Rootbound

His eyes closed, and a smile crossed his lips. I thrust the dagger forward, Bella’s hand gripped tightly to mine. There was a moment where the image in front of me wavered, and fogged at the edges where I thought perhaps I was dreaming, and I would wake covered in sweat still in my redwood tree house. That the day was a nightmare to be brushed off along with the sleepy dirt in my eyes.

Basileus jerked once, blood bubbled over his lips and his last breath escaped him in a slow exhale that splattered blood on both my face and Bella’s. His heart beat once, twice, and then stilled. Jaw ticking, I pulled the dagger free and wiped it on his shirt. “It is done.”

Shaking, Bella stood. She spoke to our family, the words white noise in my ears. Something about letting the past go and reaching for the future.

Peta crouched beside me.

I put a hand to the earth and opened it up under him, burying him right there, at the foot of the Spiral. There were a few murmurs that I stilled with a narrow-eyed glance.

“Bella, if you are coming with me, I’m leaving now.” My words were hollow, without inflection. The truth of what I’d had to do sunk in slowly. I’d killed my own father. Even though Bella’s hand had been on the dagger, I knew it did not lay on her.

I shook my head. I would not grieve. I would not let it take me into the grave with him.

A red head of hair moved through the crowd, and in seconds Cactus stood in front of me. His nose was still swollen, but his green eyes were soft with emotions I did not want from him. Forgiveness being at the front, love close behind it, compassion somewhere in the mix.

Peta tugged at my leg. “He could help in the Pit. You know that.”

Damn, she was right.

“Lark, I’m sorry about . . .” He didn’t seem to know how to say he was sorry I had to kill my own father. Not like that was something he could find on a Hallmark card.

I held a hand up. “Don’t. There is nothing you can say to make this better. But you can help me.”

His eyes brightened. “Anything. You know I’d do anything for you.”

I swallowed back the words that almost came out. Like why don’t you do as I ask and leave me alone? “I need you to go to the Pit. See what the atmosphere is like, and see if you can get close to Fiametta. See if you get any glimpse of Blackbird.”

He frowned, and slowly nodded. “I can do that. Are you going to tell me why?”

I didn’t need the tightening of Peta’s claws on my lower leg to keep my mouth shut. “No, I can’t.”

Peta chimed in. “Business of the mother goddess.”

“Oh. When will you be there?” He took a step toward me, and I glared at him, stopping him.

I shook my head and winced at the aches and bruises from the near-strangulation I’d endured. “I’m not sure. Soon, though. You’ll have to find a way there. The armbands aren’t working.”

“I’ll take a plane,” he said. “I’ve done that before.” His words surprised me. It was easy for me to forget there was an entire human world out there. And that Cactus had no problem interacting with it.

“That’s good.”

Worm shit, our conversation wouldn’t have been more stilted if the words themselves had been frozen. I turned my back on him.

“Shazer!” I called out.

“I am here.” He trotted toward me from between the Ender Barracks and the Spiral. “Where do we fly first?”

“The Deep.” I hoped that it would be easier to deal with Finley. Hope being the relative word. With a long-standing friendship, there was plenty of reason for me to visit her, and for her to let me draw close. Bella’s daughter River had ties to the Deep as well, which was another reason.

Bella touched my arm. “I am ready.”

Damn. I was hoping she would stay behind to grieve properly. “Let’s go then.”

Shazer went to one knee. “Your Majesty.”

Bella hurried to his side and mounted, her pale green skirts bunching up but still managing to cover most of her leg, though I noticed Shazer looking. I lifted my hands to him and he winked.

“She has nice legs, don’t blame me for looking.”

Once a male, always a male, apparently.

Bella stared out over the crowd from Shazer’s back. “In my absence, Niah and River will oversee the running of the Rim. Look to them, and know I am going on the business of the mother goddess, to do her will, to keep the Rim, and our world, safe.” Apparently she’d overheard Peta’s words. If nothing else, the crowd murmured and nodded at her declaration.

What surprised me though was who she left in charge. Seemed I wasn’t the only one who the announcement shocked. Niah was at the back of the crowd, tears still running down her face even as her eyes widened and she shook her head. Bella nodded at her. “Yes, Niah. You.”

“Good luck, Niah.” I lifted a hand to her, and she raised one in return.

“Be careful, Lark. Things are not as they seem, not even now.”

I shrugged. “They never have been, old one.”

I leapt up behind Bella, Peta right behind me. She put herself between Bella and me, curling up in the puff of Bella’s voluminous skirts.

No words were cast between us as Shazer galloped across the Rim, gaining speed before he leapt into the air, his wings driving hard to lift us all.

I reached forward and put my arms around my sister. She clutched my arms to her as the sobs broke through, her body shaking with the force of them.