was my only chance.

You won’t win,
a female voice said inside my mind.

My eyes widened. Whose voice was that? Who was in my head this time?

And why couldn’t I move? Why were my limbs frozen as if someone else had control over them? The last time I’d felt this, I’d been bound to Nix.

I can’t explain right now,
the voice said hurriedly.
The person controlling your mother right now? Yeah. He’s a lot more powerful than she is.

Controlling?

I know you saw it. You’re not nearly as stupid as everyone thinks. Run. Now. Save your sister.

Who are you?

Later. Leave!

My muscles finally freed themselves from their frozen slumber, but control wasn’t entirely mine. My legs propelled me out of the barren room as quickly as they would allow, taking me to the stairs where I flew down them.

What had just happened? And how was I still alive?

Ino City: Oki

M
ETAL CLANGED IN THE STONE
hallway outside Oki’s cell, like a key falling to the floor. A man grunted. A dull thud sounded.

Oki sat up, setting her sandaled and socked feet on the floor, gripping the edge of her stone bench. She saw nothing on the other side of her barred door. She heard nothing more. Not a step. Not a door creak. The air didn’t shift.

She wanted to scream, to cry, to claw the clouds from the sky! But instead, she was locked in this dirt-be-damned cell. And her mother was really going to have her executed in the morning.

Executed.

She raised her face to the ceiling, searching for any source of light that would tell her what time of day it was, how many hours she had left.

Hour she had left.

Blessed sky. She was—She couldn’t contain the shudder the rattled along her bones. She was really going to die. She’d never thought of death. She’d witnessed it. She’d cleaned up after it, but she’d never
really
thought about it.

She’d heard people say things like, “If only I’d had more time.”

But it—that didn’t even scrape the surface. More time? No. If only tomorrow wouldn’t arrive. What could she do to make time stop?

Maybe Synn got her message. Maybe he’d come.

No. Even if he did get her message, he wouldn’t come.

A flicker of light tickled the corner of her gaze.

She peered into the cold, tiled hallway outside her bars, but could make nothing out. She looked away, casting her gaze to her bench.

But. What if she did have more time? What would she do? Lead? Think about her people?

No. It’s what she should do, but no.

She’d spend her remaining time with Kenta and Chie.

Oki swallowed, gripping the edge of her cot hard. She wouldn’t, though. She wouldn’t get that chance. Death was upon her.

At the hands of her mother.

Mother. How? How could a woman turn her back on a child? How could she look through her child as though she’d never existed? Was it because she lacked power? Because she lacked a great, powerful Mark like Synn? Was it because she couldn’t bond to the
lethara?
Because if Makoto really was pure blood, his Mark was still just as weak as Oki’s, and he could bond to the
lethara
of Ino City no better. Did Mother really think they’d be better off with him? Because of blood?

No. It couldn’t…She released a pent-up sigh of tear-lined frustration. It couldn’t be.

The light flickered beyond the bars of her door again. A person. A man, by the barest look of him, moving quickly from one 
letharan 
tendril column to the next.

Oki swiped at her tears and sat up straighter. Rescue? It couldn’t be. Synn wouldn’t risk docking in Ino City. He wouldn’t come for her.

Then who? Kenta? If she were lucky, perhaps, but where would they go? Would they board a ship and get out of there? Where? How? There were no ships in dock. They were in the middle of a hurricane.

The man appeared suddenly from the shadows next to her cell door. Medium height and build, stern of expression, katana in hand.

She released a breath of relief. “Kenta.”

He spared her a brief glance as he worked the lock. “We don’t have much time.”