Robb

Zenteli was a city unlike anywhere he’d ever been before. It shone alabaster white in the sun, almost indistinguishable from the clouds surrounding it. The city was one of the last safe havens away from the HIVE and Messiers, because of an age-old treaty with the kingdom that barred kingdom influence in the Solani city. Located on the peak of a mountain range near the northern pole of Iliad, it should have been cold, but the sunlight kept the city warm and comfortable. Beneath the mountain was a valley where the original Solani ark had crashed over a thousand years ago. As the Dossier broke through the clouds, the sight of the ruined ship was monstrously large—more like the carcass of a living creature than a ship at all.

A small fleet of Solani ships sat in the dock when the Dossier came in to land, shining slivers of silver that looked as sharp as arrows. A team of doctors took Jax away on a hover-stretcher, and two guards—Solgard, Elara had called them—in obsidian armor escorted the rest of them through the city to the Shining Spire.

The moment the Solgard saw Xu and Elara, they reached for the swords on their belts, and Captain Siege reached for hers.

“They’re with us,” said Siege.

The Solgard spat something in the Old Language—Robb could make out exile and ark and Metal, but the other words were too fast—that made Siege purse her lips.

“Then they’ll stay here, won’t you?” the captain added to Elara and Xu for confirmation, and both of them nodded. He wasn’t as surprised as the rest of them to learn that Siege knew the Old Language.

He knew her last name, after all.

“Lenda will make sure they don’t go anywhere,” she said, motioning to the muscular blonde to her right.

“I don’t do well in cities,” Lenda agreed, eyeing Elara and Xu. “Besides, I’ve got repairs to do on the ship. You two can help.”

The Solgard sneered but agreed. It must have been because Xu was a Metal. The Emperor’s lies even reached as far as Zenteli, it seemed. The rest of them followed the Solgard through the streets to the Spire. People paused in the street and leaned out of windows to get a look at them as they passed.

“That’s them—the ones who brought the C’zar back,” he heard a fabric vendor say to a customer.

Another said, “Those are the kidnappers.”

“Wait until the Elder Court gets to them.”

The whispers unnerved Robb. It seemed like everyone had known who Jax was except Jax’s closest friends. He felt like a fool.

While the outer walls of the city were made of sandstone, most of the buildings built into the top of the mountain were made of marble. The city was clean and well kept, far older than most cities on Eros. It also had one of the only Iron Shrines that still stood untouched, a shard of white blending in with the rest of the buildings.