“Ain’t a rat, can’t reveal my source,” I say. “But you ask me, I think it’s because you think you’re gonna let everyone down.”
“Naw,” he says and looks away. “Ain’t it.”
“Then what?”
He doesn’t answer for a long time. “It’s just, everyone wants me towear my da’s helmet. Since I can remember. Like I’m fated. Can’t escape it.”
“You wore it before, though,” I say. “For a little while. Everyone knows that.”
“And it ate me up,” he mutters.
“Why?”
He chews his cheek some more. Lightning bathes his face green. “Da didn’t want to be Ares. He told me that. One of the last times I saw him before he died. He hated it. I know what he meant. The Golds made it. He and Mum made me. It was his prison. See?”
I wonder about that as the sea bucks outside. “My da was a rat,” I say toward the viewport. “He informed on people in our mine. I used to think he was perfect because he was my da. Then I hated him. Then I realized he did it for us. Now when I think of him, I think he was just a person doing his best in the world he was in. I can’t judge him for that. I can’t say I’m better or worse. But it makes me sad. He accepted his prison. He never even tried the bars. That helm…for Da, maybe he hated it. But maybe it wasn’t his prison. Maybe it was his key to get out.”
I turn and look at him. His eyes peer out the window and I wonder if he was even listening, especially when he turns and walks away. “Is this the last time we talk?” I call after him.
“Only if you become useless again.”
58
LYRIA
Europa
The flight ends notlong after the storm abates. When we land, it’s on an island dedicated to fishing and solar farming. The civilians exit first with some of the Black Owls. Apparently, they’re taking their own submarine down to a different city in the Deep. We’re headed for fabled Helisson, Athena’s secret stronghold. Cassius finds me in the cargo bay mopping up vomit left by the motion-sick Greens. “Lyria. I’m furious with you. All the latrines are filthy. You’ve been derelict in your duty.”
“What? You said I didn’t have to keep cleaning the latrines soon as I could handle the stick.”
“And my word is my bond,” he says.
“I flew theArchimedeson Io. I—”
“My goodlady, I mean this with all my heart. That was not flying. That was just ‘not crashing.’ That you avoided a finale in the hard deck doesn’t mean my latrines should be devoid of your affection.” He pinches my cheek. “Your face. It’s a jape.” I stab at him with the vomit mop. He takes it away faster than I can blink and stores it on the wall.
“You’re a condescending pricklick,” I say.
“Only to my favorites.” I blush when he winks at me.
“You’re staying up here then?” I ask.
“The Moses Columns are offline. Can’t get theArchidown easily. Anyway, it’s best not to stash your getaway vehicle under the sea, and I’m not leaving my home unattended with all the salt, thieves, andbarbarians about. Don’t look so worried. If the Obsidian come, I have a stealth ship.”
“Whenthey come.”
“Right.” He eyes a few Black Owls unloading a crate. “Not sure I’d be welcome down there anyway. You kill one terrorist warlord…” He sighs, then frowns. “I have to ask. Are you still intent on going after Volga?”
“I think so.”
“Even after seeing the Obsidian on Io, you’re not afraid?”
“No,” I lie up at him.
“Then you’re mad, girl. Did you see those people? Did you see that hammer they hit me with? Me. That thing was meant to drive nails bigger than you. Huge hammer.” He has a point. He’s taller even than Darrow and has more muscle than all my brothers ever did put together.
“Everyone saw the hammer, Cassius. You made us watch your feed.”
