Ventus by Karl Schroeder

Karl Schroeder / Ventus / Page 584
To do that, I’m afraid we have to leave you behind for a while.
You seem to have eluded them in the past. If you can do it
again, you can join us in a few days. Fair?"
Jordan bowed. He didn’t like it, but it was the sort of
thing Armiger would command. And Jordan knew that there
was no bending Armiger’s will away from a plan.
"First, though, you can give me the secret you found."
Jordan looked up, surprised. "I told you all I know."
"That’s not what I mean." Armiger reached out.
A tickle of shock ran up Jordan’s spine as the general’s
fingers touched his face. Armiger turned Jordan’s head from
side to side, running his fingers along the angle of his jaw and
into his hair.
"Hold still."
He felt a tingle spread from where Armiger touched him,
and Tamsin gasped. Sparklight lit the ceiling of the cave.
Jordan felt the world recede suddenly, as it had once when as a
young boy he had fallen and cracked his elbow, and fainted
from the pain. He heard voices, but they joined together in an
amorphous roaring that seemed to come from inside his own
skull. Then he felt himself shudder, and light and coherence
came back.
He lay in Tamsin’s lap. She was spitting some very
inventive curses at Armiger; Megan scowled, Galas looked
interested. Armiger himself stood back, hands on his hips.
"I have given myself a duplicate of your damaged
implants," said the general as Jordan sat up. He felt no pain or
disorientation. It was as if the incident of a few seconds ago
had not even occurred. "If you truly have the power to
command the Winds, Mason, now I have it too."
With a gesture to the ladies, the general turned on his
heel and left the cave. The two women rose to follow. Megan