Page 20 of Tears of Tungsten
“You never do, Selene. No matter what I may tell you, at any point in time, please know that you are and you’ve always been my greatest achievement.”
I wasn’t sure I believed that, but I was grateful we were back to normal anyway. As we left the room together, I hummed a happy tune under my breath.
Finally, things seemed to be looking up. My mother had seen sense and she’d help me perfect my Gaia-oriented ability. I still had to figure out a way to speak with my lovers and see what they knew about this whole motherhood business, but there was no rush.
No matter what my mother said, I knew they’d never harm me. I trusted them, so I’d give them time to come to me of their own accord.
* * *
Knox
After the Terran class held by Tanya Renard, the day dragged on. Selene had left to do some self-study, since she had a free period in this time slot. The rest of us had Grand Judiciary Law with Professor Trask, but for unknown reasons, he was missing. Dr. Moore acted at his substitute and started to go over one of his usual lectures. I did not enjoy it.
I liked history as much as any other regular chimera pilot—which was to say, not a lot. It was interesting and something we did need to learn. People who didn’t understand the past were doomed to make the same mistakes in the future. The problem was that Dr. Moore tended to go into a lot of irrelevant details. Why would I care about the type of credits Terrans had used before the apsid invasion anyway? They were worthless now, with the occasional specimens existing only as museum pieces. I’d have preferred doing some more chimera practice.
It didn’t help that Brendan had been distant over the past couple of days. There had been no real developments on The Grand Judiciary front, but we feared we were being watched and we hadn’t made much progress on the plan Typhon had suggested. August was getting increasingly more upset about Charybdis’s enduring dormancy. At this rate, we’d be forced to do something regrettable to survive.
By the time the class ended, I felt like I was about to explode. Thankfully, we had Advanced Combat Practice next, and I looked forward to pummeling someone into the ground.
I should have known better than to think anything in my life would go over well. In the past, Commander Trevor had been the one to supervise our Combat Practice classes, but we’d always been aware that he was pulled in too many different directions and he needed aid. Another staff member had finally arrived, but it wasn’t someone I’d have liked to see.
“Well, this is just perfect,” August mumbled as we entered the training room. “Why do we always get saddled with this shit?”
“Because Father lives to make my life difficult, even when he claims otherwise,” Brendan said between gritted teeth.
Lord Paul Welton stood in front of us, clad in the familiar uniform of The Oceanus Attack Corps. He hadn’t bothered to use the clothing provided by the academy, but even so, from the moment I looked at him, I knew what his role here would be.
“Ah, Prince Brendan, Flight Lieutenant Donadieu, Flight Lieutenant Alexander, Flight Lieutenant Cavallero. I’m glad you made it here early. I had to speak with you regarding an important matter.”
“You mean other than the fact that you’re our new teacher?” Brendan asked, having obviously realized the same thing I had.
“Yes, other than that.” Lord Welton smiled, and if I hadn’t known any better, I would’ve sworn the expression was genuine. “I trust you’ve shared the issue of your chimeras with all the interested parties?”
“Of course,” Brendan replied. “My unit needed to know of the orders we’ve received. I’ve already discussed it with my father. Is there a problem with that?”
“No, not at all. I was merely double-checking. There have been whispers of treason going around The Grand Judiciary. We wouldn’t want this information to leak by accident.”
A shiver coursed down my spine.‘Treason,’Lord Welton had said. Brendan had been planning that for years, although he’d held back because it had been too dangerous. No one could possibly suspect, because if they had, Brendan wouldn’t still be here, having a pleasant conversation with Lord Welton of all people.
What the fuck was The Grand Judiciary up to?
“If you’re so concerned about such issues, Lord Welton, it’s probably unwise to talk about this out in the open,” Brendan replied coolly. “But for the record, I’m a prince from the royal line of Chimera. I know how to keep secrets and so do the people I trust.”
“Yes, of course, Your Highness. I was merely making sure the dynasty is safe.”
“As always, your service is appreciated,” Brendan answered. The words sounded faker than the atmosphere around Tartarus Base.
Luckily, we weren’t forced to continue the awkward and dangerous conversation. The doors of the training room slid open and the other students walked in. Most of them were just as surprised as we’d been upon noticing Lord Welton. It wasn’t every day that a member of The Grand Judiciary left our main legislative branch and became a teacher at our school. Still, they knew better than to question it.
“I’ll be here to supervise your hand-to-hand combat sessions,” he explained. “As some of your teachers might have mentioned in the past, it is impossible to be a chimera pilot without having perfect control over one’s own body. To some people, space combat might not seem physically strenuous, but it is in fact one of the most dangerous and difficult activities you can embark on. Every muscle and bone in your body is a weapon you need to hone to perfection. You’re a diamond of Tartarus, but you’ve yet to be polished. The harder you fight, the stronger you’ll become.”
I suppressed the urge to roll my eyes. Coming from any other teacher at the academy—even people like Professor Trask who taught dry, theoretical subjects—I would’ve taken that seriously. But I didn’t want to hear shit like this from an asshole who’d never been in a chimera in his life. He might belong to The Oceanus Corps, but he was no soldier and everyone knew it.
Paul Welton came from one of the families that had attached themselves to the Chimera royals through their connection to chimera manufacturing. Welton’s great-grandfather was said to have been the one to discover the mysterious alloy used to craft the giant mechas we used, and the technique had bought his whole line power and influence in The Grand Judiciary. In that sense, Penelope Welton would’ve made a perfect wife for Brendan, since King Philip doubtlessly wanted the secret of the alloy in the family once and for all. But Brendan had ruined his plans because of his decision to choose Selene instead.
In any case, Welton’s less than impressive military history didn’t mean he wasn’t dangerous. It also did nothing to change the fact that he was currently our teacher. So I schooled my features into neutrality, kept my mouth shut, pretended to listen to the speech, and prepared to beat up whoever was assigned to me.
My partner turned out to be August. I’d expected Lord Welton to throw Brendan at me, since I was notoriously volatile, and Welton had every reason to want Brendan hurt. But maybe the king had given Welton different instructions, because Brendan had to fight a member of the Harpy Squad instead. Pollux was assigned to Scott Argyle, which I suspected wouldn’t go over well at all. He might not show it as much as we did, but he’d been very pissed after that incident in the hangars.
