Dragon's Revenge

by Natalie Grey

  Tera shrugged and took a sip of her coffee. The sweetness slid over her tongue and she allowed lazy blink of pleasure.

  “So.” The woman seemed undaunted by the silence. “Why does the cyborg return?”

  Tera paused, the cup an inch from her lips. “How do you know?” It was more than a lucky guess, she was sure of that much.

  “I saw your fight the other day. Only a cyborg moves that fast.” Her eyes were heavy-lidded now. “Might I ask what happened? It seemed there was one enemy … and then there was another. Another you knew. A miscalculation I must admit I’m surprised you made—although perhaps I misjudged you.”

  “You didn’t.” Tera’s eyes flicked up. “Do you know who I am?” There were many, she realized now, who might have seen her over the years, and put two and two together.

  “I have my guesses, but I think we would both be safer if you did not speak it here.” The woman took a sip of her own coffee. “So what happened?”

  Tera gave a bitter smile. “How long do you have?”

  “A sufficiently long time, I’m sure.” The woman smiled back, somehow conspiratorial.

  Tera settled back in the chair and considered her words. “Okay, then. My father’s a mass-murderer. I found out four days ago.” She met the woman’s eyes in challenge, but her companion only raised her eyebrows.

  “Go on.”

  Tera swallowed. “I don’t know if I can kill him.”

  “Interesting that you jump right to that as a solution.”

  “He made me an assassin.” Tera rolled the cup along its rim, her eyes fixed on the liquid. “It fits, don’t you think?”

  “Except that you don’t think you can do it,” the woman said. She seemed actually to have considered the question. “And as you promised me a long story, I rather think there’s more to this.”

  “Of course there is.” Tera drained her coffee in one long gulp. “I fell in love with my father’s mortal enemy and now he wants to kill me.”

  “Which he?”

  Tera blinked as she considered. “Both.”

  “Really?” Surprise echoed in the woman’s tone.

  “Is it so much of a shock?”

  The woman seemed to consider her response carefully. “Yes, actually.”

  “Why?”

  “You’re no longer your father’s ally.” That didn’t seem to be what the woman really wanted to say, but she spoke it contemplatively.

  Tera did not have it in her to care what she had wanted to ask. “I was his ally when I met this man.”

  “I see.” The woman leaned forward. “And you say you love him. Why are you here?”

  “Because he learned the truth. And he would have killed me for it.”

  “Are you certain of that?” Something sparked behind her black eyes, a strange familiarity.

  “Yes.” Tera swallowed hard.

  “I see. Well, that is certainly unfortunate.” It did not seem to be a platitude. The woman gazed out over the courtyard. “So what will you do now?”

  “Run,” Tera said quietly.

  “Where to?”

  “I don’t know. You interrupted me while I was deciding.”

  The woman gave a genuine laugh at that. “My apologies. Perhaps I can help you decide. What do you require from a hiding place?”

  “I don’t have any idea.”

  “So you were hardly close to a resolution, then. My dear, forgive the familiarity, but you do not seem the type to run from this sort of thing.”

  “I’ve never encountered this sort of situation before.”

  “Like everything, I would hazard a guess that it’s more manageable in pieces. You could go back to the man you love. You’re his natural ally.”

  Tera gave a snort and twirled the glass in her fingertips.

  “You really believe he would kill you,” the woman said softly.

  “It’s the logical choice.” She did not want to think about it.

  “In my experience, which happens to be rather extensive, people rarely do the logical thing when love is involved.”

  “This man does.”

  The woman’s lips quirked, but her eyes seemed somehow sad. “I see. And so….” She left the sentence unfinished, hanging in the silence as the waiter came with more coffee for both of them.

  “So I need to kill my father,” Tera said quietly.

  “Perhaps. Only you can decide that.”

  “He needs to pay.”

  “And yet, you said the man you love is his mortal enemy. Perhaps the problem will resolve itself.” There was real humor there.

  “No.” Tera’s answer was instantaneous.

  “No?”

  Tera considered her answer. Why? The woman’s supposition was correct. Talon would kill Aleksandr, and the problem would be gone.

  Except for one thing. “My father will kill him.”

  “You’re certain?”

  “I am.” Talon had taken something from Aleksandr, had taken many things. Ymir would have been enough—Tera was worse. Aleksandr would not stop to consider whether her choices had anything to do it, he would only care that Talon suffered. And he would ensure that Talon did suffer. He knew how much Talon would sacrifice to get to him. Tera felt herself flinch at the thought.

  “Clearly, you do not find that a desirable outcome.”

  “No!” Tera’s eyes flew up to meet hers.

  “If you never see this man again, is there a difference to you whether or not he lives?”

  “Yes,” Tera whispered. Was there a difference, between missing him with an ache that made her throat burn, and knowing that he was gone entirely? Of course there was. How could the woman not see it? The thought that Aleksandr would kill him painfully, as he would, that he would taunt Talon with his failure, that he would always, always fight less honorably than Talon did and so he would win—

  Tera turned her head away, tears in her eyes. “I can’t let him die.”

  When she looked back, the woman nodded. “So….”

  “So I need to do it.” Tera looked down at the coffee, untouched. “I need to kill him before Talon does.”

  She realized too late that the name had come out of her mouth, but something told her, with a jolt, that the woman had already known.

  “Then I will help you get to your father,” she said now. Her eyes were bright, both inquisitive and oddly ancient.

  “You know who it is,” Tera guessed. “And you think you can help me find him?”

  “I think I can help him find you.” The woman took a sip of coffee. “What does it matter which way it goes, as long as you get within striking distance?”

  “It doesn’t.” Except that then she’d have to finish it herself. Tera swallowed hard. “Very well, then. Do it.”

  The woman nodded.

  “And…” Tera frowned. “What’s your name?”

  “I thought you’d never ask.” Now her companion looked amused. “Though I do not suppose it matters to you. I am Lesedi.”

  33

  Nyx sat in the copilot’s seat, her face stony, her back ramrod straight.

  “What?” Talon finally asked her, annoyed.

  “This is fucking risky, that’s what.” She looked at the expanse of black ahead of them.

  “He didn’t respond to the message,” Talon said with finality.

  “Would you like me to paint a target on your back, too?”

  “I don’t think that’s necessary.” He adjusted their trajectory minutely. “I’m sure everyone on his ship has been briefed on what I look like.”

  Nyx sighed.

  “I just want to end this,” Talon said quietly. “Before….” Before another woman comes out of nowhere to break my heart.

  A few weeks ago, he’d have said he didn’t have a heart to break. What had happened to him?

  “And what if they kill you on sight?” Nyx asked him. “I think he wants to see you die, too. But he might do it the logical way. It’s not out of the question.”

  �
��You know that the longer we wait, the more of a chance he has to persuade them back on Gemini.”

  “I know. But—”

  The crackle of the comms caught their ears and they looked at the speaker.

  “Ariane, this is the Gedd. You are prohibited from using this shipping lane. Alter your course to—”

  “This is Talon Rift.” Talon cut the other captain off. “Put me through to Soras.”

  There was a pause.

  “You know who I am,” Talon said quietly. “And he’ll want to hear this.”

  There was no response. A clicking noise came down the line, and then a light, amused voice caught his ear. “I hear I’m being hailed by Talon Rift.”

  “Soras.” Talon settled back in his chair.

  “You’ve heard the news, then.”

  Talon and Nyx exchanged a quick look. “What news?”

  “I get to be the one to tell you?” Amusement grew. “What an unexpected pleasure. I hear the council on Seneca is expected to acquit me. Not that I had any doubt they would do so, of course, but I must say it’s pleasant news.” He paused, and Talon could practically see his smile. “And as your commander…can I expect your loyalty once more, Major?”

  Talon felt his fingers clench. “Surely by now you know the answer to that.”

  “I believe you to be capable of change.” The man seemed quite unmoved by Talon’s malice. “Perhaps you could be useful to the Dragon Corps once again … if you do not decide to keep questioning your leaders.”

  “Then I wouldn’t be part of the Dragon Corps.”

  “Have you not heard a word I’ve told you?” Annoyance echoed down the line now. “They don’t want a vigilante. You’re exactly what they’ve always feared. If you stay on your present course, they’ll fear you forever. And the Alliance is powerful, Rift. They destroy the things they fear.”

  “That was the purpose of the Dragon Corps—to ensure that those who did evil knew there was nowhere they could run, and nowhere they could hide. You’re only one in a long line, Soras.”

  “One who is about to slip out of your grasp. Let me speak with Tera before you continue this ridiculous mission.”

  “Tera’s not here.”

  There was a silence. “If you have hurt her,” the Warlord said at last, his voice deathly calm, “you will learn that you do not know half of what I am capable of.”

  “You dare say that to me?” Talon leaned forward now, his heart pounding. “You dare ask if I’ve hurt her? You broke her heart. The woman you claim to love as a daughter is out there alone because she learned that the only person in this world she could trust is a mass-murderer and a tyrant. You broke her heart and you want to know what I’ve done to her?”

  What it was that gave him away, he did not know. There was a silence, and then the Warlord’s voice echoed in the cockpit like the whisper of a vengeful ghost. “Was I the one who broke her heart, Talon? Truly? Was it me?”

  Talon slammed his hand down on the comm button, breaking the call. “Call Tersi. Get a trace. Boost the scanners.”

  Nyx tapped a message out to Tersi’s message terminal and nodded at him. “Come with me.”

  “Where are we going?”

  “The armory.” She led him down the corridors, her stride purposeful. She was twisting up her hair, and that should have been a warning to him. But Talon’s mind was still on that whispered accusation when Nyx turned, just inside the door of the armory, and hit him full across the face.

  The impact of the blow slammed his head back and he hit the wall with a jerk. He was moving on instinct alone, launching himself forward to grab her and wrench her down onto the floor with him, and they rolled, her hands winding up between his to grab his throat.

  She was going to kill him, Talon thought dimly. She went for his eyes and he blocked her hands away with bruising force. When she slithered out of his grasp and ran, he pushed himself up to follow her. She was fast, Nyx was, and lithe. She pivoted mid-stride and he had too much momentum to stop in time. Her foot caught him in the gut and knocked the wind out of him. He was not going to die like this. His knife was out and hers was, too, but she settled into a crouch, waiting for him to catch his breath.

  That was when he understood. He went at her with everything he had and she blocked him, muscles and mind honed in the same battles, trust in her eyes. It was a matching of wits such as they rarely engaged in, sparring without limits. Blades scored flesh, missing arteries by a breath. The pulse pounded in his throat and there was only the silence, and Nyx.

  She changed before his eyes. She was Tera, she was the incompetent assassin in the cargo bay of Akintola Station, she was Soras. He hit her with everything he had and she hit him back, pain exploding across his ribs and the side of his head. He could feel blood dripping from his nose and he did not care. He pushed himself to the limits and beyond, as if his fists could drive away the past.

  Every choice he’d made, every lie he’d trusted—it led to this. He was broken. He’d accepted that he was going to die on this mission, known it since he looked at the evidence on the screen and realized what Soras was. But he’d thought that he would die as he fought, a soldier to the end, relentless and logical. He was a Dragon. He was one of the best of the best, and a legend among them.

  Now he knew he was going to die as a fractured reflection of that.

  He was going to die shattered, doubting himself, knowing that he’d been deceived. He was going to die loving a woman who had never existed. When he stumbled at last and Nyx twisted his knife away, he was too tired and too broken to do more than let her drag him down. His attempt to escape the lock came too late; her arm slid around his neck and spots began to dance before his eyes. He tapped at her arms, giving himself up, accepting defeat.

  She did not relent, and a stab of fear caught him. He struggled in earnest, but it was too late. Nyx flipped him onto his stomach, his face pressed into the floor, and bent to whisper in his ear.

  “You loved her.”

  “Nyx—”

  “You did. And listen to me. If you don’t give it up, it’s going to kill you.” The pressure eased, but she kept him pressed there. “Do you hear me? You loved her in spite of what she was, and there’s no shame in that, Talon. I’m telling you that as a friend.”

  He closed his eyes.

  “But as another Dragon, I’m telling you this, too: you have to let it go. You have to let her go. Or you’re going to take the rest of us down with you, and Soras is going to walk away from this free. Do you hear me?”

  She let him up and he sank his forehead into one hand, rubbing at the skin as if he could scrub away the thoughts.

  “What is it?” Her voice was soft.

  “I’m not even doing it for me anymore,” Talon told her. He looked up, and he knew his eyes were bloodshot, haunted. “When this started, I thought no one could have been more betrayed by him than me. And now….”

  “Now?” Her eyes searched his.

  “I’m doing this so she doesn’t have to live with the choice of whether or not to go after him.”

  She hesitated. “Even after—”

  “Yes.”

  There was a long silence, and she nodded. “As long as that’s the end of it.”

  “It is.”

  “Let’s go, then.”

  34

  The shuttle, it turned out, could get her where she needed to go—a space station she remembered, but had not realized was here. They bought the shuttle back at an exorbitant price because Tera was too afraid to make use of what she was, and Lesedi programmed the coordinates into the flight computer. Her stillness, Tera sensed, was sadness.

  Are you sure you want to do this?

  Yes.

  A few times, Lesedi opened her mouth like she was going to say something that required courage. She never said it, and Tera was too afraid to ask. She parted from the woman with a nod instead of any words of farewell, and Lesedi walked away to leave her with the sense of unfinished business—waiting f
or something.

  What that was, Tera could not wonder. She banked the shuttle out of B4 and indulged the childish urge to look over her shoulder…at the back wall of the shuttle, because it lay between her and anything she might see. She shook her head and looked back, setting the speed so as not to exhaust the shuttle’s small fuel supply.

  This time, she did not wait idly. From somewhere, Lesedi had produced a cache of weapons. They weren’t Tera’s, of course—those were locked somewhere on the Ariane—but they would do, with some slight modifications. She cleaned them, loaded them, sharpened the weapons and coiled the wire herself. She wished she had somewhere to test the guns, and contented herself with push-ups and pull-ups instead. At point-blank range, the exact sighting of the guns wasn’t going to matter.

  The thought still made her mouth go dry and her head pound.

  It was math, wasn’t it? That was what Aleksandr had taught her. Greater good. His life weighed against the whole of Talon’s crew, and Aleksandr had weighted his life cheap already. He had ruled a planet harshly—everyone knew how harshly. Some people, he told her when she was little, deserved to die. She might have smiled at the irony if it didn’t make her want to curl up in the corner and sob again.

  When she docked at the station, she waited for the scurry of running feet and the sound of weapons priming, but there was nothing. This must have been one of the best hidden of his bases. He knew they could find Ragnarok. He suspected they might find the planet in the shipping lane. This one, apparently, had been left undefended. Tera felt a stirring of fear, that she would die out here without fuel to get back, without even Aleksandr realizing she was here, and she pushed the thought away.

  Lesedi was right: Aleksandr would find her. Perhaps she had even been followed from B4. She supposed she would know soon enough if that was true.

  She walked out of the shuttle, quiet by habit, her gun drawn. The docking bay was shrouded in shadows. There were no tools lying about. Everything was in its place. No one, Tera guessed, had been here for a very long time. She climbed the steps into the null gravity of the central shaft and pushed herself to the main level. When she descended, feet settling at last on the floor, she saw that her hunch had been correct.