“Visions? Like a prophecy?” Rinna stared at her friend as if she'd never seen her before.
Liria shrugged. “I don't know what they were. I think it might have been the Source of Technology warning me that Commander Vor was going to be a part of my life. Or at least a part of my future. He said Source led him to Lena. Rin, I think I helped him find her.”
“No!” Rinna grabbed Liria's hand. “This is not your fault.”
“You don't understand. It's not about fault. I don't feel guilty. What I'm trying to say is that I think the Sources may be guiding us as well.” She took the twisted convergence Rinna had been working on and held it up. “Have you ever had so many problems with converging?”
“No. Never. I'm almost as good as you.”
Liria grinned. “Damn right you are. So, explain this?”
“I can't.”
“I think one or both of the Sources are delaying us. They have a plan, and it's not the time for us to act.”
“What?”
“Just consider the possibility that you are meant to converge this device, but at a specific time, Rinna. You have a part to play. Now, relax, and let it come when it's time.”
“You're not making sense. We need to get in there and get Lena away from that monster as soon as possible.”
“I don't know if he is a monster.”
“Liria, what the fuck?” Rinna's gut twisted. The Aethari had lied about the Nethren. She accepted that. How could she not when the Speaker of Icara himself admitted it? But going from thinking of Nethren as monsters to seeing them as victims was too hard for her. The Nethren had killed friends of hers.
“I'm a villain, but lies have cast me into that role .” Liria lifted her chin. “Now that I know the truth, I'm done playing the part. The Aethari will not control me anymore.”
“What are you saying, Liria?”
“I'm saying that I'm going to fight for peace, and I hope the Nethren will forgive me.” Liria set the broken convergence down and stood up. “Stop tormenting yourself, Rin. It will work when the time is right.” Then she left the tent.
Rinna looked from Liria's departing form to the convergence. “What the fuck is happening?”
Chapter Thirty
Lena
Lena stared blankly at Vor.
“Did you hear me, Lena?” Vor leaned closer, careful not to touch her. He was always so careful.
“Yes,” Lena whispered. “The surface is changing all of you, but I speed up the process.”
“No, not exactly.” Vor frowned. “The surface is changing us, yes. It's making us feel emotions we've never felt before. But you tune our tech parts. You enhance us so that we can accept these changes more easily.”
“I don't understand how this is possible.” Lena stared at her hands.
Six days had passed since Lena had sung for the Nethren in the dining hall. And those six days had been the most eye-opening of her time there. Vor had escorted Lena around the fortress to meet and interact with all of his soldiers every day. At night, they gathered in the dining hall, and she sang for them with her borrowed guitar. And they listened. Raptly. And changed. The stony expressions once directed at her had become more animated. Pleasant. Nethren smiled at her now. They spoke to each other with more vigor. They laughed. Coupleswere forming. This was normal behavior for Medeans, but for Nethren, it was revolutionary.
Lena knew she was a big part of their change, but she couldn't explain it. And her emotions concerning the Nethren seemed to change with them. She saw them as people now. People just like her and her family. People who wanted to live free. That's what they were fighting for. It was why they were there. Not only for the freedom to come to the surface but also to live fully, with all the feelings that every person has a right to feel. It wasn't fair that they were trapped underground while the Aethari had the freedom of the sky. The Aethari had taken so much from the Nethren, and Lena’s ancestors had helped.
“Lena?”
She looked up to meet Vor's beautiful eyes. Then she flinched. When had she accepted his attractiveness? More importantly, when had she accepted that his attractiveness affected her?
“You don't look well.” Vor lifted a hand as if to touch her face, but then lowered it. “Is the singing wearing you out? You don't have to sing every night.”
“No, I'm fine. I enjoy it.”
