Page 179 of The Space Between Stars

“And how are you going to coach me?”

“For one, I’m going to make sure that you do it. For two, I will listen when you want to talk about it afterward.”

“I’m not sure that I will.”

Drogus leaned back with arms crossed. “Let’s return to this ‘need’ to be trained. Why?”

“I want to pull off as many hauls as I can so we can grow. Better Luck, more funds.”

“Even if you were to triple your current production”—she loved the way Drogus shared seeing thievery as a business—“you are not on track to feed an army in six years. Not by half.” And the way he surfaced the hard truths that had been sitting on her shoulder since the start, waiting for her to admit them.

To get to where she wanted to be before the Tera’thian coronation, she couldn’t keep doing things the way she had been. She needed Nelfinden silver. She needed enough of it to rival the Oligarchs. And she needed it soon.

Fankalo licked at her wind-cracked lips. “The Chori built a naval force that nearly took out Casowhatan at the end of the Gray Period.” That single moment in history had left her without a blood father, and Drogus without a legacy. “The texts say Nelfindar was caught unprepared because, a decade prior, your country had no navy to speak of. How did you do it?”

Drogus squinted and hummed. “People. Process. Procurement.”

“It’s that last one I’m interested in.” She had assumed that they could make enough Aetech lamps to sell their way to the top. But it took more resources than she’d anticipated to make money.

“To go to war with Nelfindar, the Chori took out a loan from the King of Pazir.”

Her mouth fell open. “You didn’t.”

“We did. I was a diplomat in the vie for Pazirian aid. And in repayment—a decision I did not agree with—we set the Tera’thians on them to bait Nelfindar’s Blue Wing to their capital.” Which had left Seraphinden vulnerable to Chori attack. Drogus’s eyes went distant. “We should have known the Tera’thians had set us up for betrayal in Casowhatan, even then. We were a pawn in their game.” She didn’t know much about the family he lost, taken by the Tera’thians in the aftermath of the war. She also didn’t feel keen to return to the well of melancholy she’d only just surfaced from.

“But Pazir. They gave Chori command the sums to build and man hundreds of ships?”

“They did.”

“Drogus.”

“Yes, Captain?”

“Can you arrange a meeting between the King of Pazir and the Queen of the Raiders?”

Drogus nodded slowly, stroking his immense beard. “For an ornery little queen who refuses to practice her magic? I’m not sure that I can.” The teasing in his voice brought her more joy than she could express.

“You know that if you were anyone else, I’d put my knuckles between your eyes?”

“This I know. A fifteen-year-old girl should not say these things.”

Fankalo laughed. “Alright. I’ll have a quiet contest with my Luck, eah? Just for you.”

Drogus ruffled her hair, the way her father used to. “For the king of Pazir to give his willing attention, we’re going to need to make ourselves look very, very big. Much like your training, this will take time and an exceptionally regimented plan.”

“Now planning, I like.” She smiled. It felt good to smile. “This might just be the most fun we’ve ever had.”

FORTY-ONE

ATTILATIA

Year: 748 Post Cataclysm: Present Day

Location: Korshuva District, Seraphinden

Attilatia and Pinto lounged on the overstuffed couches in Pinto’s flat, gorging on fruits and cheese, sipping caffeinated tea until she was jittery. She’d visited the old man every day after work in the ten-day since learning Velinquash’s location. Pinto’s friends in the public archives had sourced scrolls with information on their query she couldn’t have dreamed of accessing alone. She had scheduled a visit to Pojanak tomorrow. Now she wanted to know as much as possible about what she might be getting into… and the man getting her into it.

As highsun approached, Pinto cast the register he’d been scanning to the side. “I’m with you, Atti. Looking for information on Velinquash was difficult, but Thyatira is impossible. No wife, no prior relationships to speak of, no family, and no hobbies. Absent every census until the end of the Gray Period. Just his name in Ring Wing reports. If I had to say one thing, it is that he is suspicious. If I could say another, it would be that he is humble.”