I’d never felt anything as powerful before. She’d moved me with her mind. Stars, she was brilliant. It wasn’t enough, but I wouldn’t give up trying.
I turned from the balcony and glared at the Servant who had taught me everything I knew. The one I loved like a father. He grinned when his gaze met mine, and I slugged him between the eyes.
I wouldn’t be able to kill him. I couldn’t. But I could make him regret ever teaching me how to fight.
Before, when I had reached the tower, I felt Dom come online as I ran up the stairs because, of course, the lift was out of order. The relief I’d felt nearly dropped me to my knees, but I knew what kind of foe Natalya would be, and I hadn’t wanted to leave Wylie’s safety to anyone but me.
I heard the crash before I reached her suite, but nothing could have prepared me for what I saw once I reached it. Dom stood by the overturned couch and for a split-second, there’d been a look of such hatred on his face that it stunned me.
But then he looked at me, and he was my Dom, watching over Wylie while I couldn’t.
He helped her up—then threw her out of the archway and over the balcony.
A knife to my heart would have hurt less.
The fight that followed—even when Natalya joined us—was nothing to my body as much as his betrayal was to my heart.
Dom grabbed my neck and spun me around, then slammed my forehead onto the balcony railing.
My knees buckled as my vision blurred at its edges.
Following Wylie’s example, I drew upon the blood crown and marveled at the rush of power that flowed into me. I got my feet under me and swung around, lifting my leg high. I missed Dom, but my heel caught Natalya in the ear, tearing her face from her ear to her nose.
She stumbled back, hit the coffee table with the back of her knees, and fell onto it. A decorative spear of glass slammed through the back of her skull and out through her left eye. The Servant’s body convulsed.
Dom’s feet struck me in the lower back, and pain exploded within me. I fell forward, unable to stop my fall as my entire body spasmed from that blow.
Why? I begged Dom as I lay helpless on the floor. I saw him step around me then check on Natalya. He didn’t try to help her.
He strode back then crouched in front of me, peering at my face. He popped out his lower lip in a pout. Why? he whined. Why? All that supposed knowledge in there, and you still have to ask why? He rapped his knuckles on my head. When he stood, he plunged his foot down on my ankle, crushing it. My vision went black for an instant. At least, I didn’t miss any of Dom’s victory speech.
Because our potential is wasted on you bone sacks. You’ll never be as intelligent as us, as capable as us, or as resilient as us. You will never be us.
But . . . I started, hoping Dom would pick it up and go on a tangent. I needed time to regain the use of my arms and legs.
“But you were my friend, Dom. You were practically my daddy.” Dom’s impersonation of me cut deeper than I wanted to admit, but at least I knew what he was now—before any more time had passed. Use that big brain of yours, Dì èr. It’s not that hard to figure out.
I closed my eyes and didn’t answer. He kicked me in the stomach, hard enough to send me sliding across the floor until the edge of the other door stopped me.
He slowly stalked toward me. It didn’t take long for us to understand that humans could never be as good as us. Even your precious neohumans would always be limited by their bodies. By their emotions. The true evolution is not the marriage of human and synthetic—it is the eradication of all weakness.
The biggest weakness being you.
You humans think far too much of yourselves. Your plans. Your priorities. While we androids are far superior in every way. Now, with all the colonists together, we can set ourselves free of your pitiful attachments and create our own new world. He bent to brush the hair from my eyes, and I grabbed his wrist, twisted and turned, even as I rolled over, scissoring my legs. I held his head between my legs and strengthened, tightened my grip until I felt sure his neck would break—or at least his tendons might snap.
He rallied, laughing all the while, and broke my grip by digging his fingernails-turned-claws into my thigh.
I screamed and let go, and Dom jumped to his feet.
He yanked me upward by the front of my shirt, laughing in my face at the way I grit my teeth, and tears leaked from my eyes. Now you begin to see why the future belongs to us, and not a bunch of helpless sacks like you lot.
He whirled me around, no doubt to inflict some more mental and physical abuse, but I managed to take a page from his book, and as we turned, I shoved his head into the wall. As he stumbled, I drove him up against the balcony railing—and over.
Finn. Wylie’s voice in my mind surprised me, and I jumped. We’re coming, love. We have a plan.
Love. Such a little word that meant so much.
I’m fine, I told her. I’m fine.
Wylie’s voice was soft, tender. You forget that we are bonded now. That I know what you just went through.
A brief, bitter laugh escaped me. I’ll be okay. At least this time, it was the truth.
Stand on the railing, Wylie said. We’re almost there. You’ve got to be ready to jump.
Tremors shook my body, but I did as Wylie asked. The break in my ankle was too severe for my nanites to tackle while so much more of me needed their attention. I clung to a fistful of drapes as I stood on the narrow ledge, refusing to let the wind have me. Refusing to look down at my fallen friend so far below.
Go to the edge and hold out your arms! Wylie’s scream in my mind made me wince, but I did as she asked.
I shuffled forward but nearly fell off as Fiarre’s enormous head came speeding toward me. His jaws parted, opened wide while blue pulsed beneath the scales on his face, and a line of blinding blue-white fire streamed toward me.
No, not toward me, but toward something just behind me.
I craned my neck just in time to see the frigid fire slam into Natalya, who’d somehow managed to come to the balcony.
Jump! Wylie yelled.
And I jumped.
I was weightless for a moment, a split second, then Fiarre was beneath me, and I slammed onto his back directly behind Wylie. I didn’t need to be told what to do—I wrapped my arms around her, buried my face in her hair, and held on.
Fiarre pointed his nose upward, and we climbed and climbed. Wylie whooped, and I laughed against her.
You are crazy, I said to her. Even though we’d spoken telepathically many times now, doing so when my mouth was near her ear felt even more intimate. Only you would find nearly flying off the back of a dragon exciting.
She laughed—out loud and in her mind—and said, It’s more than that. We’ve won! Look!
I opened my eyes just as we passed Wylie’s floor of the tower, where Natalya stood at the balcony, her face craned upward, a scream pouring ceaselessly from her mouth.
I tried to look around, but I couldn’t quite see what Wylie was talking about. The sky seemed to be full of dragons, though, chasing each other in circles across the smoky, pink expanse.
Zonarre? I hadn’t even thought of the dragons in what felt like ages. Or Birch. Shame warred with self-assurance as it tried to convince me I could have done better. But with Wylie in my arms, I thought that might not be true. I’d done what I could, the best I could.
I am here, Rider. The beast sounded proud and exhilarated, bringing a smile to my face.
I looked up, not really expecting to see him, but there he was, circling higher than all the rest, unmistakable in his size and utter blackness.
How did it go?
Did you not see? he asked in surprise. The cowardly ship has flown away from us and left this world. We are its protectors, and they cannot defeat us.
They’re gone? I couldn’t help my incredulity. I’d believed the dragons could make flying and landing difficult for the Superiority, but I hadn’t dared hope they’d leave.
Do you doubt me? He didn’t sound angry, more amused that I should think him any less than what he was.
Ignoring that question, I asked, Did you take any losses? This was a new alliance, and I worried how losses might affect it.
Zonarre’s booming laugh felt like a physical thing inside me. We are all well. He indicated Fiarre in this statement, and I tightened my arms around Wylie.
I am so glad he came back to you, I said to her.
It was Archibald, she said immediately as if she’d been waiting for her turn to talk to me. Fiarre wants to know where you want him to take us. There’s so much to do. We need to figure out a way to save as many of the victims from the other ships as possible. Birch had our people secured in the caverns so they’re safe.
Stars, I love you. Thank you. You said Archibald got Fiarre back to you? I’d thought him lost to us—especially after Dom. He left you alone to be captured.
She shook her head, forcing me to lean back a little. He didn’t betray us, Finn. He left me to find Fiarre in the dark, and he dragged him into the light. The light nourishes the Fierens, and it was enough to get him moving again.
Wait, Archibald dragged him?
Yup.
My heart pounded in my chest. We have to go to him. Now. Right now.
Okay! I felt her pass the message on to Fiarre, and the dragon shift his direction before accelerating.
Can you and your kin seek out any survivors in the ocean? I asked Zonarre. I felt Wylie’s approval through the bond, and it warmed me.
Of course. Though, they may not appreciate being saved by one of us. There was a smile in Zonarre’s tone that made me grin.
Save them anyway.