Page 21 of Vex (Dragon Brides #12)
Luisa was pretty sure she was on fire somewhere, burning to a crisp in dragon-induced death after Vex let it rip. All of this? A pre-death hallucination that would end any second as her last synapses fired.
Any second now.
No?
The cold mountain air bit at her exposed skin, sharp and real.
Her bare feet stung against the snow-covered rooftop, and the silk of her ruined evening gown clung to her like ice.
She was alive. Impossibly, miraculously alive, standing in the aftermath of dragonfire that should have reduced her to ash.
Maera Daxkar stood next to Zymon and the smoldering wreckage of her speeder. She didn't look like a woman whose escape was cut off. She was smiling.
Luisa really didn't like that.
"It's over, Maera," Vex said. His voice was steely fury. He was pissed, and smoke was coming off of him in waves. "Surrender yourself to my custody, agree to testify against your co-conspirators, and you'll get some leniency."
Maera's smile widened, revealing teeth that looked too sharp in the emergency lighting from the burning speeder. She straightened her jacket with deliberate calm, as if facing down an enraged dragon lord was just another business meeting.
Zymon shifted beside her, his hand moving toward his weapon, but Maera raised one finger, and he froze. The woman had nerves of steel. But there was something in her eyes, a glittering confidence that suggested she wasn't nearly as trapped as she appeared.
"You can't touch me without violating the casino rules, Lord Vex." Her voice carried the smooth certainty of someone who'd built a career on knowing exactly which laws applied when.
"Those rules ceased to matter the moment you tried to kill my mate." The word came out as a growl, and fresh smoke curled from his fingertips. The temperature around him spiked, turning the falling snow to steam.
His mate? Where?
He reached out and took her hand, squeezing it.
Her?
The contact sent electricity shooting up her arm, warm and impossible.
His palm was furnace-hot against her frozen fingers, and she could feel something deeper in the touch, a connection that hummed beneath her skin like a live wire.
Her logical mind reeled, trying to process what he'd just claimed, but her body seemed to already know the truth.
What Luisa felt went far beyond confusion, but she tried to keep her face neutral. Answers were for later, when Maera Daxkar wasn't on the edge of getting away with everything.
Maera's expression faltered for only a moment. "We can work something out here. That data could make us both rich beyond your wildest dreams."
"I don't need money." The dismissal was so absolute, so casual, that it drove home just how different their worlds really were.
"And the data's gone," Luisa added, her mind catching up a bit and feeling triumphant. It didn't counterbalance the unsteadiness caused by Vex's declaration.
Mate.
What the hell.
Maera froze. The color drained from her face, leaving her looking waxen in the orange glow of the burning transport. Zymon's head snapped toward her, his expression shifting from professional calm to barely contained panic. For the first time since Luisa had met her, Maera looked genuinely rattled.
"You never had access to that data," Maera sneered.
"Your man found me in the private servers. I corrupted that data ten minutes before he got to me." The words came easily, delivered with practiced confidence.
"Then why were you still there?" Zymon demanded.
"Because I was doing a thorough job." She met his gaze without flinching.
In one fluid motion, Zymon drew his blaster and leveled it at her chest. The weapon hummed to life, its energy coils glowing with lethal intent. Vex's response was instant—fire erupted around his hands as he stepped directly in front of Luisa, blocking her from the line of fire.
"You're not getting away," said Vex. "But I can make this easier for you."
"After what happened to your precious mate?" Maera scoffed. "I'm not an idiot."
And there was that word again.
The standoff stretched between them. Zymon's finger hovered over the trigger while Vex's flames danced higher, casting writhing shadows across the rooftop. The wind howled around them, carrying the acrid smell of burning metal and whatever chemicals went into making a speeder all speedy.
Mechanical whirring cut through the tension.
Half a dozen security drones materialized from the storm, their sleek forms circling the rooftop with military precision. Red targeting beams swept across the snow, painting everyone in crimson light.
From the way Maera took cover behind Zymon, these drones weren't hers.
The door to the roof's stairwell opened, and Jaekob Kaur, the Mountain's concierge, stepped out. His uniform was perfectly pressed, and he looked ready to settle a dinner dispute, not step between an angry dragon and a criminal.
"This will not do," said the concierge.
"He broke neutrality!" Maera yelled, pointing at Vex from behind Zymon's broad back.
Vex let his fire dissipate but didn't respond. Instead, he waited a beat before speaking. "Maera Daxkar has been operating an illegal data brokering operation out of your facility. I have been tasked with stopping it."
Kaur's expression remained perfectly neutral, the practiced indifference of someone who'd spent years managing the affairs of the wealthy and dangerous. He surveyed the burning wreckage and armed standoff with the same calm efficiency he might use to assess a dinner reservation conflict.
"What our guests do is their own business," said Kaur. "But we do not tolerate violence."
"I only acted in self-defense," said Vex. "And I believe that is allowed."
The concierge nodded.
"He's lying!" Maera objected.
"Then give me your version of events," Kaur offered. "I'm sure we can come to a reasonable agreement here."
A bribe. Or something like it.
Luisa recognized a man looking for payment. And this was Aetis, after all. No one was clean.
"I'll cut you in on the operation," Maera offered desperately. "One third—no, half!—of all my fees. That's surely more than your salary." Clearly, she didn't believe Luisa had destroyed the data. Or she was bluffing.
If she was, she was good.
Kaur turned to Vex with a raised eyebrow.
Vex’s response was bland. "My uncle is the king of Vemion. What do you want?"
Maera's composure finally cracked completely. She spat curses in three different languages, her voice rising to a shriek that cut through the wind. Zymon tried to pull her back, but she shook him off, her face twisted with rage.
"Some of our guests have had trouble in your air space. It's becoming an issue." Kaur's tone was conversational, as if they were discussing catering options rather than negotiating over a criminal's fate.
"We don't let slavers through." Vex was firm.
"No, I wouldn't ask that."
Vex's voice carried the casual authority of someone accustomed to making deals that affected entire star systems. "Then we can work something out. A security passcode you can offer your guests for safe transit?"
"Done."
All of the drones turned to face Maera and Zymon.
"This is not how things are done here!" she yelled.
The concierge gave her a concerned look. "Of course it is." He turned to Vex. "Shall I take care of this for you?"
Vex considered it. Then he shook his head. "Put her in custody. I'll have a transport come for her and remand them into IDA custody."
"Consider it done."
Vex held out a hand, and Luisa took it.
His fingers intertwined with hers, warm and solid and real. The simple contact grounded her, cutting through the surreal chaos of the last few hours. The job was over. They'd won. Maera's operation was finished, the stolen data destroyed, and somehow, impossibly, they were both still alive.
The job was over.
But he had a fuckload of explaining to do.