These Divided Shores, page 30
“Most unfortunate,” she said, and bit her lip. It was an absentminded habit, but it exploded in Vex’s gut as a flurry of effervescent bubbles. “From outlaw to war hero. How will you recover?”
Vex sat up to be level with her. He trailed his fingers shoulder to shoulder, delighting in the small exhale of pleasure he got from her.
“I won’t,” he said, and the humor left his voice. He skimmed his fingers lower, cupping her hip and pulling her closer. “I plan on never recovering from what you’ve done to me.”
He kissed her, knowing she would want to respond to that, to argue about all the ways she had affected him poorly. It baffled him that she thought herself unworthy of him, and he refused to hear her talk like that. He just kissed her, and kissed her, and kissed her.
I told your mother I thought I loved you. That was a lie.
I know I love you. I’ve known I loved you all along.
The sun was coming up when Vex found Jakes sitting against the outside of a tenement building, eating breakfast.
Vex’s legs still ached, and each step felt like knives dug into his bones. He hadn’t had the instant relief he’d felt with the other cures, as though his body finally got something it’d been missing for so long. He’d expected this cure to be the cure.
Maybe it would just take time. He had to press through—like he had to press through every step, in public, when he wasn’t wearing his eye patch.
Putting it back on hadn’t felt right after everything with Lu. But Vex wavered a bit now without it, watching everyone he passed who was able to see his scar.
Vex stopped next to Jakes. Jakes looked up at him, his recoil obvious and jarring.
Vex sank his hands into his pockets. “I have a proposition for you.” Asshole.
Jakes dropped his breakfast plate on the ground. “What could Paxben Gallego want with me?” he asked in Argridian.
Vex’s eyebrows shot up. He’d forgotten this defensor knew who he was.
He rethought his whole insane plan in the single breath before he said, also in Argridian, “The boy that Elazar has. Teo. I’m going after him.”
Jakes didn’t look up. “How does that involve me?”
“What the hell do you mean? He’s your nephew. Elazar might be experimenting on him. I’m going to get him. Thought you might want in on it.”
“Elazar doesn’t return captives. Especially ones who are of use to him.”
Vex bristled. “He’s. Your. Nephew.”
Jakes finally looked up at him. His eyes were bloodshot and his upper lip curled back. “Should I dissolve in a blubbering mess? Elazar has Lu’s vial. And the boy. Lu refuses to make more magic. Whatever you think you can do—” Jakes snorted, brittle. “It’s over.”
“Like hell. You’re still alive, aren’t you? Teo is still alive. It isn’t over till we’re all dead.” God, saying that was a knife in the chest. Vex braced himself.
Jakes’s knees popped up, and he stared down at his hands in the cradle of his lap. Vex thought he might not respond until his shoulders caved.
“Tomás Andreu led this attack, and he’s the one who orchestrated taking . . . Teo,” Jakes started. He said Teo’s name as though it was a foreign word, something his tongue hadn’t been trained to handle. “But Elazar was beginning to question Andreu’s commitment. Andreu will be trying to prove his loyalty. He’ll be wherever Elazar is.”
“And where is that?”
Jakes thought. “Elazar brought his light to Port Mesi-Teab and Port Fausta. Port Camden will be next—but he’s likely already there. Your best chance is New Deza. His final stop.”
“What’s Elazar planning to happen there?”
Jakes looked up at him, annoyed. “I already told your leaders that I don’t know. He kept me out of his final plans. It has something to do with the raiders he took, and his coming light—whatever it is, it will purify this island.”
Vex hesitated. Kari and the raider Heads knew this much about Elazar’s plans—that he was traveling from city to city, ending in New Deza. And Vex would have a Budwig Bean. If he saw anything important, he’d get news to Kari.
Resolution trickled into Vex’s body, building and building as he stood there, on the precipice of action. “All right.” He kicked Jakes’s boot. “Get up. You’re coming with me.”
“What’s the plan?”
“Get to New Deza. Do something courageous and likely stupid.”
Jakes didn’t stand. But his eyes flicked away, and his whole body shot upright, alert.
Vex turned to see Ben across the road, talking with a group of raiders.
“Fine.”
Vex whipped back to Jakes, who was standing now, fuming.
“I’ll come with you,” Jakes snapped. “When are we leaving? Now? Good.”
He marched away, toward the nearest exit to the docks.
Vex eyed Ben again. Behind him, Gunnar slumped out of the shadows of a cottage, watching Ben—the same way Jakes had watched him.
Oh. Vex knew Ben and Gunnar had become something of an item, but Jakes, too?
He trailed Jakes. As he walked, Vex’s attention stayed on Ben one beat longer, until Ben lifted his head and looked at him.
Vex stopped. There was too much space between them, and Vex didn’t have the fortitude for a sappy good-bye. He’d come back soon. Before Ben had to march to war against his father.
Getting Teo back would help Lu, but it wouldn’t really do a damn thing to help Ben.
Ben cocked his head. Vex gave a bright smile. Nothing’s wrong. Carry on.
Lu would explain why he’d had to leave. And maybe, by the time he returned, Vex would have figured out some way to help his cousin, too.
The Rapid Meander was still docked where Vex had left it weeks ago, tucked alongside one of the eastern tenements. It had enough supplies and moderate fuel, was in good enough condition—and was supplemented by weapons borrowed from the raiders.
Vex stood next to it, holding the tarp that’d covered it, unable to deny the swell of giddiness at the sight of his boat. The whole world had changed, but the Meander was still his. And here he was, Devereux Bell, about to cast off on a foolish, shaky mission.
Vex folded the tarp, trying to work it into the perfect little square that fit just so in one of the storage hatches.
“You never could fold that right.”
Jakes, who’d been shoving a crate of rations on board, cursed in Argridian.
Nayeli was standing behind Vex on the dock, her arms folded, her brows lifted in an unspoken question of What the hell are you doing?
Vex dropped the tarp and swung on her. “We’re going to get Teo. Kari doesn’t need you here. You can come—” He stopped. “Only she does need you. You’re the acting Tuncian Head.”
Nayeli sniffed. She didn’t give him that private smile and wink and skip off, letting him do whatever insane thing he wanted to do. She didn’t ask how she could help.
“You’re going to let us go, aren’t you?” Vex took a step closer. “You’re not going to—”
“Your eye patch,” she whispered.
Vex touched his scar. His stomach roiled. “Oh. Yeah.”
Nayeli nodded as if he’d said something astute.
The silence between them was heavy. In it, Vex heard all the things they hadn’t talked about. Edda’s death. How Nayeli felt losing Fatemah. What it was like being the acting Tuncian Head, and how she was not going crazy thinking of Cansu every moment of every day.
Vex clamped his arms around her. “I’ve been a shit friend.”
Nayeli grabbed onto him. “You always are.”
“Hey.”
“I have been, too. Edda was right.” She paused, and Vex tightened his grip on her. “She always was. That idiot.”
Vex smiled. “She was awful.”
Nayeli pulled back from him. “And amazing.”
She extended her hand to him and uncurled her fingers. A Budwig Bean sat in her palm.
“Lu told me to bring this to you,” Nayeli said. “I have the other one, and I’ll check in occasionally to yell at you about what a dumbass idea this was. But also . . . to make sure you’re all right.” She grunted and scrubbed at her teary eyes. “Shit, all this has turned me into a mushy fool. Take the bean so I can leave with some of my dignity.”
Vex slid the bean into his pocket. “Same to you. Let me know you’re all right, I mean.”
And maybe I’ll find Cansu, too. Maybe I’ll find all the missing raiders, and stab Elazar, and solve all the problems of this war for everyone I love.
Was this how Rodrigu had felt? Was this why he’d led the resistance against Elazar in Argrid and risked everything?
The thought smacked Vex upside the head. He couldn’t deal with the weight of his father’s legacy right now, so he hopped up onto the Rapid Meander’s deck. As he hit the planks, his legs sung out with pain, his knees cracking. He grabbed the railing and stood there, breathing through a spasm.
Too late, his mind whispered. Lu gave you the last cure you needed. But it was too late. You’re dying, and there’s nothing anyone can do.
Vex ignored himself and hobbled into the pilothouse. The table still sat in the corner, the knobs and levers on the wall gleamed. And the helm was waiting for him.
The smooth wood of the wheel clicked into his palms. He swore he felt the boat sigh.
“I’ve missed you, too,” he whispered.
Jakes turned from the deck. “What’d you say?”
Vex shook his head. He looked through the window to see Nayeli, still on the dock, her hair snapping wild in the wind.
A quick lesson on shoveling coal, and he left Jakes belowdecks to work the engine. Vex twisted a knob on the wall and felt the boat hum to life. As the Meander shot away from the dock, a breeze slammed through the open pilothouse window, stealing Vex’s breath.
Damn, it was invigorating. This boat. The purr of the engine. The feel of the wind and the smell of the river and the rightness of this action.
He was Devereux Bell, notorious stream raider. He knew this island better than anyone. He was an outlaw, a pest to everyone who tried to keep order.
And he’d take great pleasure in watching his uncle’s plans splinter around him.
“In the time since the attack on Port Mesi-Teab, our scouts have reported that Elazar retreated to Port Camden,” said Kari. “He performed an abridged version of the gathering in Fort Chastity—this time, with an Emerdian raider bowing to him.”
“One of my captured people,” Nate muttered.
“Yes.” Kari paused, an intake of breath that had Lu’s nerves peaking. “Elazar also padded his speech with graphic details of the raider attack on Port Fausta, as well as a moment of silence for his fallen general, Milo Ibarra. He claimed raiders captured General Ibarra, tortured him, and murdered him, and that the raider attack on Port Fausta was a senseless bloodbath.”
A grunt—Pierce. “Damn, that man is good at twisting things to his benefit. It’s almost like he wanted his general to die.”
Lu flinched. Had Elazar wanted Milo to die? She couldn’t find any solace in either a yes or a no. His death was . . . a void.
“But Elazar is readying to leave Port Camden,” Kari continued, “and likely already has embarked. His final destination, as we know from his proclamations, is New Deza, where he will enact the final stage of his plan. He has an assortment of steamboats around him full of Mecht raiders, and other scouts have reported movement across the island—all Argridian or Mecht steamboats, headed toward New Deza.”
“What exactly does that mean?” Pierce asked. “We still don’t know a goddamn thing about his final goal—just that it’ll end with him purifying the island.”
“He has modified Menesia somehow,” Ben said. “We saw that with Cansu. Perhaps he has devised a way to make it airborne instead of ingested? To spread it to everyone?”
“Gloria kill me now,” Rosalia cursed.
Pierce grunted. “That’s easy enough to counter. Just gotta have some Bright Mint on us.”
Lu had squished into the narrow window seat in Fatemah’s office. Her interactions with Fatemah had been brief and abrupt, but her loss had left an enormous hole in this sanctuary, as though its strongest wall had crumbled around it.
“That is the beginning of a plan,” said Kari. “We approach New Deza armed with Bright Mint. We do not know what Elazar will do, but we need to either have him agree to withdraw his presence from this island—unlikely—or find a way to force him off.”
“Kill him,” Rosalia spat. “Nate can tear his way through the defensors now. I can fly up over him. Lu already proved she’s lethal with her Incris.”
Lu cringed. Thankfully, Kari spoke up.
“Such acts would only confirm the lies Elazar has spread. This island has fallen under his false report that raiders are a danger, and that the Council—and Argrid—supports him. The attack on the sanctuary proves that Elazar has turned this island against us, and even if we manage to kill him now, I fear it will only make him a martyr. His cause and beliefs will linger. How can we undo his falsehoods?”
“Lu?”
She didn’t turn to Nayeli as the raiders and Kari continued to discuss—argue—plans. But morning had dawned, and Rosalia, Nate, and Pierce hadn’t fled as they’d threatened.
Others had left, though. Most of the refugees. Vex.
“Hey,” Nayeli whispered, poking Lu’s side. “You shouldn’t sulk right now.”
“I’m not sulking.”
Nayeli poked her again. “Liar.”
“Nayeli—I’m not sulking.”
Kari was trying to figure out how many boats they had, whether they could approach New Deza under a banner of truce—too many would seem hostile, but perhaps they needed a show of strength. Should they even try to negotiate peace? But what else could they do to prove that Elazar had lied to Grace Loray, and that he was the true threat? They needed the people of this island to turn against Argrid and trust their Grace Lorayan leaders again—otherwise Kari and the raider Heads would have to spend the foreseeable future fighting to keep their citizens from overthrowing them in fear.
Lu’s eyes went to Rosalia—who was glaring at her. She hadn’t looked at Lu with anything other than murder in her eyes since Lu had decided to stop trying to make magic permanent.
Lu turned away, staring out the window. Beyond the warped glass, Port Mesi-Teab was a ripple of sharp buildings and teetering slums, with far fewer twists of steamboat fog than usual. Lu imagined, beyond the edge where the horizon turned green with tangled jungle, Vex and Jakes on the Rapid Meander, sailing hard for New Deza.
If Tom had Teo there, Vex and Jakes would need a distraction to free him. What would draw all attention but not be a direct attack? What would ensure Elazar’s full focus on them?
A word welled in Lu’s mouth. She twisted in the window seat, leaning half off it, on Nayeli. As though Nayeli had any more strength to give than Lu herself.
Across the room, Ben was propped against the wall, his arms folded. Gunnar stood next to him, not as close as usual—the two of them had been unsteady since the attack.
Lu didn’t speak until Ben met her eyes, a questioning furrow to his brow.
“Surrender,” Lu said.
The whole of the room turned to her.
“Excuse me?” Pierce demanded.
“Ben and I will surrender,” Lu amended. “Elazar has wanted it all along, hasn’t he? He’ll stop anything for it, including whatever he has planned. Tell him we will come to him under a banner of surrender.”
Shock choked the room.
Ben straightened. “I agree.”
“What?” Gunnar spun on Ben, fury incarnate.
Vex would have objected too. Even now, Lu imagined if Nayeli had the shared Budwig anywhere nearby, he would be raging against her plan.
“It wouldn’t be true surrender,” Lu told the room. Told herself. “But if Elazar thinks it is, he will prepare for it. Me and Ben, willingly kneeling at his feet? It is a sight he will want this island to see. It will confirm everything he has promised about himself, his power.”
“His errant son, returned at last,” Ben picked up for her, and Lu sagged against the window frame, grateful. “He will gather crowds, if he hasn’t already for whatever he himself has planned. He will relish our supplication.”
Gunnar growled, speaking in a patchy mix of Grace Lorayan and Argridian. “You will give yourselves to him. He will suspect a lie. There is too much risk. Benat—”
Ben shook his head and pulled away, cheeks red. “Of course he’ll suspect a trick. Which he will also want crowds to see—if we say we come in surrender, and lie? It will also confirm what he has said about us. Either way, this will guarantee we have an audience, and that Elazar allows us—me—time to speak. I can talk to Grace Loray. I can talk to my father.”
Rosalia started to object, but Kari made a hum of agreement.
“As you did with the townsman earlier,” she said. “You talked him down. Rationally, calmly—and openly. It is all this island wants, to be heard and gratified. If you present yourself to Elazar in such a way, before crowds, he will be unable to make you a villain. And if the raider syndicates come at your back, supporting you without arms—it will also undo Elazar’s lies.”
Ben nodded, eyes solemn. In that moment, Lu saw beyond the man who had comforted her in the prison cell after Milo’s torture, the man who had kept her from losing herself during those disintegrating weeks. She saw a king.
“Will that be enough?” Pierce asked. “Just . . . talking? The people of this island will hear you apologize and go, ‘Oh yeah, we’ve been fools to believe Elazar—all hail the raiders’?”
“Lu has permanent magic too,” Ben said. “If Elazar has taken the vial of permanent magic and tries to present magic as the Pious God’s blessing, Lu can disprove that by revealing her own powers. We will force him to show his true self to this island. And this time, if a fight comes, we will prove that Elazar instigated it.”
Kari nodded. “We will not lift a blade until his defensors attack.”
