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“Hey Torin, what’s up?” Phaedra asked, as he burst into her room. She rocked back, startled, as he grabbed her and started sobbing. Torin held Phaedra close, shaking as he did so. Gently, she raised her arms and held him, not saying anything. Eventually, the shaking stopped, and he pulled away. She could feel the reluctance to let her go.
“I’m sorry Phaedra, I. . .” he trailed off, looking away as he swallowed.
“It’s okay. You don’t have to worry about me being like him.” She reached out and touched his face, forcing him to look at her. Phaedra looked into his eyes as she held his face in her hands. “I’m not going anywhere, and I’m not going to hurt you.”
“Please don’t die,” he pleaded.
“I won’t,” she promised.
He pulled away again and took his glasses off, rubbing his face and pressing his fingers into his eyes. “We’re in unimaginable danger,” he said, putting his glasses back on.
“I know.”
Torin shook his head. “No, you don’t understand.” He grabbed her shoulders and squeezed. “Someone betrayed us.”
“Who?”
Torin’s mouth worked. “Someone from High Council killed Luca.”
“What? Who?” Phaedra’s heart beat an erratic rhythm in her chest and it was suddenly hard to breathe.
“I don’t know.” Torin’s face closed down and he turned away. “All I know is Eldren restored the pin, and it was an orange rose with a red rose.”
“Shit. Where’s Eldren?”
Torin shook his head. “I don’t know. I left to find you. But that’s not the only problem.”
“Why am I dreading your next words?”
Torin looked at her, the light that had come back to his face in the time since they had escaped gone. “We have to talk to Simone.”
Phaedra took off, Torin trailing after her. She headed for the ’dock, wondering why now. Wasn’t finding Luca’s killer more important?
Torin led her to Simone’s at a pace that didn’t allow for questions. Once there, he sprinted up the pathway, narrowly avoiding running into people. He barged onto the ’ship and paused at her cabin door. With a look at Phaedra, he knocked, and Simone answered. Elena stood farther in the room, buttoning her shirt as Simone scowled. “What’s this visit about?”
“Can I see the crystals you use to power this ’ship?” Torin asked.
Sudden understanding graced her features. “Of course.” Simone and Elena took them down into the heart of the ’ship to the engine room. Once inside, she showed them the engine. Torin lifted a work panel to look at the crystal inside. “It’s different from the one Eldren made,” Torin noted. “This is new, right?”
Simone’s mouth quirked. “Yes. Elena had been working on alternate crystals to power our ’ships.”
“Why?” Phaedra asked, lost.
Torin, Simone, and Elena all turned to look at Phaedra. “You’re surprisingly sheltered sometimes,” Torin said. “I figured you or Eldren would have known this.”
“Well, clue me in then, geez.”
Elena cleared her throat. “The dead powered the old crystals.”
Phaedra swayed on her feet, and Torin reached out to grab her arm. “What?” She asked. “How do you know? Why would Temple do that?”
“Because it was available, I’m sure,” Torin said. “Desperation breeds desperate actions after all.” He looked at Elena. “Forgive me for asking, is it powered by Wind Spirits?”
Elena nodded. “I found some old notes from the original flying machines. They originally wanted to use Wind Spirits but there were a few hitches in mass production.” She looked at Simone. “I found out by accident and told Simone. So we’ve been working to find a more, well, humane, method of creating them. Using the dead seems so cruel.”
“Then who produced the knowledge for the dead to power them?”
Elena looked at Phaedra. “The last God of Death was a magus named Levi. He supplied the knowledge to try to win over The Empress Goddess, Elspeth.”
“I think I need to sit down,” Phae said. Torin tightened his grip on her arm and Simone went to find a chair.
“The problem with turning mortals into deities is that they don’t stop being mortals just because they become Gods,” Elena explained. “All their petty grievances become magnified with time, and it can have devastating results.”
“So why even make men into gods?” Phaedra asked as Simone brought a chair.
“Because only humans can save humanity,” Torin said. “Men’s hearts are easily corrupted, but they’re also resilient and capable of great things, too. The Empress laid a lot of the groundwork that Temple expanded on, for example.”
Phaedra looked at Torin. “How do you know that?”
“Long nights spent in Temple’s library have been eye opening.”
“Elena and I were working together to find an alternative source of power. And Wind Spirits are more than capable of filling such big shoes.”
“That’s the destruction Aurelius was rallying against, wasn’t it?” Phaedra mumbled, numb.
“Partly,” Elena said. “Part of it was the human cost. Part of it too, however, was the environmental damage being done. The barren fields, the poisoned waterways, and no way to save it all.”
Phaedra laughed, a bitter, broken sound. “He chose the worst possible way to handle that.”
Simone cleared her throat. “Like Torin said, men’s hearts are easily corrupted. But they are not all made the same, and we still have time to undo the damage. We just have to defeat Aurelius first.”
“You make it sound so simple.” Phaedra hated the bitter tone the words came out in.
“It’s not, but the best things in life are the things we fight for, right?” Simone gave Phaedra a comforting smile. “No one said it would be easy. But it will be worth it in the end.” She checked her pocket watch. “I have things to do, but you can stay here until you’re ready to go back.”
“Why didn’t anyone tell me?”
Simone exchanged a glance with Torin before turning back to Phaedra. “You have enough on your plate. We figured we could address it when it came up.”
Phaedra shook her head. “Someone should have told me.”
“Be that as it may, you know now. And you have to decide what you’re doing next.” She glanced at Elena. “Take your time. We’re not going anywhere anytime soon.”
