The Rebels of Gold (Loom Saga #3)(8)
They all knew who it was. There was only one man it could’ve been. For the only other Xin present at the time of Petra’s death was Cvareh, and every last man and women assembled knew that Cvareh would have never challenged his sister.
“On the fifteenth day of the month of Soh, eleven years after the annexation of Loom, Petra’Oji was slain by Finnyr’Kin in a duel of her challenging.”
Cvareh stared through the Rider. He looked back to the ghost of his sister in all her power and glory. She had a might that should only be thwarted by the Gods themselves, and Finnyr was no God. There was foul play here. Deceit and lies abounded everywhere Rok stood.
“Coletta Rok’Ryu and Yeaan Rok’Soh bore witness to this honorable challenge and kill. It determines before the Divine Twenty and the mortals below that Finnyr Xin’Kin To will henceforth be known as Finnyr Xin’Oji To.”
In this moment, the Rider’s words were muffled, garbled. The visage of his sister moved her lips, and all he heard was Cain’s voice again, ripe with pain and colored in grief—Petra is dead—before the ghostly presence vanished, and left the halls of the Xin Manor forever.
Arianna
She was relieved to be free of her bonds. The feeling of entrapment in that dank little room was too similar to what she had endured on Nova at Yveun’s hand. Even though the man before her was the antithesis to the hulking Dragon King, and her surroundings looked nothing like the architecture found in the sky world, there was something disturbingly similar to both situations.
“So, where are we?” Movement helped, but thinking helped more.
“Suburb of Ter.5.2.” Louie moved at a snail’s pace, and Arianna was reduced to a shuffle to avoid striding past him. “It was a warehouse I was using to transfer goods from Dortam to the port of Ter.5.2, and vice versa.”
“How far does your reach actually extend?” Arianna didn’t know why he was suddenly sharing all this information with her, but if his tongue was well oiled, she’d encourage the words to flow.
“Far enough.” Louie paused at one of the switchbacks, giving her a smug smile.
“I suppose you weren’t known for your transparency.”
“The opposite, actually.”
He pushed open a door that was quite light when Arianna caught it, despite the heavy-looking wood-and-bronze framing. They arrived in a homely upstairs room far more domestic than Arianna expected. A long wooden table was lined with pewter stools, one of which was occupied by a red-eared Chimera.
“Adam, go fetch our little crows from their tinkering.”
The man named Adam stood and Arianna regarded him warily. She knew Chimeras got the luck of the draw when it came to organs, but seeing red Dragon flesh evoked a completely new response in her. He was oblivious to her apprehension, however, and left the notes he’d been looking over to disappear through a galley door.
“I’m going to need your help.” Louie drew her attention from the table as he rounded it in his deliberate manner.
“With what?” Arianna was surprised when he slid the papers toward her. It seemed her needlessly complex planning for how to sneak looks at them was no longer necessary.
He fanned out the papers, an assortment of technological specifications, schematics, unit numbers, and more. “We need to outfit this airship for magic, using this much gold.” His finger settled on a quantity.
Arianna scoffed. “Impossible.”
“You seem to be someone who makes the impossible, possible.”
“I’m an engineer, not a wizard.”
“Well—” Louie was cut short by the galley door opening again. Two children strode through. “Ah, thank you for joining us.”
“A delight to be here, m’Lord!” Helen gave a dramatic bow in Louie’s direction.
Arianna tapped her fingers against the table. Magic rippled through the muscle and bone of her forearm, pooling in her fingertips. It was a conscious effort not to unsheathe her claws and throttle the two Ravens.
“If it isn’t Helen and Will . . .” Why was she surprised? She really shouldn’t be. Arianna had last seen the girl barreling through the underground at breakneck speeds. Anyone who possessed such equal parts stupidity and suicidal tendency would certainly find her way into Louie’s employ.
“Been a while, huh?” Helen raised her hand in greeting, nonchalantly strolling over to the table. “What a small world. You work for Louie, I work for Louie…”
“I do not work for Louie,” Arianna corrected. “He works for me.”
Helen seemed taken aback by this, and her eyes swept to Louie.
“We have an arrangement.” It wasn’t much in the way of concession on Louie’s part. But Arianna was operating under the idea of choosing her battles at present, and this one wasn’t worth fighting.
“I knew you stooped low, but working with children, Louie?” Arianna keenly remembered Louie’s statement regarding Florence being “observed” by one of his lackeys. Was he keeping Helen and Will here by force, to get back at the girl? “What threats did you have to make?”
“Flor introduced us,” Helen announced, as if it was something to be proud of. Well, Ravens were notorious for rushing in headfirst with reckless abandon. “She’s been busy while you’ve been having a vacation on Nova.”