CHAPTER EIGHT

ZANE

Behind me, more shouts rang out, but they were the human cries of the House Rojillo guards and not the mechanized clanks of the Black Scarabs. Rigel and the guards should be able to help Leandra and Tivona kill the remaining machines and secure the lawn, so I kept running.

I needed to get to Asterin.

Silas had to have some kind of transport waiting nearby to take him to safety. If he managed to drag Asterin onto a ship, there would be no helping her. The Techwave abducting an Erzton lady from a Regal celebration would create a galactic incident that would further strain relations between the Erzton and the Imperium. No doubt Callus Holloway would blame me for the whole fiasco, and he might even make good on his threats to end me once and for all. I needed to save Asterin to save myself, along with my family.

Besides, Asterin might be a thief and a spy, but she didn’t deserve to die at the Techwave’s hands—or worse, end up in one of their labs as a gruesome experiment.

I picked up my pace, sprinting straight toward the woods and watching for any telltale flares of cannon or blaster fire. If I were Silas, I would have stationed at least a few Black Scarabs in the woods to cover my escape, but no bright pulses of energy erupted, and I made it to the edge of the trees without encountering any resistance.

As much as I longed to charge forward, I forced myself to slow down, soften my steps, and ease into the woods. Coniferous trees with gray trunks and silvery needles crowded together, casting out long, spindly, arrow-shaped shadows, while wild honeysuckle vines snaked along the forest floor like sticky green vipers with pink heads. The scent of the evergreens mixed with that of the flowers, creating a sharp yet sweet perfume.

Up on the lawn, shouts and yells drifted through the air, but the thick screen of trees and branches muffled most of the sounds and encased the woods in an eerie bubble of relative quiet. Overhead, the blue moons and stars were shining brightly and gilding everything in a gloomy gray sheen.

Still clutching my stormsword, I tiptoed from one tree to the next, moving deeper and deeper into the woods. In addition to reviewing the blueprints for Castle Rojillo, I’d also studied maps of the surrounding area. A small clearing was nestled in the center of the woods that was just large enough for a blitzer to safely land. That’s where I would go if I were trying to escape as quickly as possible, so I veered in that direction.

I stopped every so often to look and listen, but no glowing green eyes appeared, and no telltale clanks rang out. Silas must have sent most of the Black Scarabs to the lawn to cause as much destruction as possible and help cover his escape.

Since the woods weren’t teeming with Scarabs, I quickened my pace. Less than two minutes later, the trees and bushes thinned out, and the clearing came into view. A small blitzer was squatting in the open space, its hull painted the same grays and greens of the surrounding woods to help it better blend in with the landscape.

Silas was standing close to the bottom of the open cargo-bay ramp, hitting buttons on his tablet. The hand cannon he had shot me with earlier was dangling from a thick strap that was slung across his chest. A few feet away, Asterin was trying to peel a Black Scarab’s fingers off her neck. The mechanized troop gave her a violent shake. Asterin froze, but her anger and frustration rippled across the clearing and tickled my telempathy.

A sharp, warning beep sounded. Silas stuffed his tablet into his pocket, then spun around, grabbed his cannon, and snapped it up. “You tripped my perimeter alarm,” he called out. “Show yourself—or I start shooting.”

Still clutching my stormsword, I slowly eased into the clearing, my mind whirring with plans and options, considering all the players in this deadly game.

Silas blinked a couple of times, as if I was a ghost who’d come back to haunt him. “How are you still alive?” he snarled. “I shot you point-blank in the chest!”

“Just lucky, I guess.” I jerked my chin at the cannon in his hands. “Or perhaps your little toy doesn’t work as well as you think it does.”

His lips pinched together in frustration, and agreement flickered in his eyes before he was able to smooth out his expression. So there was a problem with the new Techwave weapon, just as Holloway’s spies had theorized. That must be why Silas had only electrocuted the House Rojillo guards instead of killing them outright. His cannon hadn’t had enough juice to finish the job. Good to know, although the information wouldn’t help me right now.

“That’s far enough, Arrow,” Silas warned. “Unless you want my Scarab to snap her ladyship’s pretty neck.”

The Black Scarab slid its fingers around to the back of Asterin’s neck, so that she was standing in front of it, a clear human shield. Asterin grimaced at being maneuvered around like a doll, but she didn’t make a sound of protest. Instead, her sharp, searching gaze flicked from me to Silas to the surrounding trees, and I could almost see the mental calculations going on in her eyes as she thought up and discarded plans to free herself from the Scarab’s tight grip.

I slid forward another step. If I could just get a little closer, I could kill the Black Scarab . . .

“Stop!” Silas snarled. “Now!”

“Okay, okay, I’m stopping,” I called out, raising my arms in mock surrender.

Silas waggled his cannon at me. “Drop your sword on the ground. Your blaster too.”

I gently tossed my stormsword out in front of me, using a bit of telekinesis to make it land in exactly the position I wanted. Then I carefully plucked the blaster off my belt and held it up where everyone could see it.

“Actually, this isn’t my blaster. It’s hers.” I jerked my chin at Asterin. “What a lovely little weapon to carry around in your pocket, my lady. Nice and compact and deadly.”

“I don’t care whose weapon it is,” Silas snarled. “Toss it down. Slowly.”

I stared at Asterin, making sure her attention was fixed on me. Then I winked at her and tossed the blaster out in front of me. Once again, I used a bit of telekinesis to make it land exactly where I wanted.

Be ready, I whispered in my mind.

Silas didn’t react, indicating that he hadn’t heard my telepathic thought, but Asterin’s eyes narrowed. She didn’t send a thought back to me, but she blinked twice in rapid succession almost as if she was saying okay. She didn’t know exactly what I had in mind, but she was ready to move.

I looked past Asterin, reached out with my psion power, and scanned the blitzer, but no loud thoughts, strong emotions, or other presences tickled my telepathy. No one else was on board the ship. No more Scarabs either. If Silas had had more mechanized troops, they would have been down here on the ground with him, already tearing me to pieces.

“What kind of tech did you steal from Lord Jorge?” I asked. “Surely the Techwave doesn’t need the latest, greatest air purifier. Unless the stench of all those polymetal troops is finally going to General Ocnus’s head.”

Silas chuckled. “Ocnus does love his toy soldiers, but no, Lord Jorge had something far more interesting and useful. Too bad you won’t live long enough to figure out what it is.”

He took better aim at me with his cannon, and I raised my hands a little higher.

“Forget the stolen tech. Let’s make a deal. Release Lady Asterin, and I’ll let you and your Scarab board that blitzer and fly away free and clear.”

I meant what I said. Whether they were friend or foe, people were always more important than things. I needed to save Asterin first. Then I could separate Silas from his hand cannon, and then his limbs from the rest of his body.

“In case you’ve forgotten, I’m the one with the superior weapon.” He shook his head. “You really are as dumb, arrogant, and idiotic as everyone says.”

“Aw, do I have a fan club inside the Techwave? How marvelous. I’ll have to send you all some bottles of shampoo from my latest commercial. Galactic Suds for Studs. I think you’ll love it. Should add some extra shine to your hair.”

I gave him my most charming smile. Silas glowered back at me, his finger curling around the cannon’s trigger, but I kept right on smiling. I might be arrogant, but he was the real idiot. If there was one thing that I had learned from being an Arrow, it was that villains always—always—had to brag about how bloody strong, smart, and deadly they were. Silas should have already fired his weapon, as many times as it took to kill me, instead of dishing out insults and hinting at the Techwave’s nefarious plans. And people thought I was a show-off. Please.

“Fuck your shampoo, and fuck the Imperium,” Silas growled. “As for Lady Asterin, I’ll be taking her with me to make sure your Imperium friends don’t shoot me out of the sky. They wouldn’t dare kill an Erztonian lady. The Imperium needs the Erzton and all its raw resources too badly to risk damaging relations with the other group.”

Not a bad escape plan, as far as these things went, but he was severely underestimating Callus Holloway. Erzton relations be damned. The Imperium leader absolutely loathed General Orion Ocnus, and Holloway would shoot any ship with any passenger out of any sky if he thought it would benefit him and hurt Ocnus and the Techwave in the smallest way. Besides, Holloway could always lay the blame squarely on me and then execute me for my supposed incompetence to try to weasel his way back into the Erztonians’ good graces. He’d done such things before to other Arrows who had failed to complete their missions.

Silas was also severely underestimating Asterin. I still didn’t know what kind of psion she was or what abilities she might have, but she wouldn’t go down without a fight. The two of us were remarkably similar that way.

“How fascinating it is to listen to two men discuss my fate,” Asterin drawled in a sardonic voice. “Are you going to explain being a hostage to me next?”

I huffed, as though she had greatly insulted me. “I would never dare to do such a thing, my lady.”

“Oh, shut up,” Silas snapped, his gaze flicking over to Asterin. “Erzton, Imperium, it doesn’t matter. You’re just a spoiled bitch like all the Regals, and soon, you’ll die screaming just like all the Regals will too.”

Anticipation rippled through his voice, along with a dark promise that made my gut clench. What was the Techwave planning? And why did they need Jorge Rojillo’s technology to achieve their goal?

Silas jerked his head at the Scarab. “Get her on the ship. Now. I’ll take care of our uninvited guest.”

The Scarab’s head bobbed up and down, and it moved backward, dragging Asterin along with it. Her eyes locked with mine, worry and determination flaring in her bright, steady gaze.

I stepped forward. “Take me instead. I’m a much more valuable hostage.”

I was speaking to Silas, but my gaze darted over to the Black Scarab. It was ten feet away from the base of the cargo-bay ramp and still lumbering backward, its oversize, unblinking green eyes fixed on me.

Nine feet . . . seven feet . . . five feet . . .

Three . . . two . . . one . . .

The Scarab stepped back, and its foot banged into the bottom of the cargo-bay ramp. The mechanized troop wobbled at the unexpected obstacle and slight change in elevation, and its hand slipped off the back of Asterin’s neck and dropped to her shoulder.

Move! Now! I sent the thought to Asterin.

I snapped my hand forward, used my telekinesis to grab Asterin’s blaster from the ground, and sent it spinning in her direction. She couldn’t break free of the Scarab’s grip on her left shoulder, but she lunged forward and stretched out her right arm.

A wave of psion power arced out to meet my own, almost as if I was physically passing the blaster to her, and the weapon zipped over into Asterin’s hand. As soon as her fingers closed around the small, compact blaster, she snapped it up, jerked her body to the side, and shot the Black Scarab three times in the head.

Pew! Pew! Pew!

The Scarab wobbled on its feet for a second, then pitched forward. Asterin leaped out of the way of the falling machine, then whirled around and aimed her blaster at Silas.

The Techwaver snarled and spun toward her, his finger curling back on the trigger to fire his cannon.

I snapped my hand forward again. This time, my stormsword flew up off the ground, zipped through the air, and sliced across Silas’s shoulder. He screamed, but he didn’t go down, and he didn’t drop his weapon. Instead, Silas swung back around to me, aimed his cannon at my chest, and started to pull the trigger—

Pew! Pew! Pew!

Asterin shot him three times with her blaster. Silas screamed again, but he crumpled to the ground, the cannon sliding out of his hands.

Asterin stepped forward, looming over Silas, her blaster aimed at his head.

I hurried over to her. “Are you okay?”

“Fine,” she growled. “Now that this bastard is down.”

Silas was lying flat on his back. Blood dripped down his arm from where my sword had sliced him, but that was a minor wound compared with the three blaster holes Asterin had punched in his chest. The acrid stench of his fried flesh mixed with the electrical burn of the blaster bolts that still filled the air, along with a faint coppery tang of blood. Even if I’d had another skinbond injector on my belt, it wouldn’t have been enough to save him.

“Any last words?” I asked, crouching down beside the dying man. “Care to confess what the Techwave stole? Now that your mission has failed?”

Silas grinned. Blood stained his teeth a dark, ominous crimson and trickled out of the side of his mouth. “I didn’t fail. I already . . . sent the data. Now we have . . . almost everything we need . . . to finally destroy . . . the Imperium . . .”

His head lolled to the side, his chest stilled, and his last breath escaped in a raspy sigh.

I muttered a curse and stood up. “Is it true? Did he have time to send data to the rest of the Techwave?”

Asterin shook her head. “I don’t know. After he shot you, we went straight to a library. He opened a hidden compartment in a bookcase and connected his tablet to a terminal. I couldn’t see what he accessed or who he might have sent it to.”

I raked a hand through my hair and started pacing back and forth beside his body.

“What do you think the Techwave is plotting?” Asterin asked, worry creeping into her voice.

I stopped pacing and stared down at Silas. Perhaps it was my imagination, but his lips seemed to be curved in a smug smile, as though he had beaten us, even in death. “Nothing good.”

I searched Silas’s body, but other than his tablet, he wasn’t carrying anything noteworthy. I slid the device into my pocket, then picked up his hand cannon and hooked it to my belt so I could study the Techwave’s new weapon later. Finally, I retrieved my stormsword from where it had landed on the ground and boarded the blitzer while Asterin stood guard with her blaster outside.

The blitzer was a common Techwave model, and my quick search didn’t turn up any obvious clues, other than the jamming device Silas had used to block signals around Castle Rojillo. I shut off the device, then sent the ship’s location to the closest squad of Imperium guards so they could come and secure the scene.

Once that was done, the Imperium investigators, engineers, and scientists would go over the Techwave ship from top to bottom. Perhaps they would find something I’d missed, but I doubted it. Silas had already sent the stolen House Rojillo tech to his superiors, and it was doubtful that he’d left any important information behind on the blitzer.

I stomped down the open cargo-bay ramp, frustration pounding through my body with every loud, harsh, clanging step.

Asterin was still keeping watch outside, her blaster trained on the trees around the ship. “Find anything?”

“Nothing,” I growled.

She nodded, let out a tired sigh, and lowered her blaster. Then she reached up with her left hand and gingerly probed the side of her head, hissing a bit. A large reddish bruise had puffed up there, as though she had tucked one of the pink-star honeysuckle blossoms behind her ear.

“You’re hurt.” An unexpected bit of concern shot through me, along with more than a little guilt. “I’m sorry, but I don’t have any more skinbonds.”

Asterin shrugged. “It’s nothing. Just a little sore. I don’t even remember bumping into anything.” She pointed at my head and made a small circle with her index finger. “Besides, I’m not the one who got punched in the face by a Black Scarab.”

The skinbonds might have dulled the sharpest pains of my many injuries, but the goose egg on my temple was throbbing again. I reinforced my psionic shield, adding another layer to that glass box in my mind. The last thing I needed was for the box to shatter here in the middle of the woods and for me not to be able to walk back to the castle.

Asterin’s gaze flicked over my body before landing on the large black hole scorched into my jacket. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

I puffed up my chest. “Just fine and dandy. It takes more than a point-blank cannon blast to the chest to keep Zane Zimmer down for long.”

She snorted. “Talking about yourself in the third person is so pretentious.”

“Haven’t you heard? I’m Zane Zimmer, the Imperium’s most arrogant idiot.”

A thoughtful look filled her face. “You’re a lot of things, but an idiot is not one of them.”

I gasped, clutched my hand to my chest, and staggered back in mock shock. “My dear Lady Asterin, is that, dare I say it, a compliment?”

She rolled her eyes, but a small, reluctant smile curved the corners of her lips. “You must have a low bar for compliments if someone saying you’re not an idiot is your idea of high praise.”

“I would take any praise from you, my lady.”

I said the words as a joke, but as soon as they left my lips, the truth of them sliced through me. I might not like Asterin, and I definitely didn’t trust her, but I respected her. The Erzton lady was smart, strong, and cool under pressure. All admirable qualities, but it was her secrets that intrigued me the most.

How did she slip into Jorge’s lab? Had she been playing the corporate-espionage game and hoping to steal some proprietary tech to deliver to her parents? Or did Asterin have her own agenda, independent from her Erzton responsibilities and commitments?

I had always loved a good puzzle—and especially the satisfaction that came from figuring out a particularly complicated one—and I had a feeling that Asterin would be the most challenging problem I had ever attempted to solve.

“You’re different from what I thought you would be,” Asterin said.

I arched an eyebrow. “Different good or different bad?”

Another thoughtful look filled her face. “Too soon to tell.”

“Well, you’re also different from what I thought you would be,” I countered.

“How so?”

“For starters, I didn’t think you would be a spy—or that you would break into Jorge’s lab tonight. Care to tell me what you were doing in there? What you were hoping to find or steal?”

Asterin crossed her arms over her chest. “Perhaps I was wrong before. Perhaps you are an idiot after all. You certainly have the most ridiculous ideas. Me? A spy? A thief? Hardly.”

“Deny it all you want, but only a thief would break into an R&D lab in the middle of a solstice party.” I gestured at the blaster still in her hand. “And only a spy would smuggle a pocket-size weapon into a Regal ball.”

She huffed, but she quickly slid the blaster into her gown pocket. Then she jerked her chin at my hand. “Says the man carrying a stormsword.”

“Touché.” I tipped my head to her, then slid my sword into the slot on my weapons belt.

We stared at each other. Asterin’s black hair was a tangled mess, her silver eye shadow and liner were severely smudged, and her gray gown was ripped and torn in a dozen places. But somehow she was even lovelier now than she had been on the dance floor, and I found myself easing toward her, like a high tide inevitably drawn to a moonlit shore . . .

“Asterin! Lady Asterin!” a voice bellowed.

I stopped and looked in that direction. Lights appeared in the distance, bobbing back and forth along the edge of the lawn.

Asterin let out another tired sigh. “That’s Rigel. He must be worried sick.”

“Of course,” I murmured. “We should return to the castle. I need to check on my father and my grandmother, as well as everyone else.”

Asterin nodded, then strode toward the trees.

I watched her go, feeling as though something monumental had shifted between us. I wasn’t quite sure what it was, but somehow I was certain that it was only going to cause me more trouble in the end.