The Rebels of Gold (Loom Saga #3)(22)
The woman smelled of cedar . . . and another floral scent that Florence couldn’t quite place. Had she always smelled like this? There was a sort of newness to Arianna’s embrace that Florence couldn’t quite explain.
“I was so worried about you,” Arianna whispered. “I thought of you every day on Nova.”
Florence’s fingers curled fistfuls of Arianna’s tired white coat. “I was worried for you too,” she confessed easily. “You do have a way of finding trouble.”
Arianna snorted and pulled away, resting her palms on Florence’s shoulders. “A habit you seem to have inherited.”
“There will be a lot more trouble before all this is over.” Florence stepped out of the woman’s reach. She wasn’t a child for Arianna to protect any longer. “Can I count on you, Arianna?”
“Without question.”
The lack of hesitation reassured Florence immeasurably. “The first Vicar Tribunal will assemble in two days’ time. At that point, I’ll need you to discuss the Philosopher’s Box.”
Florence watched Arianna’s face at the mention of the infamous box. Surely, Arianna had learned by now—from Louie, no doubt—that Florence had outed her ability to make the box. She searched for anger or pain. But whatever emotion Arianna was feeling, she kept it guarded. It was a barrier Florence wanted to break down. She wanted to be as close as they had been in Dortam, but as the women they were now.
“About that . . . Louie has requested unbridled access to the schematics for the box.”
Florence’s hand found its way back to the hilt of her gun at the mere mention of the conniving little man. “I assume you refused.”
“No.”
“What?” Florence hissed. She’d taken Arianna to be much smarter than that. “Ari, you know him, and you know what he intends to use the box for. Furthermore, we must keep the mechanics of the box as secret as possible, at least until—”
“If you wanted it to be secret, Flor, sharing its existence with the world was a strange choice.”
“Loom has no other way to stand against the Dragons.” She was not going to allow Arianna to make her feel guilty. “As we are, we will die. As Perfect Chimera, we have a chance. Plus, I saw no other way to unite the vicars after the destruction of the guilds.” Florence sighed, allowing the tension to defuse. She quickly took her hand off her gun, not wanting Arianna to misinterpret the motion. “But we need to make sure that we don’t have splintering factions. That those who are made into Perfect Chimera are loyal to Loom and know what they must do.”
Arianna sighed heavily, her eyes glazed with a familiar, faraway look.
“Don’t let your vision be clouded by the past.” Florence took a step closer to her teacher. Arianna was head and shoulders taller than her, so she had to stand on her tiptoes to be in her field of vision. “I need you here, Arianna.”
“And I will be.” Arianna’s focus was solely on Florence. “You lead, Flor, and I will follow.”
“Good.” That was how she wanted Arianna to look at her, as an equal. Florence believed her, wholly and completely. “Now, what are we going to do about Louie?”
“He served a purpose.” Arianna shrugged. “And as long as he thinks he’s getting access to the schematics, he owes me three more requests. Getting me to you was the first. The means justified the ends on this.”
Florence shouldn’t have doubted her former mentor and couldn’t stop herself from noting the fact that she had been Arianna’s first request. “And if he actually gets around to requesting those schematics?”
Arianna hummed noncommittally. “We can decide then.”
“It’s not like you to not have a plan calculated, with every contingency accounted for.” Florence half-squinted, quizzical. It had been a short period of time on Nova, but could a few months really change a person so much?
She wondered if Arianna could possibly be feeling the same about her. The world had forced its change on Florence as well.
“There are a lot of moving parts to consider. He’s in our pocket for now, and if he comes to demand the schematics . . . Later? Well, war is coming, Flor. There will be casualties.”
“Indeed.” Florence’s mind instantly went to Sophie. “In a world like this, accidents can be quite common.” Deeming the matter of Louie settled—for now—Florence’s mind shifted. “Did you find what you were looking for on Nova?”
“I did.” Arianna nodded. “The Dragon King has two rebellions he’ll need to face. One here, and one up there.”
“House Xin?”
“They’re going to help us,” Arianna affirmed. “As long as we help them.”
Florence would come back to what that meant in a moment. But first, there was a man she wanted to inquire after. A man whose blood flowed through her veins. The only Dragon Florence could stomach thinking of with any sort of fondness. “And Cvareh?”
Ari stilled, so much that Florence couldn’t have been certain even from a hand’s width away that she breathed.
“His sister, Petra, leads House Xin . . .” Arianna began.
Florence leaned against the wall, settling in to absorb all the information Arianna saw fit to impart on her. She listened to tales of the sky cities she could hardly imagine, supported on magic and blood sport. But despite her every effort to pay careful attention to each detail that might someday prove important in her fight against the Dragon King, one question continued to creep up in her mind: What, exactly, had happened between Cvareh and Arianna on Nova?