Page 137 of The Garnet Daughter
I don’t have an answer because I’m not entirely sure what he wants me for, Ferren and me. A ritual is all Omnesis said, the purpose as unknown as the third woman in his grasp.
“This is madness.” August scrubs a calloused palm down his face.
“Yes, but it is the only way.” I turn to him, urging him to listen because we are losing time I could be using to lure the enemy closer while he assists the other commanders with Cosima’s beacon. “99 will watch me. I won’t leave the turrets’ reach. You will go to the ship just as planned.”
“Don’t do this, Callia,” August begs, knowing the more sense I make, the more set in stone the plans become.
“I can fold to you just like before or if there is any danger. You know I can.”
August stares at 99, hoping his friend will say something to stop this, but he doesn’t. 99 would be in the same situation if Ferren were here. She would volunteer to do this too. But only I can fold to safety. This is how I save the city, not with a ward or waking First Mother.
The voice in the forest of Frith called out to me, and it may have been First Son guiding me closer, but there is another voice, much stronger, now deep within telling me I have to do this. That one is mine alone.
“This is what it is to love Calliape.” Selene places a soothing hand on August’s shoulder. “You know this, and you knew it long before I did.”
He takes a shaky breath and pulls me close against him. We have no other solutions, and even though it kills him, I can feel the moment he realizes and his whole body gives in.
“I can do this.” My voice is muffled by his embrace.
“I will be ready for you to fold to me, and then I am taking you to Frith,” he declares firmly.
Selene steps toward me and kisses my forehead. “You know who you are, Calliape, what you are capable of. Never again will I smother those flames. I will see you on the sacred mountain again, this I promise you.”
I reach for Selene’s hand, holding it and wishing I had better words to tell her goodbye.
“Can you fold August to his ship? He should depart now, and we are far from the cargo bay.” 99’s voice is snappy with impatience.
“Keep this on.” August brings my wrist up, making sure to show 99 while reminding me.
“I will. Are you ready?”
He kisses me deeply, then places a hand on either side of my jaw, his eyes shiny and lined with moisture. “The best part of my life has been spent lost somewhere on the three worlds with you, Callia. I am ready and I will be waiting.”
I kiss him again, pressing forward and forcing my body to fold, going against every fiber of me that wants to stay together, to forget everything else and depart, hiding up on the sacred mountain away from the chaos of the other worlds.
But my family is here, my friends, and this is my battle as much as it is theirs. First Son seeks me, and I won’t leave until I know our forces have a fighting chance.
I savor August against me as I fold us across the distance to his ship, giving little warning and acting on the urgency building at the front lines.
Once I sense the air of his ship, I let go of him regretfully and fold away. Because I know without a doubt if I stay for even a blink, I won’t be able to leave. My body will cling to safety. To him. By the time he realizes he is in the cockpit, I will already be gone.
Chapter
Forty-One
Instead of folding back to the communication tower we previously occupied, I take myself farther, past the wall and into the middle of the battlefield below it. The sand and dirt crumbles as I find my footing, veined deeply from drought. The wall behind me is as high as a mountain, reaching up into the sky, seeming impossible to breach.
My wrist comm beeps as I make my first steps forward, toward the turrets and ward boundary ahead. The view past it where the enemy is gathered is black, too distant to see their numbers this far down on the ground.
“Can you hear me?” August’s weary voice comes in over my wrist comm before I push the transmission button.
“Yes. I’m sorry, August. We have to be quick. I will see you soon,” I whisper as if someone else will hear my words on the stale breeze.
The sound of his engine hums over the comm when he speaks again. “Not soon enough. Press the green button on the side and your channel will remain open to both me and 99.”
I close the distance to my destination. Every few paces, a large torch has been placed, made in the same ornate style as the Estate and not Viathan in nature like the beams closer tothe turrets. Distance markers for their archers atop the wall, but what are archers when First Son has a weapon not even Viathan can combat?
“Slow down.” 99’s voice suddenly in the darkness with me stutters my next few steps until I realize it is coming from my wrist, where I left the channel open for them to speak freely.
