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Leto protected himself from any more of the man’s grim fatalism by racing back to the outpost. The arena shed long, dark shadows over what remained of the lights inside the lab.
He returned to the corridor of death. Eight remained. Outside, he heard the thrum of two snowmobiles. Then came the glimmer of Tallis’s energy and the sharp crackle of the Giva—distant, but near enough to honor his promise to help Ny
Two more prisoners freed. Leto was fueled by fear and desperation and Dragon-damned grit. Time could fuck off. That human expression fit best. He wouldn’t give up on Ny
Even if that enemy was time itself.
♦ ♦ ♦
When the charges set off, Ny
Her body tensed and her mind shut down. Pure instinct, as old as the Dragon. Mille
That fire was hers. She owned it. She was a daughter of the Dragon. The wall of searing heat gathered in front of her as a ball of living flame. The roof of the labs blew open, into the sky she couldn’t see. All was red. All was orange and yellow and evil. Her control of the energy was so close to nothing. She could only keep it, focus it, shoot it upward.
Fighting. Still fighting.
My brave girl.
Leto’s words were a chant even when her skin felt like it was peeling off. Soon her muscles and her bones would dissolve. She knew the moment when she’d lost the fight. Her body went cold. The fire took her and she felt no more pain. Shivers, uncontrollable shivers, swallowed her without mercy as she called out Leto’s name.
Her life was at an end.
No, the pain was . . . gone.
“Ny
So slow. So terrified of it not being true. Because she thought she heard Leto.
Her eyelids fluttered. She was that out of body, as if her lids worked of their own accord. Finally they parted to reveal Leto’s scarred, uncompromising face.
“You’re not going anywhere,” he growled. “I promised I’d come back for you. You heard me. Don’t make me a liar, Ny
Her throat felt papery and charred. Yet she could still swallow. She could still talk. “So bossy.”
Leto enveloped her in a fierce hug. His heart galloped beneath her ear at the speed she knew he could travel. She’d worked so hard, but even she knew she was oddly still. His rasping exhale was a brush of warmth against her cheek. Good warmth. The kind that meant safety, not destruction.
“Where is your armor?” she asked.
“Shed it. Faster that way.”
“How many lost?”
“I don’t know.”
“Leto, no! I could’ve held on a little longer.”
“Lonayíp woman, I grabbed you up through a wall of pure fire. You were being consumed by it, like the Dragon swallowed into the Chasm. Ny
She gulped cold air into her singed lungs and burrowed her body into his warmth. “I hear you.”
“I can’t imagine my life without you. I had my arms around you and was ru
“But the last prisoners?”
Leto exhaled heavily. “I’ve always lived with the choices I’ve made.”
He smoothed sweat-sticky hair back from her temples, which exposed her heated flesh to the elements. She liked the shock of cold as she returned to herself.
“But that doesn’t mean the death of more i
She shook her head, which still roared with the sounds of whirling flames, like an enraged predator. “Where’s Jack?”
“With your cousin. The Giva helped you, as he said he would. He took part of the energy, too.”
“He’s a damn fool.”
“He’s related to you.”
She hurt all over, but Leto’s rough caresses began to heal her from the inside out. “You were my tormentor once. Maybe all of that harsh treatment led us here. I wouldn’t have survived without you, Leto. I wouldn’t have known my strength.”
Ny
Tears froze on her cheeks, but Leto kissed them away.
“Here,” came a familiar voice. “I believe this young man belongs to you.”
Looking up from the protection of Leto’s solid chest, Ny
“I’ve communicated with the outside world, if you can believe it,” Mal said. “Who needs the Indranan when we have satellite phones?” He looked exhausted. Quietly sure of his place, but exhausted. “Rescue helicopters will be here in an hour. Then we’ll search what’s left of the underground complex for survivors.”
“And the Pet?”
“She’s under my protection now. Or my custody. Whichever winds up being more appropriate.” He smiled tightly and turned to leave them in privacy.
“Mal? Who was that man? He said he was my father’s younger brother.”
The Honorable Giva stopped, his back still turned. “Tallis of Pendray. The Heretic. And yes, your uncle. One day I’ll tell you the sins he confessed to me.” He looked over his shoulder with a glare as powerful as his lightning strikes. “But not tonight. Enjoy your family, cousin.”
He returned to the people who needed him—who would need him more than ever now that the power of one of the cartels had been upended.
Although confused, Ny
Four snowmobiles pulled up alongside them. Two faceless Dragon Kings merely nodded before gu
“We’re throwing in with the rebels for now,” he said. “We have an idol to return to our clan, and a few collared brethren to free along the way. That sounds far too noble for me, but I’ll survive. I have it on tenuous authority we’ll see each other again—sometime between now and our return from the Sath leadership. Won’t that be a pleasant reunion? At least it’ll be warm in Egypt.”