Smoke and Iron (The Great Library #4)(16)

“Morgan’s job is to take care of the automata,” Khalila said. “Why do you think Jess included her? From inside the Iron Tower, she can take down a great many of the defenses the Obscurists have always maintained . . . And you, Captain, you know the other captains. Three out of four commanders around Philadelphia agreed with you. There’s a very real possibility of a High Garda rebellion, isn’t there? If the opportunity for reform seems real?”

“The difference is that those three commanders stood aside for us in the field. They would never do that in what we consider home. They’ll defend it. No matter whether they like me or agree with me, they will fight for the Library.”

“The battle is coming to Alexandria. Whether we do it, or the massed armies of the kingdoms already denying treaties do, or it happens in twenty years when Thomas’s press has eroded the power of the Library beyond repair . . . the Library will fall. We are talking about how to protect what is true and good about it before that happens. If you love the Library as I do, we must gain control of it and begin to make it what it truly should be: not a tyrant kingdom, but a spiritual and intellectual leader. That is its truest purpose.”

She needed him to believe it. Captain Santi was their best hope to achieve military victory in Alexandria; with any luck, it could be done with a minimum loss of life. But to save Alexandria, they first had to take it. She had to make Santi believe it was at least possible, or his heart would break before they ever made landfall. Captain Santi was the strong, quiet center of their group. If he broke now, they would all shatter. This was a thing, she believed, that Jess and Dario did not understand.

But she did. And so it fell to her.

She watched him think through it, step by step. He knew the risks. The points of failure. The slim odds they could ever be successful.

But he also had to know that if they wanted the Great Library of Alexandria to survive and uphold its beautiful ideals . . . then those who truly loved it would have to take these risks.

We are not destroying the Library, she wanted to say to him. We are saving it.

But he would have to reach that conclusion himself. Without Santi, they would not find the strength. Without Jess, no inspiration. Without Thomas, there was no real future. Without Glain, no protection. Without Morgan, no audacity. Without Wolfe, no challenge to do better, be better.

Without Dario, no subtlety.

Without her . . . but she didn’t see her role. It would have been prideful to imagine she could not be spared, but she knew she could not spare even one of these others.

Santi said, “You have the gift, you know.”

“What gift?”

“Silence,” he said. “You let people think. And yet, you also lead from silence. I’ve met a few like you.”

She felt a slight heat in her cheeks and raised her chin against the urge to deny what he’d said. “Were they worthy of your trust?” she asked.

“Oh yes,” Santi told her. “Every one of them.” He sighed. “The path to Alexandria leads through allies, connections, and communications with those I can trust. I make no guarantees that we’ll ever see the city, or survive it if we do. But you’re right. We need to land in Cadiz and build allies.”

“Then we take the ship?”

“We take the ship,” he said. “God help us.” He nodded at the small bunk. “Sit down. It’s too suspicious if we gather in numbers, so I’ll need you to memorize plans, timing, all of it. You’ll set everyone in the right place and time.”

She sat, smoothing her skirt with restless fingers. She was aware that by coming here, and staying for long, she’d be inviting gossip. But let them talk, if they intended to. Better the crew assume she and Santi were lovers than that they suspect they were conspirators. “One thing,” she said. “Give me a chance to talk to Anit first.”

He stared at her for a long moment, then said, “If you insist on doing that, you have to be prepared to fail. Are you? Prepared to fail?”

“You mean, am I prepared to take action? Take her prisoner? Slip a knife in her ribs?”

He nodded.

“Anit made her choice,” Khalila said. “And, yes. I am prepared.”





CHAPTER FIVE




Anit was no kind of fool. She’d been hardened in the same fires that Jess Brightwell had been; she understood full well how brutal the world was, and what place she had in it. She was quiet and thoughtful and noticed everything.

Anit was also wary of her own captain and crew. Khalila understood that very well. Women watched their allies as much as their enemies, if they wished to prevent trouble and keep their power. Especially if all of their subordinates and peers were men. Unfair, perhaps, but practical.

If this was to work at all, Khalila thought, she needed to play upon the fact that Anit had grown up guarded, alone, and under constant pressure from the men around her.

The fact that Anit would unwillingly, perhaps unconsciously, feel kinship with another young woman.

It didn’t take long for Khalila to come up with the correct approach. She waited until midmorning, then changed to a black dress and moved with deliberate speed toward the metal stairs that led up to the bridge, where Anit stood. She was, of course, instantly intercepted by two stout men—sun weathered, hair bleached nearly blond, covered in blurred tattoos. “No access,” one of them said. “Go away.”