From the Ashes (The Elder Blood Chronicles, #3)(74)

“You make me nervous when you get that look on your face, Shade.” Symphony spoke in a low voice and was watching him far more closely than she should have been, given that she had the controls and they were very near the sky port already.

“Do you prefer the look of utter terror that will appear very soon if you don’t start paying attention to where you are flying?” Shade asked with a raised eyebrow.

She chuckled faintly and turned back toward the view screen. “Every time you get that look I wonder if you regret your decision to join us,” Symphony pressed. Cautiously she began to lower their altitude as they approached the Sky Port. There was already a small crowd gathered at the edge, no doubt waiting for their absent Empress’s return.

“I don’t regret walking from my House. I regret abandoning my people. I have doubts that I have joined the right side at times, but those mostly just occur when I am obviously set up and about to die,” Shade said with a grin.

“You are truly convinced we have a traitor aren’t you?” Symphony sighed. Once again it was a topic they had been over more than once and was rather worn through.

“I am truly convinced that before long you will think so too,” Shade replied as the ship came to a stop. “You are a smart girl. Given enough rope, your traitor will hang himself. The set-up with the Justicars was only the first betrayal. There will be more.”

“So you say,” Symphony sighed and unbuckled the flight harness. “Of course it could be you,” she pointed out with a smirk. “And then I would be a fool to listen to anything you said. You might simply be sowing dissention in the ranks.”

“Quite, let me continue the sowing. Lutheron is an ass. Caspian is so quiet it’s creepy. Faramir is bossy, and Vaze just scares me. There, that pretty much covers all of your advisors,” Shade said with a grin as he rose from his chair.

“You didn’t mention Remedy,” Symphony pointed out flatly with a dry expression on her lovely face.

“Remedy? Not even I am a big enough idiot to insult the man you are in love with. That would practically be suicide. Besides I don’t see him enough to find fault with him. Amazing. The one person you adore to be with, and he is never around.” Shade paused and tapped his chin thoughtfully then looked at her with an amazed expression. “Why, Lutheron plans their missions doesn’t he? Hmm. And he keeps Remedy gone all of the time. Well, I think that’s clear evidence on my he-is-an-ass theory. I wonder what else I might be right about.”

Symphony chuckled lightly and shook her head at him in amazement. “Vaze is away too. Is that conspiracy as well?” she asked, pausing beside the door to look back at him.

“No, that is a blessing. As I said he is scary,” Shade replied with a grin and motioned once more toward the door.

“Vaze is not scary,” Symphony protested as she pushed the door open and stepped from the Spell Hawk.

“I’m not?” Vaze asked in a mockery of a shocked voice.

“Damn it!” Shade burst out as he dropped down the last stair. He glowered at Symphony and then looked to Vaze who leaned casually against the side of the Spell Hawk with a smile on his face. “I was telling her a story about some idiot that thought you were scary. She has the same opinion as me though you are definitely not scary,” Shade said with a grin before glaring at Symphony once more as she burst into laughter.

“Shade you are a horrible liar,” Symphony managed through more giggles as she hugged Vaze and smiled up at him. “Welcome back. Where have you been the past few days? Not even Lutheron seemed to know.”

“Goswin, then the Darklands, then Merro,” Vaze answered. He motioned toward the crowd near the edge of the port and smiled at her. “I told them if they approached, I would eat their souls. If you want to speak with any of them you will have to call them over.”

“Eating souls now, eh? That’s a new one. So I am to understand that you have been assisting Lady Merrodin then?” Symphony asked as they began walking. She purposefully kept her gaze from the patiently waiting crowd and headed instead for the Justicar’s hall.

“So if you don’t see them, they aren’t really waiting for you. Is that how that works?” Shade asked, keeping his gaze on the ground as they walked.

“No, I don’t see them at all. Especially not the three that are waving for my attention,” Symphony replied. “Answer, Vaze,” she added with a bit of authority in her voice.

“To say yes would suggest that I had gone against Lutheron’s direct order not to intervene,” Vaze said softly.

“And to say no would be lying to me?” Symphony asked.

“I do find myself in a delicate place. I think I prefer to say nothing,” Vaze mused.

“Hmm. Was she successful?” Symphony asked in a softer voice.

“She was successful at returning with Finn’s soul. The resurrection however was not successful. I was forced to send him back to the Darklands. Death was soulriding him and he was a danger to everyone in the sunlit world as long as Death had him as a conduit,” Vaze explained.

Symphony let out a long wistful sigh. “I was hoping she would succeed all the way around. I can’t imagine loving someone so much that you would do such a thing. I feel sorry for her.”

“She didn’t even know him that long. There is no way she could have loved him that much,” Shade snapped irritably.