Dark of the West by Joanna Hathaway

Author:Joanna Hathaway [Hathaway, Joanna]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780765396419
Publisher: Tom Doherty Associates
Published: 2019-02-05T06:00:00+00:00

ATHAN

At midnight, a fist sounds on the door.

I know before opening it I’ll find Garrick on the other side. I went looking for him earlier in the evening, suspicious, but Ollie was outside their room, telling me some story about Garrick being sick and how he couldn’t be disturbed, and that’s when I knew what was up.

Ollie’s a faithful wingman on the ground, too.

“Get dressed,” Garrick says, glaring at me when I open the door. “You’re on watch until dawn.”

I stand there, shirtless, exhausted from the mountain and craving sleep, but he’s determined to punish me for my investigation. To remind me to keep my mouth shut. “You’re feeling better now, Captain?”

He ignores it. “The General is headed to Classit tomorrow, for further negotiations, and while he’s gone you’re entirely under my leadership.”

Father’s leaving me on my own? A warning might have been nice, but I suppose this is how it’s going to be from now on. Everything trickling down through goddamn Garrick.

I think that’s what I’ll call him.

“And I require that every report be filed,” goddamn Garrick continues, “every watch observed, every button polished and bootlace tied, do you follow me?”

“I follow, sir. Though I don’t think you’ll need to worry about any laces untied with me.”

I regret the words the moment I say them, right as they’re leaving my tongue, but it’s too late to call them back and there they are.

He shoves a furious finger in my face. “The next time you speak to me like that, I’ll punish Hajari for it. I doubt you’d be so bold if you had to watch him run fifty laps at midnight.”

Cyar looks up from where he’s been cleaning his boots, alarmed.

He has no idea how mild this threat really is, comparatively.

But I nod. Garrick disappears back out the door, perhaps off to grope his fancy girl some more, the girl who certainly won’t bother to remember him after this week, and I give Cyar a repentant look. “Sorry.”

“Don’t apologize yet. But please don’t let it get to the point where you need to.”

Reluctantly, I pull on my shirt again, then my uniform, then my muddy boots. A cold, lonely hangar. Until dawn. I gather my sketchbook pages, then realize Cyar’s dressing as well. I give him a dismissive wave, but he pulls on his gloves anyway.

“I’m not letting Sinora murder you without me there. I couldn’t live with that.” He glances at the page in my hand. “Is that the Princess?”

I hide it quickly. “No.”

“Yes, it is. I just saw it.”

“So?”

He sighs. “You shouldn’t be spending time with her. She doesn’t seem to have anything useful to offer, and you’re not very good at separating how you feel from the job that needs to be done. You know that.”

I haven’t told him about the murder confession. Maybe I’m hoping I’ll forget.

“True, but I need to learn,” I say. “Otherwise I’ll never get a squadron. And then I’ll have to take orders from goddamn Garrick the rest of my life.”

He doesn’t smile.

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