Rivers of Orion by Dana Kelly (a court of thorns and roses ebook free .TXT) 📕

“Ah,” said Casey. “Well, now you’ve met him. I suppose we’ll be on our way.”

“Papa, you mustn’t let them leave!” said Othmar. “The Rampart hasn’t done anything at all!”

“He’s not a circus animal, my boy,” said Florin. “If he’s happy to break the hearts of his biggest fans, we will not hold that against him. If his captain says it’s time to go, then it’s time to go.”

“Papa, I’m afraid I’ll hate him forever if he leaves without using his powers,” muttered Erwin.

Orin crouched before Erwin and Othmar, wearing a warm smile. “You know what, kids—it takes a lot of energy to activate my abilities, and they can be very destructive. Since I’m not yet with the agency, we need a signed waiver from your dad excusing us from liability, in case anyone gets hurt, or anything gets damaged because of my actions. As soon as he sends that over, let’s schedule some time to flex my powers. What do you say?”

Grinning, they both tugged insistently at Florin’s sportscoat.

“Send it now, Papa! I want to see him turn the lawn upside down!”

“He could smash all our cars together to make one giant car that can go in any direction!”

“I’d like to see him rearrange all the rooms! Can you imagine how loud all the help would cry? It would be wonderful!”

“I’ll tell you what,” said Orin. “You two should make a list of the kinds of things you’d like to see me do, and we can make a day of it.” A blue aura wreathed his hands. “But until then, here’s a sample.” He raised his arms slowly, lifting the boys off the ground. They hooted and cheered as he gracefully moved them here and there.

Nathaniel and Andrea exchanged worried looks. He tugged at the tips of his gloves and stared at Orin. “You be careful with them.”

“They’re not in any danger,” said Orin.

“Papa, I’m an aeroplane!” said Erwin, and he stretched out his arms.

“I’ll shoot you down,” said Othmar, and he laughed.

“That’s very good,” said Florin. “It’s time to land!” He cast Orin a baleful glare. “It’s time to land.”

Orin chuckled. “Sure, coming in for a landing.” He lowered the boys back down, and they buried their mother in chatter and hugs. Nathaniel pulled his gloves back on. “I mean, I’d hate to break the hearts of my biggest fans. Right, Lord Blösch?”

“You can send the waiver directly to me,” said Casey. “My address is on the report I sent you.”

“My driver will take you to the hotel of your choice,” said Florin. “Now, begone, all of you!”

“So, no waiver?” asked Casey.

Florin seethed. “Leave. Now!”

Casey led her team back up the tower to the sky bus. She gave the pilot the address of the first hotel that appeared in her search results, and he entered the destination into his console. As they all boarded, Casey leaned in close to April. “Did you get anything?”

April whistled quietly and nodded. “On Lord Blösch, yes. On Nathaniel, not much. Not psychically, anyway.” She passed Casey back her phone as the team settled in on the benches. “Nathaniel Knox is a freelance security consultant, once a decorated soldier with the United Planets Agile Infantry. He’s worked extensively with various leadership groups in the Alliance of Independent Worlds, specializing in counter-revolution tactics. I was right about him having a bounty on him. Unfortunately, the issuer is private, so I can’t tell you who it is, but he has both a live capture bounty and a delivery on death bounty, both of equal value.”

“That’s very strange,” said Casey, and she scrolled through Nathaniel’s profile. “Only an amateur would ever pick up a contract like that, and with Nathaniel’s training, they’d probably die trying to take him down.”

“My thoughts exactly,” said April. “As to local matters, he recently received a constableship from the Sunset Beach Patrol Authority, but there’s no record of him attending Constable Academy. Aside from those anomalies, his profile reads clean.”

Casey pocketed her phone. “What about Lord Blösch?”

“He’s in league with Admiral Schurke, although I have no idea what they’re up to,” whispered April.

“Wait—Admiral Schurke, like Admiral Anton Schurke?” asked Casey.

April shushed her and nodded.

“The hero from the Pegasi War?” whispered Casey. “That Admiral Schurke?”

“That’s right,” said April. “Florin has set aside a tower exclusively for his use, and I glimpsed several memories of staging services he’s provided for Schurke and his troops. There were few document memories however, which leads me to believe everything those two are up to is off the books. If you want details, I’ll need to do a deep dive.”

“Too risky,” said Casey. “If he caught on, he could kick us off the planet, and there’d be nothing we could do about it.”

April shook her head. “He won’t. He wants us here, because Schurke wants us here.”

Casey sank against the bench. “What the hell is going on?”

The sky bus lifted off slowly and angled toward a gap in the dome. It gradually accelerated, headed south toward the market district. The wall of smog soon parted, and hotels lit up the twilight sky.

◆◆◆

Casey lay on her bed, staring at the ceiling. Her hotel room’s air conditioning unit rattled quietly from time to time, and the air had grown cold enough to warrant the use of a blanket, but wasn’t in her pajamas, and she wasn’t planning to don them anytime soon. “How are they connected?” she muttered. “What am I not seeing?”

Her phone rang, and Casey rolled over to answer it. The number appeared private. Clearing her throat, she sat up on the edge of her bed. “Officer Cartwright speaking.”

“Good evening, Officer Cartwright,” said Florin. “I feel like we got off on the wrong foot. You were only doing your job, and neither you nor your team said nor did anything that justified my behavior. Please allow me to make it up to you.”

“What were you thinking?” asked Casey, and she began recording the call.

“Perhaps we can all get to know each other better over dinner,” said