Page 138 of Swords of Soul and Shadow
The medics said she’d bled out. They had no way to stop it, and none of their medical knowledge could have prevented it. Les had told him they believed in combination with her pre-labor issues and other evidences after birth, neither Rose nor the baby had a chance to survive.
Harlan had devoured every medical textbook he could get his hands on in the last weeks and found that nothing could have prevented it. On First Earth, they’d had the technology to not only detect placental abruption but also use life saving measures quickly to save both the baby and mother. Yet like spaceships, that technology had been lost to time.
“Go and find your place among the stars,” the orator spoke.
Les’ curled hand shook slightly at the words, tears slipping down her cheek at last. Ezekiel’s shoulders shook. Harlan’s own eyes stung. The effect this already had on his friend was terrifying, yet he couldn’t blame him. All Harlan could remember from the Burning of Michael and the others at Ravenhelm was the heat. He’d blotted out and repressed everything else. It had affected him deeply and in ways he hadn’t realized until years later.
What did that mean for Ezekiel? Would he ever return to the carefree man he’d been?
Les sniffed, and with only a second of hesitation, Harlan breached all society protocol and reached for her gloved hand. He wasn’t sure he’d be received despite their intimate correspondence, but the gut reaction simply felt right. He wove his fingers through hers, the lace scratching against his own. She clung to him like someone drowning.
And she was. As were they all.
They were lost in a storm with no way of knowing if they’d weather it.
Chapter 28
TUMBLING DOWN
Hallie
AFTER THREE DAYS OF SITTING in her parents’ tent, Hallie was about ready to lose her mind.
For one, she’d only received three messages in those three days. One was from Kase saying that his father approved him to train the amateur pilots in preparation for the electricity being reinstated—once his house arrest ended. The second was from Saldr, saying that he and Fely would be training her starting the next morning. He’d needed to acquire more Zuprium dust first, as his own supply had been depleted.
The third was from the esteemed Stradat Lord Kapitan. Hallie was only vaguely impressed that he’d taken the time to seal it with wax engraved with his coat of arms, as if nothing was more important than sending missives to people properly in a time such as this. The contents of the note were brief and to the point. Hallie was to train with Saldr and use her powerto restore the electricity. It was more of an official order than a personalized note.
It still seemed over the top to use the wax seal. It annoyed Hallie most because, unless he had the forethought to bring it with him to the Catacombs—which was unlikely, based on what she’d gleaned from her mother—then the man must have sent for them.
It really bothered her more than it should.
Hallie wasn’t even sure she could restore the electricity. Even if she could, in the grand scheme of things, it was at the bottom of her list. She needed to find the second Gate, because finding it might be the way to get rid of this power to begin with. She just didn’t know how she was to combine the Essence power with the others.
Both Fely and Saldr had been unwilling to tell her much. But she knew they still needed the other three Essences to show up in Kyvena. According to reports, Ben was still flying around on his dragon, more or less guarding the city. It hadn’t attacked since the city fell, only watched. Hallie had yet to see it for herself and would have chalked it up to hearsay if Kase had not confirmed it in his note, as well.
Legends tended to grow the more fearful people were, but this one was plenty big on its own.
On top of all that, her power still hadn’t resurfaced, and she was terrified that when it did, she’d bring the Catacombs down upon all their heads.
In the three days since she’d been back, she hadn’t had the time or privacy to explore Navara’s journals and enter her memories. Her mother hadn’t left her alone, dragging her not only to the rations station to help prep for meals, which Hallie was rubbish at, but also to the hospital ward daily to help as needed. Niels still hadn’t woken.
By the time Hallie returned to her parents’ tent at night after consuming her meager rations, she was too exhausted to try much of anything. And she couldn’t very well use the journal while her parents slept right next to her. Waking up to find their daughter in a trance or bleeding onto a journal would only terrify them and end with her herded off to get seen by a medic—after her father forced her to take some obscure medicinal herb solution he’d concocted first.
As relieved as she’d been to find them alive and relatively unharmed, she couldn’t keep old resentment from creeping in. It probably made her a terrible daughter—well, scratch that, not probably—but she missed her time without someone looking over her shoulder. It almost made her long for the days when they’d all but ignored her existence after Jack died.
They might’ve all been wallowing in their grief, but at least it gave Hallie room to breathe.
It was a terrible and odd feeling, like trying to wear an old blouse that clearly no longer fit.
Hallie slipped the latest note, the one from the Stradat Lord Kapitan, away in her satchel with the others. She had one more day of ripping bedlinens into strips to prepare for use as makeshift bandages before her training with Saldr started. At least she got to chat with Petra during her shifts while they soaked each new strip in boiling water. It was nice to catch up, even if their conversations were overshadowed by past events. They shared tears over Ellis and the friends that hadn’t been found yet. Thankfully, both Petra’s parents made it through the attack, which Hallie was grateful for. None of it had changed her friend’s view on Kase.
Hallie prayed he’d be released soon. The last few days with just a single solitary note in place of his company were agony enough without everything else going on. They’d finally reunited, and all she had of him was ink on paper.
Maybe she could visit him today. She’d have to be smart about it. He’d told her he wasn’t allowed visitors—something about how that had led to his newest confinement. He hadn’t clarified further than that. She didn’t think she could pay off whoever had been tasked to guard him. Maybe there was an alternate way to his tent? Maybe she could just ask and use her feminine wiles.
That thought nearly made her laugh. It would make Kase laugh too.
Stars, she missed him. This was almost worse than when she was on the other side of the world. She was close enough to talk with him, see him, laugh with him, but still too far to reach him.
