Page 30

The men drag me off of the ship and down a long hallway behind Zariah. I can’t move. I’m still processing the cobra’s venom. My gland is on fire, fighting like it does when I’ve picked up a serious illness.

They drop my body in the hallway, and I see Zariah working on the puzzle. I hope she solves it. I hope she’s smart enough to survive. I pray to the stars that she can get out of this place. I’m too weak to speak, though the urge to cry out to her tenses my throat.

“You guys are late,” someone says from down the hallway.

“She gave us some trouble. Venom didn’t kill this one. Hey, you’re not one of—”

Two quiet pops drop my guards. Someone else picks up my body and drags me down the dirt hallway deep into the planet. It feels like an hour passes before I get a sign of something other than tunnel walls, but my perception is likely off because of the venom.

The man lugs me toward the sounds of heavy bass trance music. Colorful lights glint off the metal floor that pulses with the beat. People and aliens dance around us, bouncing and laughing, not one of them noticing me.

I’m dropped in a private room. A door shuts and closes out most of the noise. The floor against my cheek is cold, marble tile. It reeks of bleach. In the grout, I notice stains that carry the faint scent of iron.

Someone else finally walks in. “How is he not dead? Cobra venom?”

“Lazariot, sir.”

“Hmm. Really?” A hand rolls me onto my back.

I barely get a glimpse of his face amid the hazy patches in my vision, but I know exactly who he is the moment I do. There’s no recognition on his pinched face. The hatred that surges in my core fills me with a worse feeling than the venom.

“Get a collar. We’ll make use of his serum. Plenty of junkies will pay top credits down here.”

“He came in with your daughter,” the guard says, snapping a thick metal band around my neck.

“What did you just say?”

“Cazir returned with these two. She made it into the vault.”

“Maybe we should drain him instead.”

“That will kill me,” I rasp, the blurry room slowly taking shape around me. Anything to stay alive and fight for a chance to see her again. “You’ll get more if I’m alive. If I live through this poison.”

“That serum will get a high price on the black market. I can replicate it,” he says like my life doesn’t matter. I know it doesn’t to him. But it does to his daughter. “You think you’re the first I’ve seen of your kind? No. So don’t try to talk your way out of it.”

I think about Zariah and how her scent has changed since last night. If it is what I believe, then I’m not going to tell him anything. I want her to get as far away from the place as possible.

“Do whatever you want to me. Just let her go. She didn’t want to help him. He made her,” I offer.

“I see now which child was loyal and which wasn’t,” he remarks.

A nearby screen comes to life, displaying the puzzle wall, her solving it, and then almost everyone ducking below a flood of arrows. My core beats faster, and my vision clears a little more. “Ironic to talk about loyalty and greed as if you know the difference.”

“Says one of the last of his species—” He snorts at me and switches screens. We watch the clouds billow and a rifle move by an invisible force.

My core pulses faster as I realize what’s happened.

That’s it. Run, Zariah. Get as far away from here as you can. I close my eyes and pray she gets on the ship and leaves.

“Send three teams after him and his men and another after her.

“You can have me, not her,” I say, feeling heat return to my body.

Her father glowers at me. “He’s becoming more of a problem than I want to deal with.”

“We take what we want,” the guard says, pointing his rifle at me.

I’m not sure if I’m ready, but as his rifle igniter lights up, I know I’m out of time.

Grabbing the muzzle, I shove it aside as a bullet punches through the floor. My ear rings, but I ignore it and tug on the rifle, pulling the man closer. Then I punch him in the face.

The guard staggers back. I yank the rifle from his hands, roll away, aim, and fire. His shield falters and fails. The man collapses as I scramble up and fire back at Zariah’s father. His shield is stronger and barely flickers from the rifle fire. I’m not surprised he’d be smart enough to ensure his shield could endure any fire from guards that change loyalties on him. They have built an underground empire on the backs of taking what they want, which inherently breeds distrust, resentment, and flighty honor at best.

The rave room is difficult to weave through. Gunfire hasn’t disrupted the people and aliens dancing to the thumping music. And by the dazed and drunk looks on their faces, they’re all drugged.

I have to find my way out and get to Zariah so we can get the hell out of here.