Page 46 of Taking Jenny (Planet Orhon #4)

Tiger

W hen the next siren rang out through the trees, Discord gasped with excitement. “That means she won! We must hurry back to Mal’s.”

But even as we made the drive, I fought the urge to throw open my door and run back to the hunting ground. I needed to see for myself that Jenny was safe. I wouldn’t believe it until I saw her again.

“Where will she be taken now?” I asked, unable to keep the worry out of my voice.

“Most likely, the palace for a day of rest,” Discord replied. “Justice will want her freshened up for the ball tonight.”

“Right, the celebration.” I scowled at the thought. “He’s gonna be pissed that he doesn’t get to eat her.”

Discord snorted a laugh. “Oh yes. The only other time I’ve seen that happen was when Silence won Illiapol. I wasn’t sure if Justice was happy she won or mad he didn’t get to eat his own daughter.” She grimaced. “His happy and mad faces are the same.”

After everything, my mind felt as though it might implode. I had been awake for…well, I wasn’t sure how many hours or days it had been. Everything blurred together. But I managed to smile when Discord pulled over to pick up Surge.

He grinned up at me after he climbed in. “Glad to see you made it.”

“Yeah, you too,” I said, meaning it. “Any word on the others?”

“I broke Mal out of prison, and we split up, since the hunters did, too. I haven’t seen anyone else since.”

“No Longshot either?” Discord asked, turning in her seat.

“No. Figured they might have caught up to you or Jenny.”

She huffed and drove on, until she suddenly veered off the road toward a figure moving through the fields beside the prison. The ride was quite rough, making us all bounce our heads into the ceiling.

“What are you doing?” I groused.

“See that guy?” She pointed toward the silhouette.

“Yeah, he’s too big to be Longshot or Mal—”

“I know.” She drove straight to him, and when she flashed the vehicle’s lights in his direction, I couldn’t make out who he was. But when he came to the door, the big hulking figure had Longshot’s face.

“The hell?”

“Get out and help them,” Discord ordered.

I stepped out of the onworlder and realized that Longshot had carried Mal on his back down the mountain, around the prison, and into the field, giving him the appearance of a giant. Mal was limp and half-conscious, and Discord and I helped lay him in the backseat, draping his head on my lap.

“What happened?” I asked Longshot.

“I found him passed out in the forest,” he said, joining us in the vehicle.

Mal mumbled, “My head…is big.”

Surge immediately leaned over the seat and went to work, golden arcs crackling from his fingers as they settled over Mal’s face. I stiffened, afraid his magic would hurt, but Mal didn’t even stir.

The ride back to Mal’s blurred around me as Surge examined the wound on his head above his ear, then tasted the blood. He muttered something to himself and kept working, layering magic over the injury in rhythmic pulses. Those weird arcs fell against Mal’s closed eyes and around his temple.

When we arrived at the palace, we moved Mal into Surge’s lab, where he applied elixirs and other things I didn’t understand. Longshot and Discord left so they could sleep. They were confident Surge had it under control. I stayed beside Mal, quietly holding his hand.

“Just a concussion,” Surge said after an hour had passed. “He was hit near some old scar tissue, which makes it more difficult to heal, but he’ll be fine. He needs rest. You need rest. Go to bed.”

I shook my head. “I’m not leaving him.”

“I thought you might say that.” Surge rolled another exam table next to Mal’s. “Then rest here. At least you’ll both be off your feet.”

I swallowed hard as I moved on top of the table. “Thank you, Surge. For everything. Jenny, Mal, all of it.”

He smiled, then looked at Mal as he spoke. “Jenny is the first conduit who liked me. I wasn’t about to let that go without a fight. And this bastard has been my friend for a very long time.”

At the mention of Jenny being a conduit, the hair on my body stood on end. “What makes you think she’s a conduit?”

“Relax, Tiger,” he said, patting my back.

“I knew when I tasted her blood to analyze it after she fell when training. Jenny told me you know. She and I had a little conversation about things and there’s no animosity between us.

I’m not going to tell anyone. I know what kind of target that would put on her. ”

“I’m not saying that she is,” I said carefully, “but if she was, since you’re a magician, would you try to kill her?”

He smiled, and I knew the answer. “If she were to come in here and threaten my friends, sure, I would. But I have no reason to attack her. I don’t hate people for how they were born, Tiger. That sort of thinking is madness. You get some rest, okay?”

I nodded, settling in next to Mal, and he turned out the lights on his way out. I stayed at Mal’s side, his hand curled loosely in mine. His warmth anchored me, lulling me to sleep.

Neither of us woke until the evening, when it was time to get ready for the ball. Mal was back to normal, as though he’d sustained no injuries at all. He wore a gray suit, and in my room, an indigo suit in a regal cut awaited me, which I changed into before meeting him back in the foyer.

Mal straightened my gray tie, which I did not expect, though I liked him touching me. “You can be sweet sometimes, you know that?” I said to him.

He smirked. “Don’t tell anyone. It would ruin my reputation.”

“Not to worry,” I replied with a grin. “I don’t know anyone.”

Mal laughed and smoothed a hand down my chest, sparking awareness of just how handsome this man was. “By the end of tonight, you will.”

“Oh?” I arched a brow. “How’s that?”

“You will be the man on the arm of the winner of Illiapol,” he said, pride in his voice for Jenny’s accomplishment, which I echoed. “Plenty of people will want to speak to you.”

I groaned. “I’ll be subjected to her sycophants?”

“Justice’s. Maybe mine.” His grin widened. “Don’t worry. You’ll hate it.”

I laughed and kissed him lightly on the lips. “How are you feeling?”

“As right as ever.” He hesitated a moment, and winced uncomfortably. “There’s something you should know.”

I had no idea what he intended to tell me that would make him look so uneasy. “Yes?”

He exhaled a deep breath. “During Illiapol, I met up with Jenny on the path while I was protecting her. One of the hunters passed by…” he shook his head. “Not the point…once he was gone, that tension that’s always been between Jenny and I…”

“You fought?” I guessed.

His gaze met mine. “We fucked.”

“Oh.” I smiled at the thought. “Really?”

He hesitated. “You’re not mad?”

I laughed. “Not at all. I’ve been hoping the two of you would get together since you and I fucked. I’m not mad. If anything, the thought arouses me.”

Mal tugged on my tie and kissed my lips, grinning. “Deviant.”

“Yeah, but you like it,” I said huskily.

“I do,” he said as he released my tie, then sighed. “And as much as I’d like to explore that deviance with you, we have a ball to attend.”

I nodded, and we left with the others for Justice’s palace. I had not heard from Longshot about his time on the hunting field yet, and wondered aloud, “Were you the one who threw the rock?”

He blinked. “I beg your pardon?”

“When discord threw her rock at the hunter and it went wide, another one came from the other side of the path and hit the guy. That was you, wasn’t it?”

Longshot almost smiled. “Aye, that was me,” he confirmed.

But I was not appeased. “Why didn’t you come out to help us?”

He shrugged. “I was in the middle of rigging a snare, and the two of you appeared to have things under control.”

“You let us risk our lives over a snare?” I asked, a bit angrily.

“As I said, you appeared to have things under control,” he said, absently tugging on the cuff of his suit jacket. “Additionally, the snare caught Craven, making it far easier to dispatch him.”

“You didn’t leave his corpse in the snare, right?” I asked, remembering Discord’s rule about making sure the bodies looked like something Jenny could do.

He stiffened in his seat, looking offended.

“I am not an amateur. Of course, I didn’t.

” He paused, then said, “I know you are upset, Tiger, so let me explain. I executed two men I have known for over a decade and tried to kill my planet’s ruler with another trap.

I will go to my grave regretting the fact he did not fall into it. ”

Surprise rippled through me. “You nearly killed Justice?”

He nodded once. “It was just before Jenny won. The trap was a hidden pit, right next to where I presumed he would hide in the trees to watch the finish line. The sadistic bastard is notorious for killing avatars close to the finish line, snuffing out their chance of victory when they are so close to winning. I stayed close by, keeping a rock ready to throw at Justice in case things went south for Jenny. But he just…it was the oddest thing. He just let her go.”

Mal and frowned, then said, “He let her go, how?”

“He said something about novelty and how he was wrong about her, and she had surprised him, which he appreciated, so he let her win.”

Mal’s body went tense beside me. “Good to know.”

I glanced at Mal. “What is it?”

“Just a feeling.” His troubled gaze remained fixed ahead. “I’ll know more after the ball.”

Before I could press further, our onworlder pulled up to the palace. We valeted the vehicle and made our way to the grand ballroom, which had a pair of gold thrones erected at the far end, with a wall of windows behind it.

I leaned close to Mal and asked, “Why is everyone just standing around? And there’s no music. I thought this was a ball.”

“It will be,” he said, his gaze scanning the room. “We’re waiting for—”