Breakwater (5 page)

“Not according to this.” Coal fumbled with the necklace and pulled a piece of paper from under his shirt, reading from it. “Larkspur, keep the necklace for your next trip, it looks better on you than it ever did on me. But I want it back when you return. Your friend, Griffin.”

I lifted my eyebrows. “So?”

“A man doesn’t just give a gift to a woman without expecting something in return. Or maybe he’s making a payment for something he’s already had.”

My jaw dropped. He just called me a whore. I curled my fingers into a fist and pulled my arm back. A hand behind me grabbed me before I could ram my fist into Coal’s face.

“Lark, I said I needed you in the Traveling room,” Ash said.

I let out a slow breath, reached out and jerked the necklace from Coal’s fingers. Guilt over cutting off his hand be damned. I didn’t need this worm shit trying to control me. He wasn’t getting the subtle cues; time to be blunt. “Get out of here, and don’t bother missing me. We’re done.”

His green eyes seemed to burn, and the ugliness that hid behind his good looks reared its head. “You’re a slut, just like Belladonna. Just like your mother.”

Ash grunted as if he’d been hit in the gut. I swallowed hard and knew what I was about to say would sever the ties between Coal and me once and for all. There would be no going back. But I just didn’t want to deal with his garbage anymore, or the guilt. “I should have cut off your head instead of your hand, you stupid ass.” To be fair, I’d cut it off because I’d had no other choice. He’d been under Cassava’s compulsion and was dragging me to her so she could kill me.

But to Coal, the reason wouldn’t matter.

I pushed past Ash and strode toward the Traveling room, leaving a stunned Coal and silent Ash behind.

I should have known better than to think Coal would let me go after dropping that little bombshell. I made it all the way to the stairwell leading down to the Traveling room. A shout from Ash was the only warning I got. Coal came at me hard, leaping from the first step. He tackled me, and we fell in a tangled heap, hitting the sharp edges of the stairs cut into the earth. He screamed at me, his voice a blur of words and anger, violence and profanities flowing out of him.

There was nothing I could say, nothing I wanted to say. At the bottom of the stairs he got on top of me, pinning me with his knees as he tried to choke me with his one hand. A futile effort. I batted his hand away and sat up, pushing him off. “Go home, Coal. You aren’t needed here.”

Useless.

The word hung in the air as if I’d said it. He wasn’t useless, but he sure as hell couldn’t do the job he loved anymore, he couldn’t guard the edge of the Rim. And that
was
my fault.

“You bitch, you cut my hand off.” He breathed hard, as if he had been running for hours.

“Cassava was using you—”

“Shut up! You . . . I can’t believe you. No, you’re covering for someone.” He was nodding, wagging one finger at me. I shook my head, but he was on a roll. “Yes, that’s what’s going on. You’re covering for someone. This Griffin, was he the one? Or maybe”—he spun and looked at Ash who’d caught up to us—“You! You cut my hand off.”

“Oh, for the sake of the mother goddess, Coal!” I grabbed his arm and slapped his face hard. “Go home.”

He stumbled away, looking between Ash and me. “You are trying to steal her from me. But Lark will always come back to me. I’m her first love. Her heart is mine.” He spat at us, then finally turned and stumbled up the stairs. The silence that fell between Ash and me was not comfortable and I squirmed. Damn, I wished I could back up this day a few hours and start it again.

“I don’t know what’s gotten into him. It’s like he’s losing himself.”

Ash nodded. “It happens sometimes when a limb is cut off like that, almost like a piece of their minds goes with it.”

I bent and picked up the necklace, slipping it over my head. “You’ve seen this before, when someone loses a limb?”

“Yes, two Enders. They just couldn’t function as they had before and they made up a reality they could live with.”

“What happened to them?” I was more than a little afraid of the answer.

“Banished. Neither could be helped, and they began to threaten the safety of the family. Enough of that, you need to understand what you’re getting into when you step into the Deep.”

Relief swept through me. I might be going into a difficult situation, but I was leaving behind a mess with Coal. A mess I knew was far from cleaned up. Time would help, time apart; I had to believe Coal would find someone else, but I knew the struggle of being pegged “useless.” Our family wasn’t so good at taking care of lame ducks.

We went into the Traveling room, and again I was struck by the sheer wonder and magic of it. Set up as a globe, the whole world was contained in the one room. But instead of looking down on a globe, we looked from the inside out, and the walls of the room were seemingly painted with the continents and oceans. The currents of water and air were visible as they flowed around us, my feet splashing in the Pacific Ocean’s reflection. This was how we moved around the world without dealing too much with the humans.

Ash finally looked at me. His eyes burrowed into mine and I struggled to breathe. Unspoken words hovered in the air between us, and I couldn’t stand the silence. “What?”

“I’m glad you made it out of your testing. I need you, Lark.”

A lightning bolt of heat shot through me with his words, and I made myself breathe normally. Fought to think about the reality of what he meant. He didn’t mean he needed me other than to help him, I knew that. We were friends. “Running things here getting to you already?”

His eyes didn’t leave mine. “Something like that. The trainees are struggling. None of them really want to be Enders. But they’re all we have. You and I are the only Enders in truth, so try not to get yourself killed.”

I laughed, expecting him to join me.

He didn’t.

He pointed to the globe at the water off the southeastern section of the North American continent. “This is where the Deep is situated. The humans call it the Bermuda triangle, and right now we can’t Travel directly to it.”

“Why not?”

“The civil war going on there is reaching a fever pitch and they’ve blocked anyone from Traveling directly in or out. Which means you need to go here”—he pointed at an island close to the Deep. Bermuda. Hmm.

“And once we’re there?”

“You’ll have to row out to the Deep and ask permission to enter.”

“Why do I get the feeling you aren’t telling me something important?” I put my hand out and touched the spot where the Deep was. The image grew until it took up nearly half the room. A swirl of mist hovered over it, blocking it from view. I pushed the image back, letting the globe return to its normal room-filling size.

“They may decide not to let you in. And if they do that, you could be in trouble.”

“Like
try
to kill us
trouble?” I stared at him, watching for signs he held back. He didn’t.

“Yes. They might try to kill you, depending on the relationship between them and our ambassador who we believe is already dead, or at the very least, incarcerated in their cells, which are notorious for their own dangers.”

My first task was to find the ambassador. “Barkley is his name, isn’t it?”

“Yes, and they’re saying that whatever happened to him, and we don’t know the exact details, was an accident. But the ambassadors from the Pit and the Eyrie have met with ‘accidents’ too and are missing as well. At the very least, they are all out of contact with their families. Your father thinks they won’t dare harm someone of royal blood. But I’m not so sure.”

Suddenly dealing with Coal’s tantrums and staying close to home sounded like a far better idea than before.

“Too bad I don’t have a choice about this,” I said softly, reaching out and touching the globe. The water rippled under my hands and Ash nodded.

“You’re an Ender now, Lark. Choices are not something you’re given. Do as you’re told. Keep your charges safe. Protect our family.”

Seemingly so simple, yet I knew better. There was nothing simple about being an Ender.

Not a single thing.

sh drilled me on the ins and outs of the Deep, or at least as much as he could in the time allotted.

“The humans are afraid of the Deep, Lark, so you will have a hard time getting anyone to take you from the island into deep water. Probably, you will have to row yourself and Belladonna on your own.”

I frowned at the spot on the globe that was the Deep. Out in the water, the whole area was covered in a thick fog. I tried pulling the globe closer, but nothing more detailed came up as it should have. Ash stepped behind me. He reached past me, his arm brushing mine, and his body a breath from touching my back. I only had to shift my weight backward and . . . and what? He was my mentor, and I was a new Ender. Not to mention the disaster that was Coal in my life. Why in the seven hells would I complicate things further? Forcing myself to move away from him, I looked to where he pointed.

Spreading my hand out over the section of ocean that was the Deep, I dipped my fingers into the water. “Why are the humans afraid exactly?”

“Humans have a sense of survival and a lot of them have gone missing there. No trace of the boats, no trace of the planes—”

“You mean those flying contraptions?”

“Yes. The Undines don’t take well to people encroaching on their territory. They are the worst of us when it comes to strangers. There is something, though, that is not well known. The secret that no one spills unless you have to.”

I turned to face him. How much of my own world had been kept from me? Or was this just because I’d been a mere Planter? “What are you talking about?”

“The Undines have slaves. Human slaves.”

My eyes felt as though they would pop out of my head. “The mother goddess forbade slavery when she first created us. How are they doing this?” He had to be wrong. I’d been with the mother goddess and she’d even told me slavery was strictly forbidden, that it was an abomination.

“A loophole.” Ash stepped back and crossed his arms, which made his biceps flex and pop.

I shook my head as much to clear it as because I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “That can’t be right.”

“Technically, they get away with it because the humans are considered less than us. The mother goddess forbids us enslaving
one another
. Not the humans.” Ash lifted one hand and cupped my chin, stealing my breath. “And they consider half-breeds lower than humans. Be careful they don’t realize who you are, Lark. Everyone has heard about the Earth king’s weak, half-breed, bastard daughter. If they figure it out, you could end up someone’s pet.”

His fingers were warm and he slid them along my jaw. I couldn’t take my eyes from his. No, this couldn’t happen. With a quick jerk, I pulled away. “Then I’ll be careful. Thanks for the warning.”

He opened his mouth, and then closed it with a slight shake of his head. “If the Undines let you in, I doubt any of us will be able to come after you. You’ll be completely on your own. Do you understand?” There was a weight in his eyes that made it hard for me to keep his gaze.