Heart of Iron (Heart of Iron #1)(4)

Goddess-spitting rotten luck, he thought, rubbing his eyes.

In the middle of the aisle, the Messiers pressed back against one another, their vision resetting. That was smart, to trick Metal optics with a flashbang and use the blowback to wipe out the candles. Assuming it was on purpose.

It probably wasn’t.

The shrine was almost completely dark now, the only light the colorful streams coming through the mosaic windows.

He blindly took another step back toward the side exit. Almost there. Then he could call for his skysailer and ride it off into the sunset like nothing had happened.

The coordinates chip in his pocket felt heavy, weighed down by all the years he’d been searching for Lord Rasovant’s lost fleetship. He couldn’t lose it now. He had somewhere to go—somewhere to find answers. After seven years of searching, he deserved them.

The person who must have thrown the flashbang was grabbing Mokuba by the hand. Tattered burgundy coat, a Metroid at her hip, long black hair in a renegade braid, and looking like she hadn’t bathed in a week—the girl must’ve been an outlaw.

With Mokuba in tow, she turned to pursue the person with the coordinates—him.

Yeah, he needed to leave like three seconds ago.

Pressing the comm-link pinned to his lapel, he snapped, “Ride. I need a ride!” and made a mad dash for the side exit.

Ten feet, five—

A shadowy figure stepped in front of him, hood pulled low. Robb collided with it—a brick wall would’ve had more give—and stumbled back, holding his nose.

“Goddess!” he cried in pain.

The figure raised its head slightly, white eyes gleaming.

A chill curled down his spine. A rogue Metal, of all the things. Its soulless gaze flickered toward Robb’s hand inching toward the lightsword on his back, as if daring him. For a moment, he actually hesitated. The Metal could break his arms in two moves if it wanted to.

I’ll chance it.

With a cry, he reached for his sword—

The girl tackled him from behind and slammed both him and the Metal into the door. It gave a groan and swung outward onto a staircase and into the grimy alleyway. He grappled for the railing, trying to catch his footing, but his ankle bent. He tumbled down the steps, striking his head against the cement.

The world split with pain and he gasped, gagging on his own breath.

Beside him lay the girl—the one who’d thrown the flashbang. Mokuba rushed down the steps, the Metal bending the door handles inward so the Messiers couldn’t follow.

Robb rolled onto his knees, world spinning, and pulled himself to his feet. His head pounded. He wanted to vomit.

Worth it, it’s worth it, he tried to convince himself as he heard the sound of a skysailer drawing closer. His ride. He reached his hand up, higher, higher—

“Stop!” the girl cried, standing quickly. “I need those coordinates!”

The skysailer broke over the buildings. It came in low, tilting sideways.

“No hard feelings,” he told her as one of his family’s guards leaned out and took him by the hand as the ship passed, its fanlike wings almost scraping the ground.

The girl screamed for him to wait—why, so the Messiers would catch him too? Great Dark strike him, he’d rather not.

The guard heaved him into the skysailer and banked the boat upward, so sharply Robb’s head spun. He lay down on the backseats, trying to keep from vomiting.

“We’re late to your brother’s announcement ceremony, sir,” said the guard. He was older, with a graying mustache, the most loyal to Robb’s late father—and more loyal with a sack of coppers to keep him from tattling to Robb’s mother. “Your mother will not be pleased.”

“I’ve got my entire life to kiss my brother’s ass when he’s crowned Emperor. I think I can be late to one more party,” he muttered, fishing in his coat pocket for the coordinates chip Mokuba had sold him. He held it toward the skylight, its insides sparkling green.

The guard eased into Nevaeh’s flying traffic. Skysailers zoomed past them, the sound of the congested airwaves enough to drown out his thundering heart. “What shall the excuse to Lady Valerio be this time, sir?” asked the guard.

Once, a Solani who claimed she could read the stars had told Robb that his silver tongue would be his undoing, and he took that as a compliment. Lying was an art form. He simply had perfected it.

“I was paying my respects to the Goddess,” he replied, and curled his fingers around the coordinates chip as the skysailer rose toward his family’s floating guarden in Nevaeh’s man-made sky.





Ana


The skysailer with that stupid Ironblood climbed into the air, leaving a cold feeling in Ana’s gut. There went Di’s last chance, disappearing into the Nevaeh sky right before her eyes.

Behind her, the shrine’s side door buckled out with the force of the Messiers on the other side.

Di pressed his back against the door to keep it closed. He must have stopped glitching after she lobbed the flashbang.

“That door won’t hold,” Mokuba said nervously, taking her by the arm. “Kid, you gotta get out of here before they break through. If they catch you or your Metal, then Siege’ll skin me alive. You were stupid to come after those coordinates. I told you no to begin with—”

“I have to!” She twisted out of Mokuba’s grip. “Di, we need to call Jax.”