Whispers of the Skyborne (Devices of War Book 3) (19 page)

I frowned.

“That’s only one of the problems I face today. The Han is seeking to attack us again. He is currently attacking a chain of islands on our southern coast.”

Where was she going with this?

“And now, I have a hundred Ino refugees dumped on me.”

“That Aiyanna and Carilyn are vetting.”

Neira shook her head. “That
my
people are cleansing.”

“Cleansing?”

She gave me a dry look. “Why are there refugees of a tribe who signed our treaty?”

I hadn’t even realized this was one of the conversations I didn’t want to have. “Ino Nami imprisoned Oki and reclaimed control of Ino City. She has aligned herself with Shankara and the LeBlanc’s. I believe they are allying to fight our League of Cities.”

“That’s just excellent news, Synn,” she said in a tone that indicated she meant the exact opposite. “So, not only do I have to defend myself against Lombardi and the Han, I now have to contend with the reunited Great Families.”

I took in a short breath and held it, my mouth forming words I didn’t want to utter.

She lowered her chin and leveled a hard look at me. “What?”

“Ino has teamed with the Han as well. I don’t know about Lombardi.”

She grimaced. “Have I thanked you yet for saddling me with the leadership of your league?”

I hadn’t thought she might not want the leadership position.

She pulled her eyebrows up and quirked her lips. “No. I didn’t want it, actually. I control the largest, richest island we know of. Protecting it takes all of my attention. Now, you say the Great Families wish to war with us? Why should I stand behind this treaty of yours? The Ino has broken it already. Perhaps I should let it go.”

“And what about all the other tribes? They gave their faith to us.”

“To you.” Neira leaned back, releasing a long breath. “They don’t know me.”

“Then fix that. Join the world.”

“I don’t know if I want to, Synn. The world looks to you. I only want to keep my people safe, and I’m struggling to do that right now between the Han and Lombardi.”

I rubbed the back of my neck. “I…am the wrong person to lead the League.”

“And I think that such a simple acknowledgement is proof that you are wrong.”

“No.” I stared at the leather wall behind her. “Look at what I’ve brought to my world, Neira. Destruction, death, thoughtlessness.”

Her expression remained blank.

“I don’t help. I am built to destroy.”

“All of those things were already here. You’re a tool.”

At some point, I had to admit it. I wasn’t made to lead; not like she was. She understood
how
to lead. She knew what to do, how to do it. I…needed others to tell me.

“Hmm.”

I blinked and lowered my gaze. “I’m lost.”

“I thought you would seek your vengeance on Tokarz.”

I winced. “He may or may not have had anything to do with the destruction of my tribe. Ino Nami gave the order and put the plan together.”

Neira’s dark eyes widened. “No.”

“I heard her admission with my own ears.”

“And she lives?”

I rubbed my jaw.

Narrowing her eyes, she leaned in. “What happened?”

I hadn’t even told Aiyanna what had really happened, but I couldn’t keep the truth from Neira. “As we spoke, it was as if something else took control of her body. And there was a voice inside my head.”

Neira straightened her back, her expression sharpening.

I flexed my fists and ground my jaw, feeling stupid. “That voice seemed to take control. It made me leave.”

“Were you made to drink anything?”

A frown of confusion fluttered between my brows. “I was given a glass of water.”

She rose. “There is something I should show you.”

Outside her tent, people began filtering onto the floor, sitting at their family circles, preparing for the evening meal.

Neira kept her voice low, pulling me to walk shoulder to shoulder with her. “Why aren’t you reacting, Synn?”

“What do you mean?”

“Ino Nami ordered the destruction of your fleet. Iszak Tokarz admitted he did it, and yet they both still live. Why?”

Would anyone understand? “In the past, I have been too rash. Everything I’ve done so far has been without thought. Something happens. I react with violence. People die. The last time, hundreds of
my
people died.”

“But you did not kill them.”

“I did so through my ignorance and stupidity.”

Neira stopped me, gripping my arm firmly. “Your mother murdered your people.”

“I allowed it to happen. I thought I was smart enough, strong enough, to stand up to her, to bring a new way of life—”

The palm of her hand smacked against my cheek with enough forced to whip my head to the side.

My Mark hissed around my neck, but the Mark where she gripped me remained cold. My cheek stung. I brought my gaze back to hers, fury blazing through me.

“There.” She took a step closer, our bodies centimetres apart. Her dark eyes flashed with violent victory as she whispered, “That is what your people feel, Synn. Your surviving family. Those who flock to you. They feel this anger, this rage, this betrayal. They have different stories, but this is their pain, their fight.”

“I will not
allow
my
rage to bring about the deaths of any more of my people!”

“Do not allow your
doubt
still your action, either!” Her whispered words were accompanied by spittle. “Staying your hand, doing nothing is not smart.”

“Killing my mother when surrounded by her guards, her loyal people? That wouldn’t have helped anything either.”

“You really think you would have been killed?”

I lowered my nose to hers. “I would have done significant damage to their
lethara
.”

“So?”

“That’s what
she
would have said. I helped destroy a
letharan
city. They scream. Did you know that? They scream as they fight to keep their people safe—as they die.”

She punched my arm, pushing me backward a step. “
You
did not destroy Egolda City. Nix did!”

“But I hid from her, ignoring the consequences of my actions. Others paid that price for me with their lives and their homes.”

She released my arm and hit me with the side of her hand. She clawed her fingers, slammed her fist into my chest, and spun away. Her fingers smoothed over her tight braid. As she turned back to me, her tongue running over her bottom lip, she pointed her finger at me, her hand shaking. “You’re a buffoon, Synn.”

I ran my tongue along my canine, my lips pursed in pissed-off agreement.

She stepped closer to me, her voice low. “So, you didn’t do great. You didn’t play the smartest moves. Maybe, on your own, you’re not as smart as Ino Nami, or Shankara, or Nix, or anyone else out there who wants to kill you.”

I swallowed.

“But they’re pitting themselves against you—the smartest leaders I know are pitting themselves against you. They see something in you that terrifies them.”

I shook my head, the flame of my rage spent. “I don’t know what that is.”

She rolled her eyes, and slapped her thighs. “I thought I’d seen something at the games.” She turned away and called over her shoulder. “Too bad you were so easily broken.”

I choked, my eyebrows high as I scrambled after her. “Broken? Easily? Do you have any idea what I went through? Are the stories just stories to you? Have you never had people you loved taken from you?”

“Violently,” she spun to shout in my face. “Do you honestly think you’re the only one?”

“We’re surrounded by people who have lost everything, Neira.”

“Exactly! We all understand! We’re all feeling what you feel. We’re standing beside you, but we might as well be invisible!”

I looked away, my gaze roving over the gathering people. They kept their distance, but they watched us.

Neira gripped my arm and dragged me to the edge of the floor. “Look at those ships, Synn.”

Even four stories down, they were huge. Easily the biggest ships I’d ever seen. They looked like giant dragonflies from up here.

“Those are war machines. Tell me all you like that you’re trying to do the smart thing, but we all see what you’ve done. Whether you’re able to admit it to yourself or not, you’ve been preparing for war this entire time. We’ve stood by you, waiting for the day you would take us there. You have a mind for it. You understand it better than most. Just look at those ships, Synn. Look at them.”

I didn’t have to. I’d designed them…to survive.

Neira jerked on my arm, though without enough force to actually turn me.

I obliged.

She took a breath, forced patience settling over her sharp features. “The time of waiting, of rebuilding, of hiding is at an end. You have your information.”

I didn’t disagree with her. “But the voice—”

“And after what I’m about to show you, that will make more sense.” She gripped my face with her hands, her lips pursed, her expression hard. “Now is the time to fight. Let us fight.”

I knew she spoke the truth.

I just didn’t know if I was capable of losing everyone around me. That was exactly what would happen if I failed this time.

She brought my forehead to hers. “Then don’t.”

S
HE RELEASED ME AND TURNED
away, her braid clipping my arm. “I’ve been wondering how long it would take you to ask the right questions, to see what was right in front of you.”

Why
were
all the women in my life smarter than me? “What?”

She glanced at me over her shoulder as she led me away from the elevator platform. “The voice.”

“So you know of it?”

She latched onto a rope that led straight up.

It seemed odd as the elevator platform was located on the other side of the floor. Why free-climb a rope when we could take the platform? “You’ve heard of it?” What I really wanted to ask was,
So, I’m not crazy?

She ignored me and climbed instead.

I’d never seen a rope used to move from one level to the next. Ramps? Yes. Elevator platforms? Yes. Stairs? Yes. This? No.

When I pulled myself to the next floor, she turned and walked away at a wide-stride pace. “We’ve been researching the voice for turns. It’s one of the many reasons our tribe remained under your ra—dar.”

A turn was a single set of seasons, which could take anywhere from four to six years. “I don’t understand. Why did you have to hide while researching this?”

Her lips took on a cocky tilt. “You’ll see. We’re nearly there.”

I didn’t know where we were. The ceiling from the floor above was closer than normal on a
letharan
city. And how far had we climbed? Was this somehow a half floor? And how had they hidden it? A
letharan
city was open all around. It was a jellyfish. Not a lot of room to hide.

Tall, thick walls rose from the floor all the way to the bottom of the floor above. The area in front of me had been dissected into smaller rooms and a maze of hallways.

Following, I tried to figure out what the purpose of this area was. First of all, the secret entrance? Second of all, why waste the space this way? What was the intent?

A scream permeated a door we passed.

I stopped, listening.

A man shouted. The door was thick enough I couldn’t quite make out what he said. He spoke Sakin, which was only odd because in Enhnapi, they should have been speaking in Xious. That was, of course, if people knew the language. A people who had spent centurns hiding couldn’t expect everyone to know their language upon entering their city.

So, if they were speaking in Sakin, they were speaking to one of the Ino. So, who had screamed? Were the refugees I’d brought being tortured?

Neira tugged on my arm, her head tipped to the side. “Come on. This is something you need to see.”

A woman screamed again on the other side of the door.

“What are you doing to them?” My hand on my belt dagger, I reached for the doorknob.

There was none.

Neira put her hand on my arm. “Synn, trust me and let me show you.”

I narrowed my gaze at her. What did I really know about this woman, her tribe, their traditions? What had I subjected the Ino to? Torture? “They’re refugees.”