Page 25 of Dustwalker

“Well, I’m not going with you. Food be damned. I won’t be a part of any plans that involve thatthing.” She turned and walked back toward the gate.

“I’m not going to follow you back through. When they see you alone…”

“I’d prefer a bullet in the back.”

“We both know it won’t be a bullet.”

Lara froze. She hung her head, and rainwater streamed over her. Her free hand trembled in a fist at her side. Whatever wounds she’d suffered were still fresh.

He closed the distance between them. She didn’t move away. Softening his voice, he said, “I’ll tell you what you want to know as soon as we’re secure in my residence.”

She turned her head, angling her ear toward him.

Ronin’s brow plates ticked downward. “Warlord is not involved in this, I can assure you. And I don’t want him to be any more than you do.”

Her shoulders rose with a deep inhalation. A moment later, she released a slow, shuddering breath and opened her hand. The red spots on her fingers and palm faded away.

“Come,” Ronin said.

CHAPTER EIGHT

Never, ever trust them,Tabitha had told Lara after that horrifying night.

If only they’d both taken her advice.

Here Lara was again, doing exactly what she knew not to do.

Ronin waited behind her, and she found his patience infuriating. It would’ve been so much easier to hate him if he’d just pushher, if he’d show his true colors and reveal the monster under his fake skin.

Could she trust him to keep his word? His exchange with the gearheads had been different from what she’d seen between other bots. He seemed…evasive, almost confrontational. And he claimed Warlord wasn’t involved. Why be honest about meeting with the ruler of Cheyenne only to lie about the nature of their conversation?

Ronin’s behavior wasn’t typical of the bots she’d dealt with. It was too…human, and that was unsettling.

Finally, she turned and tipped her head back, looking up at his face. He watched her with that unblinking stare, but the corners of his lips were downturned. Was that worry in his expression?

“Well?” she asked. “We going? I’m tired of being wet.”

A tiny crease formed between Ronin’s brows as his gaze lingered on her. After a while, he turned and continued in the direction he’d been walking.

Lara followed, head bowed and eyes on her feet to keep the rain out of her face. She was soaked to the bone, and her sopping clothes werechafing her skin. Her boots were waterlogged, squishing with each step, and to top it all off, the temperature was dropping rapidly with the coming sunset.

She opened her bag and stuffed the food inside. Then she wrapped her arms over her chest, tucked her hands under her armpits, and clung to whatever warmth she could muster.

When she glanced up to make sure Ronin was still ahead of her, something at the edge of her vision caught her attention. She turned her head, and her breath fled her lungs. Lara had never seen so much greenery. Beyond the road, the ground was blanketed in lush grass, which in turn was bordered by tall, living trees. Their leaves swayed in the wind, glistening as they turned from one side to the other.

She walked to the edge of the field, crouched, and ran her palm over the wet grass. The blades tickled her skin. She pressed down to test their give, amazed at the softness.

“I think this is how much of the world used to look,” Ronin said from the street.

“Why does it only look like this here?”

“Because bots…maintain. Many of us exist only to repair what is broken and conserve what is not. To make things appear whole again.”

She plucked a few blades of grass and raised them to her nose, inhaling. “It smells so fresh.” Her hands were trembling with cold and approaching numbness, but what did that matter in the face of such wonder?

“Come, Lara. We need to get you out of the rain.”

Despite everything, Lara was reluctant to move on. She ran her gaze over the seemingly endless green. What would it look like during the day, with the sun shining? If she walked away, would this view still be here when she returned?