“You were saying?” Ruckus lowered his head to the curve of her jaw, planting a kiss there and then nipping lightly. The move forced her to turn, curving and exposing more of her neck to him in the process. “I’m not gruff; I’m effective.”
She had to agree with him there. When she tilted back even more to better accommodate him, she caught sight of the glass walkway above. Part of her froze, and she felt the moment begin to slip away. This was reckless; they weren’t out of the woods yet, not when Olena was still at least a day away.
Last time they’d been in there Trystan had caught them.…
“We can’t.” She lightly pushed at his shoulders, not stopping until he finally took the hint and lifted himself off her, frowning. “Anyone can see.”
He followed her gaze up to the glass then settled back onto the grass, his expression defeated. Running a hand through his hair, he heaved a sigh and took a moment to regain composure.
“I should be the one saying that,” he stated. “I’m the one who’s supposed to be protecting you, not losing my head. Ever since you arrived, I’ve done a terrible job showing you I’m actually good at being Ander. There’s got to be a way the Tars are moving around my security teams. An inside man of some sort. I just haven’t been able to find him yet.”
Because initially they’d both believed it was Trystan, but after the other day …
“Trystan’s saved my life more than once now,” she pointed out, knowing by the harsh twist of his mouth that that was where Ruckus’s mind had taken him as well. “He took the bullet—the zee,” she said, correcting herself before he could. “Jumped those guys during the bombings.”
And she still didn’t quite understand why. Her feelings for Trystan were complicated, in the sense that while he still terrified her—and ultimately pissed her off with his arrogance—she also felt a little in his debt. Despite all the hatred between him and Olena, when it’d come down to it, he’d protected Delaney.
“I’ve seen him act,” she added. “It’s not his strongest suit. He was legitimately pissed off when Lura tried to poison me. And taking a zee? The guy is still in the hospital.”
“He was released, actually.” Ruckus curled his fingers around a tiny golden stone no bigger than a quarter and tossed it from palm to palm. “A couple of hours ago, if I got the information right. The wound was all but healed, and he insisted on returning to his own rooms.” He paused, held her gaze as if unsure whether or not to continue. “I’m surprised he didn’t try to see you.”
She snorted. “I’m not.”
“You don’t mean that,” he scolded, seeing right through her. “He said something to you when you saw him, something that unsettled you.”
He’d said a few things, all of which had made her infinitely uncomfortable. He had that way about him, the cold, calculating way that could turn a girl’s insides to barbed wire all while twisting her heart with his devilish smile. It was eerie and terrifying. Whenever he paid attention to her, she felt like a rabbit trying to claw its way out of a collapsed burrow, the beautiful yet deadly fox hot on her heels.
“Why are we talking about Trystan?” she asked, sliding closer across the grass so their knees bumped.
“Because you were right before. The attacks won’t stop once you leave; they’ll just start happening to Olena. She’s a pain, and a spoiled brat, but I’ve known her all my life. I don’t want to see her dead, Delaney.”
“I understand that.” And she did. That jealousy she’d felt before was gone. Maybe she was actually starting to believe his spiel about being attracted to the real her, and not her outer appearance. “I don’t want that, either. She might have done this to me, but it’s how I ended up meeting you. I keep trying to hate her like I did those first few days here, but I can’t.
“Still,” she said, and rested a hand over his, stopping his fidgeting with the rock, “we won’t figure this out tonight. You’re having every single one of your men screened right now, right? And Tilda said she sent most of the staff home, so … the suspect list has dwindled down considerably. If there’s a traitor still here, someone Lura didn’t know about, you’ll find him.”
He smiled at her, lifting her hand up to plant a kiss across her knuckles. Then he stood and tugged her up with him, catching her around the waist and spinning them dramatically until her laughter filled the cavernous room.
“Did you want to go for a swim?” he asked once he’d placed her back on her feet, tilting his chin over her shoulder toward the water.
“No.” She shook her head. “Let’s go back to your room. I’m tired of being out in the open, and I want to kiss you again.”
CHAPTER 24
“Delaney, wake up!” Ruckus was shaking her roughly, and she groaned. “Wake up now!”
Coming out of sleep, she bolted into an upright position, instantly recalling the last time he’d woken her like that. Wide eyed, she scanned his bedroom, noting that they were alone. When she listened for the sounds of bombing, there were none, and her fear started to ebb into confusion.
She hadn’t even meant to fall asleep, not when this was supposed to be their last night together, so she couldn’t have been out very long at all.
“What’s going on?” she asked, watching as he scrambled toward the leather chair in the corner, where a large black duffel bag was resting. It was already mostly filled, and he shoved in a couple more clothing items as he spoke.
“We need to leave the castle,” he told her hurriedly. “Now. Quickly, get dressed.”
She glanced down at the large shirt she’d fallen asleep in only a few hours ago, a bit of the sleep haze still fogging her brain. The frantic way he moved, so different from the lazy way he’d been before she’d fallen asleep, caused her chest to constrict.
Outside, the sky was still dark and foreboding.
“Is it time already?”
“Olena’s ship has been discovered. No one was supposed to be monitoring the atmosphere, but somehow one of the Zane’s men got in. Change of plan. We need to go now.”
The upside to dresses was they were easy to put on, so she was ready within a minute, and stepped out of the closet in time to have him thrust his hand toward her. There was sweat already beading at his brow, and his mouth was pinched into a tight line.
“What are we going to do?” she asked, taking his hand.
“The Kints are trying to board Olena’s ship.” He rushed out, yanking her forward so she was forced to fall into step at his side as he moved them into the hall and headed right. “The Basileus is stalling. Won’t let any of them into our airspace.”
Seeing as how he knew his daughter was on that spaceship, that made sense.
“We should be fine then, right?” There weren’t many Kints here in Vakar, only two dozen or so having been sent with Trystan in order to help protect him. Olena’s ship was over the Vakar territory of the planet, so it wasn’t like the Rex could order his men to travel there and delay her.
He wouldn’t have a reason to, anyway. They had no way of knowing who was really up there.
“Trystan is missing.”
“What?” Okay, that could be a problem.
“We have Tellers searching, including some of his own people.”
“Yeah, a lot of good they’ll be,” she said, and grunted. “Bet they know exactly where he is, and what he’s up to.”
“Exactly,” he agreed. “Our best chance is slipping away unnoticed and meeting up with Olena’s ship in space instead. I’ve got Pettus and my pilot, Fawna, preparing the ship as we speak. Hopefully they’ll have her up and running once we get there. We’ll have to go fast, before the Kints realize what we’re doing or who’s on board.”
This wasn’t good. They’d had it all planned out before; making the switch would have been simple, but this … If the Kints were trying to find a way up, it meant they were congregating around the hangar. The matter was only made worse when she started thinking up all the reasons they could want to meet that spaceshi
p so badly.
Ruckus glanced around a corner and then swore under his breath, pulling back quickly. “It’s Brightan.”
“He must be looking for Trystan down here,” she surmised.
“We’ve got to go another way.” He started for a narrower hallway across from them.
Delaney started to follow, but in the next instant a body slammed into her from behind, sending her sprawling onto the ground. Her head smacked against the floor, ears ringing as her vision blurred.
She wavered a bit as she got to her feet, and needed to brace herself against a wall. When she glanced up, it was to find four Kint soldiers surrounding them.
Ruckus slipped a knife from his boot, holding it at the ready.
A bunch of murdered Kints probably wasn’t the best way to go, but it wasn’t like there was a choice. Delaney wondered if they were even really Kint soldiers, or if they were actually Tars in disguise.
Springing forward, she used her entire body to slam into one of the four Kints. He didn’t fall, but it was enough to have him smack into the wall face-first. Before he could recover, she kicked his feet out from under him, bringing her heel down against his head once he’d hit the ground.
One of the others was already pulling her back, and she brought her elbow up, snapping his nose.
A blond soldier punched her across the jaw, and her head whipped to the side. The sting was immediate and harsh, turning to a burn that had her tongue feeling three times its normal size. And her anger growing just as much.
“Delaney, we have to get out of here! Pettus says Kints are closing in on the hangar!” Ruckus’s frantic voice filtered through her mind, momentarily distracting her.
A Kint had a knife out as well, and he slashed forward, almost nicking her right arm. She pulled back just in time, barely avoiding the curve of the blade. He came forward again, and this time she would have been too slow if not for Ruckus.
The whizzing sound of his fritz going off filled the air, and before the Kint could gut her, the shot hit the back of his head.
Bits of blood and gore splattered across the width of the hallway, hitting both walls and even leaving tiny droplets on the front of her dress. For a second, she stood frozen, unable to take her eyes off the slumped, headless body at her feet.
Ruckus’s voice pulled her out of it, and she turned to find that he’d given in and shot the other three Kints as well.
“They’ll know it was you,” she said, a new kind of fear gripping her. They could track the weapons.
“It doesn’t matter.” He reached for her hand once more. “We have to get going. If we don’t hurry, they’ll have blocked off all the entrances.”
“Why are they doing this?” Did they assume that Olena was trying to escape for some reason? Why? What would have given them that idea? “Do you think they were Tars? They looked like—”
“Regular Kints?” he cut her off as they ran. “Yeah, to me, too. But remember, those Tellers who attacked you in the shelter appeared to be Vakar and weren’t.”
They took one last turn, and at the end of the hall were the two large frosted-glass doors that led to the hangar. As they approached, the doors began to slide open. A second later Pettus stepped through, and Delaney started to feel a modicum of relief.
Which didn’t last.
Three Kint soldiers came at Pettus from behind; they must have found another entrance into the hangar in order to sneak up on them. She cried out a warning, but the Teller was already spinning on his heel to dodge the sharp edge of a long dagger. He fought them off, and before she and Ruckus could reach him to help, the sound of pounding footsteps from the other direction filled the corridor.
The approaching footsteps beat in time with her racing heart. It was one thing to shoot a hologram, another to hit a live target, so she was jittery. The idea of hurting someone wasn’t appealing, but when it came down to protecting herself and Ruckus against an a-hole trying to kill them, there was really no competition.
Two Kint soldiers came around the corner, and she fired before she could allow emotion to get in the way. She felt a burst of air sail past her left ear as one of them fired back, and felt a twist of satisfaction when he was blasted off his feet by her shot. She didn’t, however, watch to see where exactly she’d hit him or the kind of damage she’d done.
She shot the other one down a second later, but not before he’d managed to get her on the thigh. Fortunately, he wasn’t using a fritz, and the zee merely grazed her, leaving a shallow cut instead of a gaping hole.
She had less than a second to freak out at the sight of the blood dripping down her leg before she heard Pettus grunt in pain.
He’d taken out the last of the three Kints and was moving to stand next to Ruckus, who was facing down more approaching soldiers. There was a large gash trailing from Pettus’s right temple to his chin, but if it hurt, he didn’t show it.
“Take her to the ship,” Ruckus ordered, just as five of the Kints reached them. He’d been shooting them down with his fritz, picking them off, but there were too many. Now that they were so close, he was forced to switch back to the knife. “Pettus, go!”
“I’m not leaving you,” Delaney argued, yanking her arm out of Pettus’s grasp when he grabbed her.
“I’ll catch up,” he promised through the fitting, already fending off a few of the Kints in hand-to-hand combat.
“If they catch you,” Pettus reminded her tersely, tugging her back, “we’re all dead.”
She didn’t need him to elaborate. He wasn’t just talking about the three of them in this hallway. With a growl, she spun on her heel and allowed him to lead her through the two doors, trusting that Ruckus would follow shortly.
The ship that had taken her from Earth was all the way across the hangar, and they quickened their pace the second they were in the room. Movement from the corner of her eye had Delaney turning her head, just in time to spot Brightan.
He’d been standing behind a stack of white crates, out of sight long enough for them not to notice. Now, however, he was close, and before she could alert Pettus, Brightan had his hand wrapped tightly around her throat. He tossed her against the wall of crates, hard enough that her already aching skull began pounding with renewed vigor.
She could see Ruckus coming through the doorway now, still shoving off a couple of Kints, and Pettus was in the process of lifting his weapon. Everyone froze the second Brightan activated his fritz, pressing it against the soft flesh beneath her chin.
For a moment time stood still, even the remaining Kints who’d crowded around Ruckus coming to a stop.
Her mind fuzzed over, fear tightening around her heart, blacking out everything but the wild look in Brightan’s eyes and the feel of the icy metal against her flesh. A secret part of her had actually convinced herself she wouldn’t be as afraid during the next assassination attempt.
No bigger lie had ever been told in the history of the world. Her world, anyway. She couldn’t really attest to the goings-on of Xenith.
“You should have died at the Tandem, Lissa Olena,” Brightan told her in an even tone. It would have been less scary if he’d been enraged or even cocky. The casual way he spoke was an indicator that he wasn’t worried about being stopped at all. “It would have saved us a lot of trouble, and me a lot of men.”
“Seems to me Trystan is the type to do his own dirty work.” What possessed her to taunt the guy was beyond her; the words just sort of slipped out, and once they had, her only option was to stick with them. Steeling her gaze, she made sure he knew exactly how she felt about him, effectively covering up most of her fear in the process.
“You don’t want to do this, Sworn,” Ruckus growled.
“Because I won’t make it out of here alive?” Brightan remained calm as ever. “I won’t anyway, not after openly threatening the Lissa. I kill her now, and at least I’ll be taking the poisonous bitch with me.”
At least there was one constant in her otherwise completely insane life, Delan
ey thought to herself a bit hysterically. Everyone hated Olena.
“This is insane,” Ruckus hissed, his frustration and panic evident.
“No,” Brightan stated, “this is war. She should have stayed on Earth with the vermin where she belongs. Whatever she said to him, whatever she did, she’ll pay in blood.”
She blinked. Wait, what?
“I didn’t do anything to anyone,” she said, clenching her jaw when he pressed the fritz closer.
Lifting her own fritz in her defense was out of the question. Doing so would take too long, and he’d guess her end game before she got very far. Stalling him seemed like the only choice, but for what?
It wasn’t like anyone other than the Basileus himself would even care, and he pretty much only did out of proxy. No, the only friends she had on this planet were standing less than ten feet away, just as powerless as she was.
“The Zane hated you a month ago.” For the first time a flare of something entered Brightan’s dark-brown-and-silver eyes, cracking the chilled exterior. “Now he’s letting you live? He called off the bounty on your head; you can’t tell me his throwing his life away has nothing to do with you.”
She couldn’t help it—her brows rose in mock surprise. “Are you in love with him, Brightan?” She made a tsk sound with her tongue. “Falling for your boss? Wow, man. Cliché.”
“Delaney, don’t.” Ruckus set his glare on her this time, and said aloud, “Why do you always have to bait them?”
“Genetics?” The sound of more approaching footsteps from down the hall to her right had her close to breaking. It took everything she had in her not to let the fear and desperation show. If she was going to die, she was going to do it as the strong person she’d always been. No exceptions.
Brightan opened his mouth, hand tightening around the fritz, but just before he was about to say something, another burst of sound came from the other end of the hall. He didn’t even have enough time to turn toward it.
One second he was standing in front of her; the next he was a pile of writhing fire. His screams filled the air, and he rolled around, flailing his arms and legs even as the flames spread, consuming him from sight. It was almost a slow burn, the screams lasting far longer than she imagined they would on a normal victim.
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