Vela Heartwhisper's Arc

Chapter 7 of 25

Vela slipped back through the gate with Lysander at her heels. The trap lay broken behind them. But one thing gnawed at her worse than Severin's blade. Her handlers had set a deadline. If she failed to win the king's heart in time, they would wipe her mind and send out a new stranger in her skin. She did not know how many days she had left. She had no way to count them. That was the wound she carried in secret. Inside the yard, her three-eyed dogcat trotted to her side. Its starry fur caught the torchlight. It carried something in its mouth and dropped it at her feet. A small glass tube, cracked but glowing. She picked it up. Severin had dropped it in his flight. Numbers were etched along the side, ticking down. Lysander crouched beside her. "That's off his gear," he said. "He counts everything. Down to the hour." He looked at her, quiet now. "You've been counting something too. I can see it." Vela almost lied. Old habit. Instead she showed him the tube. "My people set a clock on me. I can't see it. If it runs out, I stop being me." Her voice stayed level, but her hand shook. "I've spent weeks not knowing how close it is." Lysander took the tube. He turned it in the light. "Severin measures time in the field. His tools read it off the stars." He tapped the glowing numbers. "This thing might tell you what your handlers won't." They carried it to the armory wall, under the rack of swords and old armor. Lysander knew machines from his spy years. He pried the tube open with a blade. Inside, thin wires wrapped a bead of light. He read the marks slow, mouthing the count. "It measures nights since he landed," he said. "Same sky your ship flew. Same clock." He set the bead down. "I can match it to your rocket's log. It knows the day you came." Vela ran to the east yard. Her talking ship blinked awake and named the date without being asked. Lysander held Severin's bead against the number. He did the math on his fingers, then looked up. "Six nights," he said. "You have six." The number landed hard. But for the first time, Vela knew it. No more guessing. No more dread with no edge. She gripped the cracked tube and felt the fear turn into something she could use. "Six nights," she said. "Then I stop guessing and start winning him." Lysander stood. "The king's up on his wall. He watched us break the trap for him." A dry smile. "Right now he thinks you walked into fire to save his people. That's a door open. Won't stay open long." Vela looked toward Benbenek's tower, its light still burning. Six nights. She turned and climbed toward it.