Free Whispers of the Skyborne (Devices of War Book 3) by SM Blooding

Hitoshi said quietly.
    “I said it was.” I watched the street. “The galley door is open. You can send people down there. Where is Oki?”
    “Kenta needs more time.” Hitoshi’s shadowed gaze flitted about the street in front us, the light darting along his eye.
    “How much time do you need me to buy?”
    “About an hour.”
    “That’s a long time.”
    He tipped his head. “I’m aware, but if your sister means anything to you, you’ll find a way.”
    I clapped his arm and slipped onto the street again. An hour. I could buy that kind of time if I openly accused her. But was that a conversation I wanted to have now?
    Yes.
    Was it politically sound to do so?
    I didn’t know. Politics wasn’t something I excelled at. If I acted naturally, if I said what I felt, I could start a war. That’s obviously what Ino Nami wanted. Why else would she align with Shankara and the Han? Why else would she so brazenly break from the League of Cities?
    What would she gain by war?
    Death? That’s the only thing I could see.
    Fine. Then, I had to discover a way to subdue her without war. Me, a man Marked for war whose Mark was powered by anger. How was that going to work?
    Two men in the blue and turquoise livery of Ino guarded the wide, arched doorway to the main building, their black hair tied in top knots. Glancing up, the building towered well over my head, reaching toward the belly of the lethara .
    The guard on the right nodded once as I passed.
    I shook out my hands, my palms moist, my shirt smoldering as I strode toward the elevator platforms.
    The grate opened and the operator bowed, palms together. “Do you wish to meet Ino Nami, El’Asim?” she asked in Sakin.
    “Yes,” I answered in her language. “Thank you.”
    She closed the grate and pushed the lever to take us to the higher floors.
    The grate opened to a level I’d never been to before. The walls were widely spaced. Columns of lethara tendrils dominated the area, coursing in yellow, orange, green, and blue. Another woman met me, her hands folded in front of her as she bowed slightly. “This way, El’Asim.”
    The elevator descended behind me. Every nerve stood on high alert. I breathed in calm, dampening my Mark’s urge to rip free from my skin and act as a ready protection.
    The woman stopped, her turquoise kimono seeming to barely shift through her small, tight movements as she turned. “Ino Nami will meet you here.”
    I tipped my head in acknowledgement.
    She walked to the only table in the room and poured liquid into a cup. Setting it on the palm of one hand, her other holding it steady in the Ino custom, she offered it to me with a bowing of her head. “Ino offers you drink.”
    I returned the bow and took the drink, downing it as quickly as possible. I wasn’t there for traditional customs. I was there to speak to the woman who’d given birth to me. Or rather, I was there to buy my sister time.
    The room was bare of anything; cushions, tables for refreshments, people, windows.
    Mother wasn’t meeting me in the Family quarters.
    My abdomen twisted as I swallowed a rising bubble of bile back down. This wasn’t a good sign. Perhaps now was the time to demand to know why she’d destroyed my Family.
    What would be gained by keeping the knowledge of her guilt to myself?
    Was I really prepared for outright war? Because confronting her to her face about the destruction of my Family, my tribe, would bring that. Ino. Shankara. Han. We couldn’t win against that. Possibly LeBlanc, too? No. There was no chance of winning. We were smaller tribes.
    I simply wasn’t smart enough to know. Aiyanna would. Nix would. Carilyn would. For sky’s sake, Jamilah probably would have known. Why were all the women in my life far smarter than myself?
    What if I killed her outright? My Mark was more powerful than hers. In person, I could take her by surprise. Kill her. No war.
    That was still an option.
    As time ticked by, my stomach twisted and my mind raced. Had her