Chapter Forty

 

"I can't fucking believe that Razor clan is coming here to swear allegiance," said Choo-Choo, standing by Pandora's side as they helped the workers put up temporary tents in one of the newer settlement caverns. "How am I supposed to call that prick, Kuma, my brother?"

"The same way—" Pandora had to pause to clear her throat. It was hard to speak after the incident. "The same way you do all of us. It's a matter of survival now, or what happened to Razor will happen to us."

Choo-Choo scowled as he drove the tent spike into the stone with a hammer. Her friends had no idea that she'd worked with Kuma to kill the Blue Daggers and had killed Instructor Irina. They only knew that she'd brought Brazio back to the Pajot after finding him near dead.

There was a good part of her that couldn't believe she was still alive. Either from the enchantment that almost killed her when she tried to speak her grandfather's name, or because she was related to their enemy. Whatever had transpired after she'd been unconscious had been enough to return her to good standing in the clan. It was possible that her near death had tipped the balance, proof that her place in the Drops had been coerced.

When she'd first come to the Undercity, she'd been completely on board with the mission, doing whatever it took to accomplish what her mother had asked her to do. But that was before she knew the Drops or really understood how much her mother had screwed her up. The years of training in the Eternal City. Training, ha! It was brainwashing. Only in retrospect could she see it. So much of that time was locked behind whatever geas they'd laid upon her before sending her into the Undercity. It spoke to how little they actually trusted her. Or maybe they hadn't trusted her mother's handling.

Pandora wondered if the woman who'd given birth to her had enough of her humanity remaining that she might ever be turned, or if she were her father's daughter. A cold-hearted maetrie with cunning to spare.

A murmur passed through the camp. News of Razor's arrival put a pause on the construction.

"Baka!" exclaimed Choo-Choo, reaching into a pocket and handing over a folded bill to Navos, who tucked it into his waistband.

"What was that?"

Navos ran a hand over his slicked-back blond hair, his grin revealing a gold tooth.

"He bet me they wouldn't make it. The Crows would take them before they got here."

Pandora gathered with the others along the edge of the tents. Daraja appeared in her ceremonial headdress, a relic of the early years of survival in the Undercity, with her Shadowmasters in tow.

Brazio Santos led the group into the cavern. She spotted Kuma and his friends in the first row behind his uncle. They looked stunned by their change in fortunes.

When Brazio reached Daraja, he snapped to attention and bent at the waist until his head nearly touched the ground. The rest of Razor matched his bow, though none as deeply as him. They stayed in their position as Daraja looked over them.

"Welcome to the darkness, the place the light forgot, where the canyons harbor terrors and the stones do not forgive. Do you renounce your former oaths, forsake your allegiances, and swear yourselves to the Drops? Do you agree to protect each other, both your old and new clanmates, with your lives? Do you agree to this with all your heart, knowing that the shadows will rise up and claim your souls should you break your oaths?"

Brazio lifted his head and spoke in a loud voice. "I agree."

The rest of his former clan lifted their heads and in a thundering collective voice said, "We agree."

"Then rise and be welcome. For the shadows do not care, but we do. We are your hearth and home, the blade that will not bend, the fist that will protect you."

A cheer went up after she finished. Pandora almost forgot to add her voice since she'd only experienced the ceremony a few times, including her own. When it was finished, Daraja slipped off the headdress and handed it to a young girl, then she moved forward and embraced Brazio. She spoke quietly in his ear before moving on to the next. As Daraja greeted each of the former Razor members, Pandora felt a tension in her chest give way.

She caught Kuma's eye briefly across the cavern. Nothing more than the spark of recognition, but then he was speaking with Daraja, leaving Pandora to mull over her feelings. She desired to reunite with him. From the moment of their first meeting, to the time they spent together in the canyon of ghosts, she'd felt his inexplicable draw, like two magnets pulling towards each other. There was too much going on for her to speak to him now, but later, once the dust had settled, they were sure to speak in the halls of the Academy.

Pandora caught Choo-Choo growling under his breath, his gaze finding the same target as her. He ground his teeth, driving the spike into the earth. The events of the last few days had brought them together under the same clan banner. She didn't know how easily the two groups would integrate, but if they could, then maybe they had a chance against her grandfather's organization. Their enemies might have the numbers and a level of financial backing that far exceeded the Drops', but they knew the shadows, they had the stones, and they knew how to use them better than anyone else. And Pandora knew their enemies better than most.

War was coming.