Valley of Fires: A Conquered Earth Novel (The Conquered Earth Series) by J. Barton Mitchell Page A

his stare finally left her, moving from one person to the next, studying each until it settled on Ravan.
    And when it did … he smiled. His hands cupped her face tenderly, he looked down into her eyes. “When, I wonder, will you finally disappoint me, Ravan Parkes?” Tiberius’s voice was soft, yet it carried weight, and though he didn’t speak slowly, he articulated each word with a meticulousness that seemed deliberate, as if every word was valuable.
    Ravan smiled back at him. “No time soon, I promise.”
    “You have brought back to me what I value most.” The words gave Avril a shiver. Sweet as the sentiment was, there was little emotion in it. She watched Tiberius reach down and take Ravan’s hand. “Congratulations, Commandant. ” Then he raised the hand high into the air, and turned to the pirates that surrounded them.
    “ This, ” he yelled for all to hear, “is the taking of power!”
    The crowd erupted into cheers again. The dock rocked beneath Avril’s feet. Guns fired into the air. It was overwhelming. She could feel the tension from the Wind Traders on the ship behind her.
    “Tiberius,” Ravan said, when he’d lowered her hand. “May I present your daughter.”
    Avril swallowed. Tiberius’s gaze shifted back to her, studying her a long, inquisitive moment, his eyes raking over her, examining every piece, as if in evaluation, as if in judgment. When he moved to her, his smile grew, but, as always, it held no warmth. Whatever reason he wanted her back so badly, it had very little to do with fatherly love.
    “Avril,” he said. “You have grown strong…”
    He reached toward her … and Avril recoiled as if from a snake.
    She felt the anger rise within her. This man had taken everything from her; Dane, her life, Gideon … and he expected tenderness in return? He was right. She had grown strong, he had no idea how much, but he would.
    Tiberius gauged the reaction with only a slight sense of disappointment. He nodded, as if reaching some internal consensus. “We have time,” was all he said. “We have time.”
    Tiberius looked up at the Wind Rift, docked behind them. The crew was on board, staring nervously back. Olive stood out front, waiting.
    Tiberius glanced at each of the crew a brief moment, then simply looked away.
    “Kill the crew, take the ship,” he ordered. “Strip it of anything of value.”
    The words seemed out of place from such an unassuming figure, but the pirates expected nothing less. They moved for the ship, hands reached for guns. The crowd cheered again. Ravan frowned, slightly, but made no move to stop them. Above, Olive and her crew tensed, took steps back.
    Avril, however, had been expecting it.
    Her eyes scanned the figures of the two closest guards, their stances, noting their balance, deducing their dominant hands from where they kept their guns. It was enough.
    Her first two kicks were blurs of motion. The first groaned as his kneecap snapped, and his weight brought him to the dock.
    Before the second one could do anything, she spun, ripping the big hunting knife from his belt, then her knee found his groin and sent him to the ground with the other.
    She grabbed Tiberius’s right wrist, twisted and spun again, pinning him where he stood and rested the gleaming knife against his throat.
    The entire thing took maybe five seconds, and everyone on the dock and the platform beyond froze. A thousand gun hammers clicked into place, a thousand weapons raised, all of them at her.
    Avril just smiled. They wouldn’t do anything. Shooting her was shooting their glorious leader, and it meant right now, she held all the cards.
    Avril leaned in close so that her father could hear. “You wanted me home. Well, here I am.”
    She sensed no fear from Tiberius, his body felt relaxed. He just craned his neck to look down at her. It infuriated her, his lack of response, the absence of fear. She pressed the knife into his neck. “You will relinquish any claim to the Wind Rift.