Page 98 of The Last Hope
My shoulders throb, and I only realize now that Court is sitting achingly straight, more cautious than before.
“You never answered,” Zimmer tells Stork.
He pauses for a while and rests his shoulder blades against the cabinet. “Knaveis the human equivalent of what Saltarians callbludraders.”
His call sign means traitor.
I rock back. “But you fight for humans.”
Zimmer cringes. “You let them nickname you that?”
He rolls his eyes in a dramatic arch. “See, I’m what they’re afraid of, and I understood growing up that they’re just scared of who I am.” He smiles more sadly, running his tongue over his teeth. “Honestly, I prayed to be human because it’d be easier.”
I can’t detach my gaze from his. And again, I notice his use of the past tense. “You don’t pray for that anymore?” I ask.
He shakes his head. “The man who raised me sat me down and said not to hate who I am because that’s a surefire way to die before you’re dead.” He pulls the bottle out of Zimmer’s hands. “Some kids and teenagers called meknaveout of spite, and I let the word roll off my back. Sooner or later, people kept calling meknave,but out of respect. I like it because it fits. I’m not human, and the Earthen Fleet loves me, not despite being a Saltarian, but because I am Saltarian and I still chose them.”
My chest heavies. “You’re good and just,” I realize.
He smiles painfully. “I’m following an order that is extremelyunfairto you, Court, and Mykal, and I’m doing it anyway”—he raises the bottle to his mouth—“because if we fail, you get no answers. You get nothing. I wouldn’t say that’s goodorjust.” So he’ll comply with those terrible orders until the bitter end, and I hate that he will. But I see that it’s already hurting him.
Or else he wouldn’t be guzzling the liquor right now.
We only talk for a little bit longer, and I stop drinking before I stumble or slur. Back on the bed, I unbuckle my sandals.
Stork shuts the cabinets and then takes a pillow off the bed for the floor. He’s slept on the ground all month.
“Would you rather sleep in the bed tonight?” I surprise myself with the question, but he’s shared things that he’s tried to keep quiet. We both have. And him sleeping on the floor suddenly feels wildly unfair.
Stork frowns and glances at Zimmer.
“It’s up to Franny,” Zimmer says, already claiming one side of the bed. If it were up to him, he’d be fine with five more bodies all crammed onto the mattress.
I kick off my footwear and crawl back to the headboard.
Stork eyes me curiously. “Why tonight?”
“You’ve been less of a wart,” I say strongly.
Light touches his eyes like he’s smiling before his lips do. “I’ll sleep on the bed.” He sheds his military skirt and wraps linen around his waist. “But not if you’re scared.”
I swelter, a glistening sheen on my beige skin, and my tunic already clings to my frame. “I’m not scared.”
He approaches, skimming me, and I scoot to the middle of the bed. As Stork rests a knee on the other side, my abdomen cramps like a fist rammed into my stomach.
I grit through a wince and roll onto my belly.What’s happening?I try to focus on Court or Mykal, but our senses are muddled in razor-sharp panic. Rage.Anguish.
“Franny?” Zimmer calls, voice pitching. He hovers over me while I bury my face in a pillow and death-grip the sheets.
Court is yelling, his throat burning raw.
“Franny!” Stork is on the bed, rattling my shoulder. “Franny.”
I need to go.
I need to help them. “I need to go,” I choke out. Mykal cradles his arm around his sore stomach, spitting out nasty curses. He must’ve been punched. And Court fights hot tears, shouting… I concentrate on the movement of his lips that feel like my lips.
He’s shouting,He’s not to blame!
