“They might be if we add magic into the mix. Veils take a long time to weave. I don’t think Eimarille would sew one onto everyrionetka. Only the most useful ones.”
“Did Gregor have one?”
“No.”
“I wonder what her criteria are when it comes to being useful.”
“E’ridia isn’t a threat to her rule at this time, not the way Caris is.”
Blaine tipped his head in silent acknowledgment. “The wardens’ governor knows to expect us. The wardens here who facilitated the contact yesterday have already left for the Celestine Lake. They very well may beat us to the island.”
“We’ll see about that.”
Blaine laughed softly, his face still not his own. It wouldn’t be until after they launched. “I’m going to check on the engines.”
“I brought an engineer.”
“Well, now you’ll have two.”
Honovi snorted, refusing to fight the pleased smile that crossed his face. He’d missed having his husband navigate the skies with him. Despite the situation, he felt better having Blaine by his side again.
Honovi followed Blaine into the flight deck, nodding politely at where Caris had posted herself in the corner by the navigation table. She’d removed her veil, holding the fabric bunched up in one hand as she peered through the forward windows. The dark circles under her eyes looked like bruises, and she appeared tired in the way one got where sleep was a missing companion.
The engineer Honovi had brought with him out of Glencoe wisely ceded control of the engine gauges to Blaine, slipping out of the flight deck. Honovi radioed the control tower for clearance and, once approved, began the launch process.
TheCelestial Spritelurched out of its berth, the engines a deep rumble in the morning air as the airship took flight. It gained altitude in seconds, rising above the city and surrounding plains, the cloudless sky soon becoming the only thing Honovi could see. His navigator plotted the course, and Honovi steered the airship in a southeasterly direction, aiming the prow at a horizon that always moved.
When they were high in the sky, the chill of altitude making Honovi glad for his fur-lined jacket despite the summer sun, and on a steady course, only then did he step away from the controls. Blaine was busy, and Honovi left him to it, focusing instead on Caris.
“I’ll show you to your cabin. We share space on an airship like this, but I’ve moved crew around to give you your own room to sleep,” Honovi said.
Caris nodded. “Thank you. I don’t mean to put anyone out.”
“You’re not. Rest assured on that.”
She followed him belowdecks, into the narrow hall that led not toward the cargo hold but the small cabins meant for crew. This wasn’t a commercial airship meant for comfort and easy travel. This was one meant for speed and warfare, which meant space was sacrificed as needed.
The cabin he led her to was little more than a closet, with two bunks bolted to the wall for crew to sleep on. Someone had placed her rucksack on the lower bench, along with the small luggage she’d been carrying on the dock. He moved both to the netting underneath the bunk, showing her where to store her things during the flight in case of turbulence.
“How did you do it?” she asked quietly after he stood.
Honovi turned to face her, blinking in the low light of the cabin. “Do what?”
“Let Blaine leave you? How did you…let him go?”
He knew this conversation wasn’t about him and Blaine but about Caris and the man locked away in the cargo hold, under constant guard. “Blaine was given to the clans, and mine took him in. We knew—Iknew—the star gods had a road set out for him. I didn’t let him go, as you say. He went, and I followed as best I could.”
It had taken some time to convince his father to let him take a diplomatic post, but he’d taken it and found himself in Ashion. He’d kept his duties to his clan and country, different as they’d appeared with his additional title. What hadn’t changed was his devotion; the marriage torc he wore had always been a reminder of what he had, even when Blaine wasn’t there.
Caris’ expression fell a little, and she crossed her arms over her chest, one hand cupping her elbow. “Meleri didn’t want me to go. Lore thinks Nathaniel can’t be saved, and Meleri thinks my place is as queen in the fight against Daijal.”
“And what do you believe?”
“That there must be some way to save him. I can’t—” She broke off, gaze sliding away. “He’s the first person I’ve ever loved. For the longest time, I didn’t think I could love someone. But he…Nathaniel always said he’d be there for me, no matter how I felt.”
“You wonder if it was all a lie.”
She flinched, shoulders hunching up toward her ears before she looked at him again. “Yes.”
