by Lili Zander
I watch the fight, my heart in my mouth every time one of the dragons breathes fire.
An explosion rocks the power plant. The blast flings me to the ground. My ears ring, and for a second, I can’t see anything. My forehead throbs. I wipe my eyes clean and my hand comes back bloody. Huh. I must have cut myself when I was thrown to the ground.
Then the air clears, and I see the building burn in a bright orange blaze.
Ayani’s screaming something. A swarm of drones, each the size of a basketball, zip toward the flare. When they reach it, they explode, emptying their contents over the explosion.
Another set of drones repeat the motion. Two sets of crews rush into the blaze, unmindful of the danger. They must be firefighters, in which case they’re not unmindful of the risk; they know full well what could happen. They’re going in anyway.
My chest clenches. How many people were inside the building? Six? A dozen? Naren, the tech that worked with Ruhan all day, was in there. Oh shit. So was the spiderbot. “Somebody get Blue,” I scream. Ruhan said that the techbot was the key to keeping the shields up. We have to get him to safety.
Ayani snarls something into her comm. I don’t know where to look; my attention is torn between the fight in the air and the real danger on the ground.
The crews emerge from the fire, carrying bodies. Some are alive. Most aren’t. Healers swarm the survivors. Through the crowd of people, I catch a glimpse of Naren. Oh, God, he’s badly burned. I can’t see the extent of his injuries, but Ayani looks grim, and that can’t be good.
Other people emerge, coughing and choking. Blue crawls out, two of his legs dragging on the ground. Are they broken? Can they be fixed? Blue’s a bot. Ruhan can put him back together, right? I can’t believe I’m freaking out about the stupid spider. If Emika could see me now, she’d be rolling around on the ground with laughter.
Technicians surround Blue. I start to push my way through, and then the dragons rush each other, roaring in fury, and I jerk my attention back to the skies.
“Shield status, report,” Ayani snaps.
Blue chirps something. Another technician, a woman whose name is Monae, I think, grabs a screen. “Ninety percent,” she says, sounding shocked. “What in the name of Caeron?” Her fingers dance over the screen, and then she looks up, her expression awed. “They’re using a dynamic power source. I’ve never seen code this elegant.”
Ruhan. This was his doing. He knew the power plant was a weakness. He made sure we’d be safe, even if something were to happen to it.
My clever, brave, Draekon.
Blue beeps a shrill warning and hunkers down to the ground. The bot’s entire blue body is awash in sparks of light. That can’t be good, right?
Monae looks at the screen. “Someone’s trying to hack the shields.”
“Blood Heart?”
She shakes her head. “No, Major. The signal is coming from inside our city.”
“We have a traitor in our midst?” Ayani straightens to her full height. When she speaks, her voice is ice. “Find them.”
I don’t understand. Why is someone inside Cintra trying to lower our shields? They were holding, damn it. Did someone do a deal with Blood Heart? Surely, they knew that if they dropped the shields, every single Draekon here would die.
Over our heads, a crimson dragon opens its jaw. I catch a glimpse of curved, lethal fangs, and a burst of fire tears free. I fall to the ground, acting on pure instinct, but the flames hit the shield and dissipate.
For the moment, our defenses hold.
I can’t take my eyes off the sky. Fire breathing dragons. It’s like something out of a legend. If I weren’t so terrified, I’d be awed. No wonder Nestri remains traumatized, a thousand years after Ruhan sacked the planet. I know with certainty that whatever happens in my life, I’ll never forget the sheer terror of watching Ruhan and First battle it out in the air over us.
I’m bleeding from the gash to my forehead. A healer approaches me, but I wave her away. “It’s just a cut.” Other people need help more than me.
The dragon closes his jaw, and the jet of fire dies down, but flames jump to the ground and lick the brush. The forest around us starts to burn. Thick black smoke fills the air, and I can’t see anything.
“Kashrn,” Ayani grits out. For a second, she hesitates, and then she straightens her shoulders. “Let it burn,” she says. “The fire is outside the city. We cannot drop our shields long enough to send drones.”
The tigate cubs. In the midst of so much death and destruction, it seems stupid to worry about five fluffy pink kittens, but I can’t help myself. I don’t want the poor, helpless fluffballs to burn to death.
Arax, Ayani’s kid, is right next to his mother. Ayani’s not taking any chances—she hasn’t let him out of her sight. He has a screen in his hand too, and his face is set in lines of concentration, but he must feel my gaze on him, because he looks up. “I took the cubs some food and moved them into a cave for safety,” he says. “That’s why I was out there. They’re as safe as they can be.”
He bends his head back to his screen. Monae catches me looking at the boy. “He has some tech skill,” she murmurs.
That’s not why I was looking at him. Ever since he came back inside the city, Arax has been subdued. He’s old enough to realize what he did, and undoubtedly, he feels responsible. Maybe he thinks I blame him, but I don’t. He’s a child. This isn’t his fault. This is on First and First alone.
Blue’s not looking good. The bot usually chitters, chirps and moves around like a hyperactive toddler, but now, he’s just hunkered to the ground, his body flashing with surges of power. “Shields at seventy-five percent,” Monae intones. “We have a breach.”
“Where?”
“Sector 41. 87th Degree.”
A handful of people run off to deal with the breach. If the shields fail, we all die. I can’t bring myself to care, not when the dragons are still fighting, and Ruhan’s life is in danger. Thick smoke obscures my vision. All I can see are flashes of red scales and hot blasts of orange fire.
Come back to me, Ruhan.
Another blast shakes the ground. This time, fire engulfs a building in the distance. “That’s Healers’ Hall,” Ayani yells. “This is a Priority 1 Alert.”
Klaxons blare. Everyone runs toward the hospital at top speed. Everyone except me. I can’t tear my eyes away from the dragons. I’m frozen in place, riveted by the battle taking place over my head.
We’re not going to be able to hold out much longer. The temperature is rising; the ground feels hot under my feet. Portions of the shield are failing. Blue squeals in pain, and there’s nothing I can do. I walk over to the techbot and place a hand on his squat blue body. “Hang in there, Blue,” I whisper, my eyes filling with tears. “Ruhan’s going to win, and then he’s going to fix everything. He always does.”
A dragon falls out of the sky and crashes into the side of the mountain. The air shimmers, and then there’s a body there, crumpled and broken.
Is it Ruhan? Damn the smoke, I can’t see anything. Is he dead? Panic slashes through me, and fear chokes my throat. I start running, though I know I can’t get to him in time.
Then another dragon tears free of the clouds. I’m still running as fast as I can. If it’s Ruhan on the ground… If First attacks him when he can’t defend himself…
The red dragon glides to a landing. I wait for the jet for fire. It doesn’t come. The crimson dragon doesn’t take the kill shot.
He hesitates.
And I realize something.
That’s not Ruhan on the ground. It’s First. It has to be. Ruhan would never kill someone in cold blood.
Relief rips through me. I sob out loud. We’re going to be okay. We’ve won.
I sense movement behind me, and then a tentacle wraps around my neck. “Hello, my human storyteller,” Gervil says. “Surprised to see us?”
Devnik slithers up next to me. Before I can react, he sticks a needle in my neck.
&nbs
p; As the world fades to darkness, I have only one thought. I’m so screwed.
32
Ruhan
I’ve been so focused on my fight with First that I’ve tuned everything else out.
Then I look up, and I realize that Cintra is on fire.
How? This makes no sense. First didn’t target the city. He didn’t have any time to test the shields; he was too busy defending himself against me.
Unless…
Unless he had someone on the inside, the way he does at the rebellion. Unless someone in Cintra is a traitor.
Fear drenches me. Find Lani, my dragon growls. I glance down at First’s unconscious body. I have a split-second to decide. Bind First and take him into custody or follow my instincts and find my mate.
It’s not a hard choice. I signal to two of Ayani’s soldiers, two young Draekons, barely into manhood. “Cuff him,” I shout. “Get a healer. Keep him sedated.”
Then I take off in a run. I have a very bad feeling about this. I need to find Lani.
I find Ayani near the burned-out husk of Healer’s Hall. She’s leaning against a pillar, surveying the activity in front of her, exhaustion radiating from her every pore.
Makeshift beds are everywhere, and healers walk among the wounded, doing their best to help everyone. Arax and a dozen other volunteers carry water to those who need it.
Caeron help us all. There are almost a hundred badly burned patients. First has a lot to answer for, and as soon as the Draekon troops haul him in, I’m going to make sure he pays. Justice will be served.
I march up to the Major. “Lani,” I snap. “Where is she?”
Ayani blinks in confusion. “The last time I saw her, she was near the power plant.”
I want to rail and curse at the former Zoraken. Kashrn. I risked my life for her son, and she couldn’t protect my mate?
But that’s not fair. Ayani is in charge of ten thousand people. She’s doing what she needs to do.
I rush off to the power plant. The second I turn the corner, I see a feebly flickering techbot on the ground, limbs broken, almost out of power. Blue.
I sink on the ground next to the bot. “What did you do, you idiot? Tell me you didn’t dig into your reserves?”
But of course, that’s what Blue has done, and it’s my fault. I programmed emotions into Blue. If I hadn’t tinkered with Blue’s routines, the techbot wouldn’t have overextended himself.
It’s up to me to fix it.
I’m already reaching for my screen. I need storage, and a lot of it, to hold Blue’s memories before the bot shuts down. Blue’s memories form the basis of his personality. If I don’t succeed, and the techbot shuts down, when he reboots, I’ll get the factory install, the generic Ashara-created techbot. Everything that made Blue unique would be gone.
I’m not going to let that happen. I work frantically, dumping data on the feed, deleting everything on my comm to make room for Blue’s memories. I’ve almost done with the last transfer when the techbot drains down.
Monae crouches next to me. “Is he…” Her voice trails away and her expression turns helpless. “If it hadn’t been for the bot, our shields would have collapsed entirely.”
“His name is Blue.” Did I do enough? Did I save him? Monae hands me a power pack, and I plug it in.
The technician opens her mouth to say something, possibly about the foolishness of naming a techbot, sees the expression on my face, and decides to shut up instead. Smart decision. My nerves are already on edge. Now is not the time to provoke me. Not when I’m waiting for the techbot to go through his start-up routines.
Come on, Blue.
The bot flickers back to life. “Ruhan,” he sends to my feed. “I’ve failed. The human woman—”
“What happened to Lani?”
“She was taken by the same two Okaki pirates that were on the Konar. Gervil and Devnik.”
Fear punches my heart. Lani talked to the reporters. She listed every single one of Gervil’s crimes. She was on the planet-wide broadcasts. And now, they’ve come for her.
I grow ice-cold. They have my mate. “You have a tracker on her? Where is she?”
Blue sends me a map.
I’m already moving. They held Lani for three months. Every single night, Gervil threatened to eat her. He traumatized my mate. Devnik suggested cutting my mate up, piece by piece, until there was nothing of her left.
I shouldn’t have left them live the first time around. Time to rectify that mistake.
33
Lani
When I wake up, I’m trussed like a chicken, and Gervil and Devnik have a fire going. The two of them are arguing over what kind of wood to add to the fire. “I like the lowreis,” Gervil says. “It imparts a delicate, floral, smoky taste to the meat.”
“Lowreis is boring and predictable,” Devnik sneers. “Much like your attack patterns, Captain. I think we should use blue eytelia.”
Oh God. Oh God oh God oh God. I’m the meat. They’re talking about what wood to use to smoke me.
I look around, as best as I can, and then wish I hadn’t. We appear to be in the middle of a grassy field. There’s no one else in sight. Even worse, I can’t see any sign of habitation. No buildings, no roads, no skimmers, nothing.
What I can see is a Lani-size stockpot.
“You don’t want to do this,” I say hoarsely. Ugh, whatever Devnik used to knock me out has made my tongue feel like sandpaper. My throat hurts, and my stomach feels queasy, though that could just be because I’m facing imminent death. Again. You think I’d be used to it by now, but really, no. “You really don’t. Ruhan will look for me. If he finds out what you’ve done, he will kill you. Just let me go, and we’ll forget this ever happened.”
Gervil’s tentacles twitch in irritation. “The technician? You think the technician can intimidate us?”
“I wish he’d try,” Devnik says mockingly. “I haven’t tasted Zorahn flesh in a long time. It makes my mouth water, just thinking of it. What do you think, Captain? A touch of viorne as well?”
“In the fire?” Gervil sounds dubious. “Personally, I like to inject viorne-infused oil into the meat, myself. It stays beautifully moist that way.”
This is an incredibly weird blend of surreal and macabre. I’m going to be eaten by two Okaki foodies. If I wasn’t on the brink of losing my shit, I’d almost laugh. The whole thing is so stupid. After everything we’ve been through, after everything we’ve survived, I’m being killed by two greedy pirates who want to know what humans taste like.
“He’s not Zorahn.” I mean to shout that out, but the words come out in a whisper. Oh fuck, I’m losing my voice. I can’t even yell for help, not that there’s anyone around to hear. This is bad. This is so very bad. “He’s Draekon.”
They don’t hear me over the crackle of the fire. “Injecting infusions into the meat,” Devnik says. “Interesting. I’ve never done it that way.”
“Because you have no respect for food,” Gervil retorts snidely. “You killed so many women, but you didn’t even save their bones for stew. Such a waste.”
Okay, that explains the stockpot. My stomach heaves, and I lose the contents of my lunch all over the ground. My retching attracts the pirates’ attention. Devnik swears and backhands me, his tentacle slapping my jaw. Agony shoots through me. “Look what you did,” he snarls. “Now, the meat’s soiled.” He turns to Gervil. “What should we do now?”
My face feels like it’s on fire. Ruhan lives with the rathr; I don’t know how he does it. Oh God, the pain. Breathing hurts. Swallowing hurts. I curl into a ball and whimper, and Devnik hits me again, this time in my midsection.
Ruhan will look for me, of that I’m certain. But I don’t see how he can find me in time. Nobody saw Gervil and Devnik grab me. Nobody except maybe Blue, and the techbot was on the point of death.
“Let’s just cook it over a low flame,” Gervil says in disgust. His tentacles wrap around me, and he picks me up. They lash me to a rod, and the two Okaki
lift me over the flames. I try screaming for help, but my voice doesn’t work. I kick out and get slapped again for my efforts.
It’s so hot. So impossibly hot. If this is a low fire, I don’t want to know what the alternative looks like. Sweat drenches me, the drops of water falling into the flames with soft hisses. Crackling fire lashes my skin. Searing pain floods my body.
The spit turns, and my right side is exposed to the heat. I cough helplessly, uncontrollably. My lungs fill with smoke. My skin blisters as it burns.
The flames lick higher. One of them grabs my leg, and I kick out frantically, trying to put it out. Agony rips through me. Bile floods my mouth, and I know I’m going to be sick again.
This is the end.
I love you, Ruhan.
A shadow fills the sky, blotting out the sun.
Ruhan swoops down. His green eyes take in the scene, and he roars in fury. He plucks me out of the fire with delicate claws and places me on the ground with infinite care.
The crimson dragon wheels toward the two Okaki pirates. The Draekon Conqueror unlocks his jaw, and a jet of fire bursts from his mouth.
Gervil and Devnik don’t even have time to scream before they die.
Darkness threatens to swallow me. I struggle against it, but I’m fighting a losing battle. Ruhan shifts and bends over me, his eyes glazed with panic. “Lani,” he says, his voice trembling. “My sweet little human. Hang on, please. Stay with me, I beg you. Healers are on their way.”
He sounds afraid. He’s never afraid.
“You’re here,” I choke out. “You came for me.” I reach out for his hand, but when I touch him, fresh agony floods me.
He flinches at my pain. “I’m here,” he whispers. “You are the love of my life, Lani. You are my mate, my everything. I will always come for you. Your skin is burnt. Don’t move, love. I promise you—I’m not going anywhere.”
He’s here. My Draekon is here with me. Everything is going to be okay now. The world is starting to fade. Welcome darkness encroaches. I smile at him, look into those green eyes one last time. Then I let myself sink into the abyss.
