Xiantha (The Ammonite Galaxy Series, Book 3)

Chapter One

Chapter 1

AS SHE WALKED back across the spaceport after the independence ceremony on Kwaide, Grace stopped to bow her head in front of the memorial to Solian and Gerrant. The crumpled remains of the space shuttle would be there for all eternity – an eternity which would always remind her of that hateful day, of what had happened. She felt a miserable churning in her stomach, and found that her eyes were wet as she remembered those last few moments of Solian, in the heat of the battle. He had died to save her, she knew. He had struggled to distract them, to give her more time. She could still hear his battle cry as he faced certain death, in those few seconds before he was decimated by the sycophants. Guilt swirled again in her stomach, and she hoped that she wouldn’t be sick.

Footsteps told her that somebody had come up to stand beside her. The person was silent for a long while, gazing with her at the twisted remains in front of them. Without looking, she knew who it was.

“It wasn’t your fault, Grace,” Ledin said. “What happened to them was because of the war.”

“It was my idea to use the fuel pipes,” she said brokenly. “If I hadn’t had that stupid idea—”

“—If you hadn’t had that stupid idea, Kwaide would be under Elder rule again, and the sycophants would be purging this spot of the no-names like me.”

Grace closed her eyes for a long time, and breathed deeply. Eventually she said, “Yes, I suppose they would. But that doesn’t make it right, does it?”

“Grace, you are a heroine to New Kwaide. When you thought up a way to get through to the shuttles you prevented the Elders from getting their hands on the orbital station. That was the one defining moment of the whole war!”

The corner of her lip quivered. “I don’t feel like a heroine. I feel guilty all the time.”

He touched her shoulder, gently. “You shouldn’t be so hard on yourself. It will eat away at you inside.”

She gave a slight sniff and nodded through eyes that had suddenly filled with tears. “I know. It is just that my mind seems . . . stuck. I see that one scene over and over in my head.”

“Both Solian and Gerrant would be horrified if they knew that you were agonizing over their death. They were proud to die for New Kwaide. So would I have been.”

Her expression softened. “I know.”

“There was only one thing I would have regretted, and I have remedied that now.”

Grace found herself blushing slightly. She thought she might know what that one thing was.

“And I don’t regret a thing.” His tone was defiant. “Faint Kwaidian never won fair lady.”

That provoked a weak smile at last. “Six and Diva will tease me about it,” she pointed out.

“It will keep them from heckling one another. I have done them a favour.”

“They always heckle each other. They got into the habit when they were held captive on Valhai and there was nobody else to talk to. But Diva would cut the hand off any outsider who criticized Six, and Six would do the same for her.”

“I know. In fact, I have sometimes wondered if First Six . . .”

Grace gave a doubtful shake of her head. “Diva was brought up as a princess on Coriolis. I think her elitist upbringing would stop her even considering allying herself to a no-name, however much she might like him.”

“Well – you never know. We Kwaidians are very persistent. We don’t give up easily.”

Since Grace wasn’t completely sure that he was referring only to Six she found that difficult to answer, and was cross to realize that her cheeks were reddening again. She indicated the waiting shuttle with one hand and a slight inclination of her head, and they walked slowly away from the wreckage behind them.