“Where is Gaia? I’m told she is alive?” I ask.
They part to let a bent, wrinkled old woman shuffle through their ranks. I didn’t even see her. She holds Thalia’s hand. In the few weeks since I saw her in her cell, Gaia has aged decades. Her eyes are hollow. Her skin hangs loose and pale. When she reaches me, Gaia lets go Thalia’s hand and extends it to me. At first, I think she means to embrace me. Instead, she says, “Gun.”
All the Moon Lords extend their hands.
I nod to Rhone. He gives Gaia his pistol and has Markus’s men arm the rest. The tattered pants of the Moon Lords rustle against the steps like the robes of judges as they follow Gaia down to the courtyard. Without ceremony or even a declamation, the Moon Lords open fire on the Ascomanni prisoners. My Praetorians watch from the steps without expression but I know they are smiling inside. Kyber, my eerie whisper, leans against a pillar watching Thalia. The young girl’s face is blank. Her eyes flash with the flare of muzzles.
When the prisoners are dead, Gaia limps back up the steps and kisses me on the cheek. “Indebted,” she says. One by one the surviving Moon Lords follow her and kiss my cheek and repeat the most precious phrase in all the Rim. “Indebted. Indebted. Indebted.”
“Diomedes?” Gaia asks. The Moon Lords gather behind the old woman.
“I’m sorry. We did not see him as we escaped theDustmaker. I fear the worst. We will avenge him together. We will avenge Io together.”
“Next?” Gaia asks.
“I will rally Ganymede to sail on Europa, crush the Volk, and bring Fá’s head to you on a pike.”
“No pike,” Gaia says. “Slow, and with fire.”
80
DARROW
Stirring Stuff
We’ve been floating offthe shoulder of Jupiter watching Lysander beat the living hell out of the Ascommani for not more than two hours before the powerful main coms array of theLightbringerbegins bombarding us with scenes of his heroism: theLightbringereradicating the best Ascomanni ships like a kid killing sparrows with a flamethrower; Lysander’s grand charge upon the Garter; Lysander rescuing the lows from flaming transports; Lysander liberating Gaia; Lysander kissing the heads of burned Browns; Lysander embracing freed captives.
I want to puke fire. It is undiluted propaganda and it is stirring stuff.
I’ve already got Sevro to convince Athena to take him to her ships by the time Lysander greets the Rim in battle-charred armor backed by the Moon Lords on the steps of a building with trees growing out of it.
“To the citizens of the Rim Dominion. This is Lysander au Lune. In these dark days you could not be blamed for believing yourselves forgotten by your friends in the Core. We are proof you have not been forgotten. My forces have won a great victory on Io and the Garter has been restored to the keeping of the Raa. The enemy’s vile garrison has been slaughtered to a man. Many of your countrymen, taken as slaves by Fá and his barbaric host, have been liberated. But Ilium is not yet saved. Fá and the iron heart of his fleet and host remain upon Europa. I call upon all brave children of Akari to join me over Io to form a joint force to bring this dark king and his evil brood to justice. For Kalyke. For Sungrave. For Ilium.”His voice darkens.“And to the warlord who calls himself Volsung Fá. Your life is already forfeit. If yousail out and meet us as warriors upon the field of battle, we will allow you—”
I have only one thing to say.
“That motherfucker’s gonna burn.”
Cassius and Diomedes both turn on me. “Darrow—”
“No, Cassius. I love you, but no. He is Atlas’s Good Tyrant. Don’t look at me like that. I’m gonna lather him in honey and feed him to the berserkers. I swear to Hades.”
“Are you done?” Diomedes says.
“Talking? Yeah.”
Cassius has gone very introspective. “Do we know for a fact Lysander’s working with—”
“For,” I say.
“WithAtlas?” Cassius asks.
“He was surprised on the bridge. I know that. He saved my life,” Diomedes says. “That he lives suggests there is a new arrangement. Perhaps he surrendered to a fait accompli. Darrow, I know you are angry. But this is a good thing.”
“For you,” I say very slowly. “Not for the Volk. Their ships are slower than Lysander’s. And I know what that moonBreaker can do. The Volk are dead. The Daughters too. You’ll have your justice.”
I can’t help the petulance. This false summit is close to breaking me.
“No. I will not have my justice. Not if this is Atlas’s plan. Not if those Volk do not become a weapon against Atalantia.” Diomedes pauses. “I do not want to see the Daughters slaughtered either. I am not stingy with my oaths. The only hope the Volk have is to unite their fleet with Athena’s. That is in motion. It will take time.”
