“What? Popping open the bunkers of a bunch of pissed-off Moonies who hate me to try and stop the people whose god king I killed?” I ask.
“Yes. That. Amongst other things.”
“I dunno.” I swivel my chair around and pat the box containing Fá’s head. It sits strapped into one of the fold-down seats. Cassius has drawn a face on the box with fangs. “Hey,DominusPortobello has a friend.”
“DominusStinkhorn. It was the ugliest mushroom I could think of. Honestly, Darrow, atomics, warlord heads. I thought our honeymoon would be more romantic.”
“Honeymoon.”
“Yes. Apparently we’re a couple till Virginia fights me for you.”
I laugh, and think about helping Dustwalkers out of their cubbyholes. Honestly, the path just seems to be guiding me on detour after detour. But I’m alive. So are my friends. I have a fleet, and will have another soon. I have an army of brutes, and an army of specialists. And I have a Raa in the boot. All in all, not a bad trip. I touch Pax’s key andshoot a prayer out to Mars for him, for Virginia, for all my friends and loved ones there.
“We need Diomedes,” I say when I’m done with my prayer. “That’s why we’ll help him get the Garter back. But this is for Athena and the Daughters too. The Garter feeds everyone out here. Anyway, it was best that I wasn’t on Europa during the coronation.”
“You heard from Sevro then? It shook out?”
“It shook out.”
“Do we blame it on the Red?” he asks.
“I think she might’ve contributed,” I reply. “Certainly paid us back for those hams. Thanks for making her feel welcome. Honestly I think it made all the difference.”
“Like sees like, I think. She just wanted people.” He chews his lip, pondering something. “You think she’ll go with Volga then? On the trip back.”
“Probably. But Volga will likely take theRage of the Valkyrieas her flagship. It is big enough to park theArchimedes,and Volk queens lead from the front.” He frowns, not understanding. “Volga will need a razormaster. She should have the best. To be honest, it’d really make my day seeing Ragnar’s daughter learn it from you.”
He seems fond of that idea, and touched. His eyes go a bit distant.
“Julian.” I sit a little straighter. He never mentions Julian. “He’d say I judged my own worth too much by the people I kept around me. I was poor in those days. I’m quite rich now, I think.” He means it even if he knows it sounds silly. He looks me right in the eyes. “Really, Darrow. I don’t know many people as long as I’ve known you. I just want to say that I really appreciate you. As a person. We’ve had our spots. We really have. We brought out a lot of the bad in each other, but a lot more good. I think it’s like that because we speak a common language, you know? We’ve always understood each other deep down.”
I nod. He looks out the window.
“I’m not really blessed at keeping friends. But you are. I truly respect that. I know how special your friends are to you, how protective you are of them. And it means…quite a bit to me that you’ve invited me into your pack and made me feel welcome. No…it means everything, really. Without this, without your friends, I’m very much alone. You’ve put a lot of faith in me. Faith that I don’t think I’ve always deserved. I just want to say…thank you, Darrow.”
He looks over after I don’t say anything.
“Hey, why you crying?” he asks with a laugh.
I wave for him to give me a minute. I wipe my eyes and with tears on the back of my hand, then clap his shoulder and just squeeze. My composure doesn’t return very quickly, but when it does I say, “Without you on this journey I would have fallen apart. You’re my brother, Cassius.”
He thinks I speak in hyperbole. “What’s next then, when this journey ends?” he asks.
“Cassius. I wasn’t just talking about this trip. By journey, I meant my life.” He looks over at me, touched and more than a bit surprised. “You’re my brother. We let ten years slip past. Ten years we should have fought side by side. I won’t make that mistake again. Whether you like it or not, you’re with me to the end.”
A very small “Oh,” is all he can manage. He thinks for a long moment. “I mean that’s a lot of commitment, Darrow.”
I knew the sarcasm was coming but I still almost burst a stitch laughing.
“Brothers,” he murmurs. “It does feel like it fits. We’ll try it on.”
He smiles and leans back like a dog that’s had a perfect meal and is happy to sit in the sun. His thoughts must wander, because a few minutes later he asks, “Have you thought of a name for it? That blade form you found with Fá?”
“I just found a flow is all.”
He looks over. “Lorn would say it’s far too serious a flow to not have a name.”
“You can’t laugh.” He makes no promises. “Breath of Stone.”
