Into the Still Blue (Under the Never Sky #3)

Marron stepped between Hyde and Twig, joining them. “I wouldn’t call it good fortune. Millions of people lived here once. Now there isn’t a soul left. That seems far from good fortune. And we might have benefited from some compassion and some help. We are so few.”

Aria bit her lip to stop herself from snapping at him. She didn’t know why she was suddenly so angry. It was those words: We are so few. Why had he needed to say that? They weren’t few. They were lacking. They were missing Perry.

The Hovers regrouped, and she felt their velocity slow. There was a sudden descent, which she barely felt but which made people gasp and reach for one another. Then the Hovers put down on a beach, one after another, a flock of iridescent birds alighting.

When their craft landed, Twig said, “We’re here. I can’t believe we’re here.”

Aria wasn’t. She didn’t feel there at all.

Reef motioned Roar closer. Talon was still sleeping in Roar’s arms.

“I want the three of you to stay together,” Reef said, looking from her to Roar. “Hyde and Hayden will be watching you, starting now.”

Watching them? She didn’t understand. Roar pursed his lips and nodded, resigned, and it began to make sense. He had been after Sable since Liv’s death. That was no secret to anyone, least of all Sable. And Talon was Perry’s nephew. Eight years of age, but a successor nonetheless. Aria wasn’t sure why Reef thought she needed to be protected, but then her mind wasn’t working right.

Reef disappeared and Aria was suddenly looking up at the brothers, at Hyde and Hayden, and then looking away, because they had bows over their shoulders. Because they were the same height and blond-haired, though not the right shade of blond. Was she going to move through the rest of her life seeing failures and deficiencies everywhere? Wishing everyone was more like Perry? Wishing everyone was him?

Sable was the first to leave the Hover, with a group of his soldiers. She only heard him leave. Everyone in the large hold had come to their feet, and with Hyde and Hayden in front of her, all she saw were their backs, and arrows poking from quivers. She listened to the soft hum of the ramp being lowered, a familiar sound now. Daylight flooded the Hover, and then a warm, gentle breeze floated in, carrying birdsong and the rustle of swaying leaves.

The crowd thinned around her as people began to disembark.

A new land.

A new beginning.

She put her arm around Roar, telling herself that she could do this. She could take a few steps.

As the crowd thinned, she could see further ahead. Marron was exiting the ramp, accompanied by some of Sable’s men. She was about to search for Loran when she caught a flash of Reef’s braids. He was leaving the Hover with Gren and Twig at his sides.

Fear shot down her back, sudden and unexplainable, yanking her from her daze.

Sable always moved first. He never waited. Never hesitated to put down a threat before it ever fully materialized.

“Reef!” she screamed.

An instant later, gunshots.

One. Two. Three. Four.

Precise sounds. Premeditated. The gunshots kept going as screams filled the air.

The crowd surged, retreating into the Hover. Hyde’s back rammed into Aria’s face, smashing her nose. She reeled back, her vision going black for an instant.

“What’s happening?” Talon cried, jarred awake.

“Roar, get back!” Aria yelled, pulling him deeper inside the Hover. From the corner of her eyes, she saw Hyde and Hayden loosing arrows. She caught a glimpse of Twig on the exit ramp, lying on his side. Bleeding. Then silence came, as sudden and loud as the first gunshots.

“Weapons down, all of you,” Sable said coolly.

She heard the clatter of wood and metal as guns, bows, knives dropped.

Sable walked past them. Past Twig, who was clutching his leg and weeping. Further down the ramp, Aria saw Reef and Gren. Deadly still, both.

Slowly, Sable’s gaze swept across the Hover and found Aria. He stared at her for a long moment, his eyes sparkling and energized. Then his gaze moved to Roar.

“No!” Aria yelled. “No!”

Sable put his hands up. “It’s over,” he said. “I want no more bloodshed.” He looked pointedly at Marron, who stood just a few feet away from him, flanked by Horn soldiers. “But if any of you are interested in taking Peregrine’s position as Lord of the Tides, be advised that that position no longer exists. Any attempt to claim it will receive lethal consideration, as you’ve just seen.

“If you still think you can challenge me, I want you to remember one thing: I know everything. I know your desires and fears before they have even made themselves known to you. Yield to me. It’s your only option.” His ice-blue gaze drifted over the crowd, eliciting a silent wave of tense, held breaths. “Have I made myself clear?

“Good,” Sable said. “This is a new beginning for all of us, but it’s not a time to throw away our past. Our traditions have worked for centuries. If we respect them—our ways, the old ways—then we will flourish here.”

Silence. Nothing but the sound of Twig’s agonized cries.

“All right, then,” Sable said. “Let’s get started. Leave all your belongings in the Hover, step outside, and form into lines.”

46

ARIA

Aria watched as Sable and his men sorted her friends into lines along the beach.

Roar went first, far away from her. Then Caleb and Soren and Rune. Brooke and Molly and Willow. She tried to identify Sable’s strategy in creating the groupings, but it seemed unorderly. He was mixing old and young. Dwellers and Outsiders. Men and women. Then she understood: That was the point. He was creating lines of people who would be least likely to band together in rebellion.

She felt no anger or fear as the sorting continued, and as the sun began its descent behind the lush hills. She felt nothing, until she saw that Talon was placed in Molly’s group. Molly would watch over him. Like Perry, she watched over everyone.

Preoccupied, Aria only then realized she stood alone. The Hovers were empty. Everyone stood in lines along the beach—except her.

Sable stood nearby; she felt his gaze on her, but she wouldn’t look at him.

“Take her back to the Hover,” he said.

Horn soldiers escorted her back to the window in the hold, which looked over calm water that was greener than blue, and so clear she could see the sand beneath. She stayed there, under guard, watching the daylight fade through the window. Even though the ramp to the beach was open, she couldn’t look toward land. Her eyes wouldn’t turn away from the water.

This had to change. She needed to accept this situation, to fight against it somehow. She tried to come up with a plan to get to Talon and Roar, but she couldn’t concentrate for more than seconds. And just to save Talon and Roar? How would that help? Sable held every one of them in his grip.

Somehow, he’d come away with control over everything.

“Oh, don’t be so glum.”

She turned, seeing him stride up the ramp into the Hover.

He dismissed the two soldiers who’d been guarding her. Then he leaned against the inner wall of the Hover and smiled at her.

Outside, darkness had fallen—a soft darkness, unlike in the cave at the Tides. This darkness held warm shadows and the sound of rustling trees. Reef’s and Gren’s blood had been washed from the ramp, she noticed.

“Your friends are all well.” Sable crossed his arms, the movement making the jewels of his chain sparkle in the dim hold. “A few fresh blisters but nothing terrible. I put them to work, which can’t surprise you. There’s much to be done. We have a camp to set up.”

Aria stared at the chain and imagined strangling him with it.

“You’re not the first,” he said after a moment. “The first was many years ago. A landowner in Rim—one of the wealthiest men pledged to me. I’d only worn the chain for a few months when he accused me of overtaxing him—which I did not. I am fair, Aria. I have always been fair. But I punished him for making the accusation. A hefty fine, which I thought was both lenient and fitting. In answer, he tried to choke me in the middle of a feast one night right in front of hundreds of people. If he’d survived, I imagine he would have regretted that decision.

“I may not tromp around with a weapon like Peregrine or Roar, but I can defend myself. Quite well, in fact. You’d be wise to put an end to that line of thinking.”

“I’ll find a way,” she said.

His eyes flared for an instant, but he didn’t reply.

“Are you going to have me killed now for saying that? You should. I won’t stop until you’re dead.”

“You’re angry that I’ve established my rule here. I’ve been assertive—perhaps to a fault. I understand. But let me tell you something. People need to be commanded. They cannot be in doubt over who leads them. Do you want to see another situation like in the Komodo? Do you want that kind of chaos to happen again? Here, when we have the opportunity to start over?”

“What happened in the Komodo was your doing. You betrayed Hess.”

Sable pursed his lips in disappointment. “Aria, you’re smarter than that. Did you really think Dwellers and Outsiders were going to hold hands and forget three hundred years of separation and hostility? Name one civilization led by two people—a pair. It doesn’t happen. Do you know what the fastest path is to creating enemies? Forge a partnership. I’m a better Blood Lord for the Tides than Reef would have been. Or Marron, though he seems able enough. I’m best suited for the responsibility.”

She couldn’t look at him anymore. She couldn’t argue with him. She didn’t have the strength.

The scent of smoke drifted in from outside. It smelled different from what she’d grown used to. Not the burning of forestland, or the stale smell of the fires in the cave. This was the scent of campfire, clean and alive, like the one she and Perry had built together only a night ago. The memory of him coaxing the flames to life between his hands filled her mind—all she saw until she realized Sable was staring at her.

With every second, his irritation became more evident. He wanted her to understand him. He wanted her approval. She didn’t want to ask herself why.

“You’re actually making me miss Hess,” she said.

Sable laughed—not what she’d expected. She remembered the sound from her time in Rim. She’d thought it appealing then. Now it sent a chill through her.

“I’ve ruled thousands,” he said. “I was ruling at your age. That should comfort you. I know what I’m doing.”

“Where are those thousands now?”

“The ones I need are where I want them. And all the people out there—Horns and Tides—are mine now. They won’t draw a breath unless I allow it. That means there will be no disruption as we rebuild. Because of me, we’ll survive here. Because of me, we’ll thrive. I’m simply giving us all the best chances possible. I don’t see how that’s wrong.”

“Killing Reef and Gren wasn’t wrong?”

“Reef would have challenged me. He was a threat, and now he isn’t. Gren was in the way.”