Somewhere, maybe in the Void or the Vale, Cassius would smile to see his accidental protégé is yet again more than meets the eye.
Then Diomedes, of all people, starts the meeting off on a bad note.
“You were to come unarmed,” he says.
Volga is unimpressed. “You live by my mercy.”
“You rose by my aid,” he says.
They glare at each other until Volga shrugs, draws the warsaw, and breaks it over her knee. An impossible act if it hadn’t already been weakened by a laser. Premeditated then. She tosses the tip to Diomedes. “So you remember its edge.” She returns the hilt to the holster. “And who holds the grip.”
Athena curses under her breath and looks at me as if I made these giants in my personal laboratory. “Shall we get to it before we kill each other then?” she asks.
“Ideally,” I reply. “Diomedes. The Covenant.”
Four Dustwalkers bring the Covenant to the table. The document is laser-etched into a hunk of iron Sevro found in the rubble. It is a vague document and carries none of the reforms to the hierarchy that Diomedes agreed to in private, but it is consequential for five reasons. It provides Dominion amnesty without expiration for all Daughters ofAthena, as well as promises of due process in legal proceedings for all Colors. It pronounces the Volk’s oath to never venture again beyond the asteroid belt. It formalizes a military alliance between the Republic and the Rim Dominion for a period of ten years. And it binds all parties to a declaration of war on the Society. Not Lysander, not Atalantia, not whomever rises if they fall, but the Society itself.
It does not solve all quarrels. The Dominion was refused a right to prosecute Volk braves and seek any restitution for their liberated Obsidians. The Volk were not allowed to keep any spoils of victory save the Rim Obsidians who wish to stay in the Volk host. Athena did not get the abolition of the hierarchy she desired or ownership of the Deep, yet.
In the end, no one is happy, which means it is probably the only document anyone could sign with even the slightest suspicion that it might actually be honored by the others. When drops of blood are taken from each signatory and sealed into the metal, Athena, Volga, and Diomedes stare at the iron tablet with an expression I know all too well.
What have I done? Will it matter in the end?No. One of them will break the agreement. I should be ready.
Those same thoughts play through my mind as the meeting threatens to dissolve with enough frigidity to make even an optimist fear the worst. Before each signatory can retreat to their people, I point to the iron tablet.
“This means nothing. Not to us. We all know it. But it will mean something to people who weren’t here, if we let it. I don’t know what we’ll find when we return to the Core. Whether Mars stands or not. Whether there will even be a Republic navy left to rendezvous with us.
“But I do know this. One way or another, this war will not last the year. A reckoning is coming. Either for the tyrants or for us. We are weaker. We are fewer. The only advantage we have is that they can’t afford to trust one another. We can’t afford not to.”
“May I say something?” We all turn to the interloper. It is Aurae. Standing with the Daughters behind Athena, she takes off her scarf and goggles. Diomedes smiles softly. I motion her forward. “In the Garden where I was raised, we are taught to study people like flowers. Many Pinks are not destined for high halls and must know how to sense dark intentions behind even the kindest eyes. When I look at you, I sense you are all growing toward the light. There is something sacred in that, because you all represent a people. People who yearn for somethingmore. For something they’ve never had. Lune, Grimmus, they are trying to reclaim what they have lost: control. There is nothing sacred in that. They do not lead. They pull, they corral, they confine. Their path has only room for one. Your path has room for you all. Remember that, and from this ash freedom will grow.”
On that note, the meeting adjourns. Volga returns to her jarls. Lyria jerks her head at Sevro and me to join. I nod at her dirty forehead. “The ash didn’t go unnoticed by the Moonies. Well done.”
Volga grimaces. “There is more to do before it is washed clean. Darrow, I am sorry about your friend. Cassius. He was the most handsome man I have ever seen.” Lyria snorts. Sevro rolls his eyes. “He was. A warrior must tell the truth. And I hear he was very kind. I wish I could have known him better. Lune will die. He has broken Lyria’s heart. Whatever you need. When the time comes…”
“Thank you, Volga.”
I look at Lyria. She’s wiping her eyes. “He was quite fond of you,” I say. She doesn’t let me console her. She bull-rushes me and hugs my hips. I peel her off and kneel and take a real hug.
“He was really pure,” she says. “I’m so sorry, Darrow. He loved you. I’m sorry.”
She pulls back and wipes her eyes. “Shit. This sucks.”
Not long after, Volga returns to thePandorawith Lyria as Sevro and I say our goodbyes to Athena, Aurae, and Diomedes.
“The fleets of the giants are well under way,” Diomedes says. “Uranus will try to hit the outbound Ascomanni ships and return our stolen peoples. Neptune is across the sun and will meet us in the Core. Once the Shadow Armada meets me here, we will meet you at the rendezvous.”
“I won’t be able to wait long,” I say.
“Our ships are fast. Maybe we will beat you there.” He grasps my hand and then surprises Sevro by extending his hand to him as well. Sevro looks at it in suspicion.
“Don’t be late again,” Sevro says.
“Don’t torture me again.”
Sevro shakes Diomedes’s hand as quickly as possible. “I will see you in Sungrave?” Diomedes asks Aurae. I’ve seldom been able to look at people and realize they are in love. With Diomedes and Aurae it is so obvious even the ash knows. They are a strange, shadowy pair. One rawiron, the other a moonlit glen. But people probably think Virginia and I are an odd pair as well. Aurae squeezes Diomedes’s hand. He nods to me and returns to his people.
“I’m functioning as his emissary to the Daughters before he sails for the Core,” Aurae says.
