“They’ll kill us all.” The crackling webs of blue energy wavered as red blasts splintered into them. “Lexington can try to appease Carik by handing over Kalie, but we’ll all die anyway.”
“Let Ryker go, then.” Mira pulled him to his feet. “Stay.”
“You said if the person you love was down there, you’d go.”
Mira went deathly still. Zane swallowed, willing his legs not to give out. Her wounded expression was the answer he’d never asked for. She might as well have been screaming it, but he didn’t have time to care. The unspeakable image of Kalie’s gemod double was seared into his eyelids, and that unspeakable image could be Kalie.
Love was too strong a word—he doubted he’d ever feel so strongly for someone again, after Lysa. But he cared about Kalie. He liked her for her strength and her kindness, her bravery and her courage. She was his friend, his confidante, and he wasn’t going to let her get herself killed.
She would not be another Lysa.
“I’m going. Don’t try to stop me. Ryker, how much time do you need to repair your cannons?”
“Hours.”
“How many?”
Ryker scratched the back of his neck. “Three? Four?”
“You have one. Senator Nadar, I need you to negotiate with the Feds. Offer the surrender of the Aquisian fleets.”
“What?”
Zane held up his numb hand. Kalie would lecture him about being condescending to allies who ranked far above him, but now wasn’t the time to play by the rules. “Ask for a ceasefire to negotiate a surrender. Both of you. Pull out all the stops, the most outrageous demands. We have to stall long enough for the Etovians to get here.”
“The Etovians are coming? They’re blockaded!”
“If you’d brought Kalie back, you would’ve heard that,” Zane snarled. Mira lowered her head. “I’ll get into the palace and challenge Iliana.”
Ryker’s lips flattened. “You won’t get within fifty miles of the palace, and you need the Speaker to oversee the challenge.”
Mira drew her lip between her teeth, sighed, and tugged out her comm. “I have a contact. He can get you in.”
She strode away, murmuring into her comm. Another blast rocked the ship, and screams wailed over the speakers. Zane’s heart thumped.Beyond the viewport, beyond the red lasers and the vicious swarm of black warplanes, a frigate exploded into shards of scrap. The blue webs of energy around their bridge flickered. Spitting a curse, Nadar stalked away to bark orders at his officers.
“Can you call the Speaker?”
Ryker’s laugh was the hysterical howl of a man about to die. “The woman’s over a century old. She lives in a cave. No, I can’t call her! I can go to her cave, try to convince her that Kal sent me, but she doesn’t come out for just anyone.”
“He can get us in.” Mira marched between them, pocketing her comm. “There’s an abandoned warehouse a few miles outside the palace. The tunnel underneath leads to a bunker in the mountain, and there’s old shafts we can use to get up to the palace. He’ll take us as far as the foyer.”
“Us?” Zane asked.
“I’m going with you, obviously. Someone has to watch your back.” Mira’s smirk vanished as she stared at the spot where the projections had disappeared. “And besides, someone has to save his son. It was our deal.”
“His son?” Ryker spluttered, glancing at the vacant spot beside his holo. “Don’t tell me you’re putting your lives in the hands of Landon Grant!”
“Do you have a better idea?” Mira checked her pulser’s charge. “He’s a father who’s terrified for his son, and he doesn’t have any bad blood with Zane and I. He was friends with your father—both your fathers,” she added, glancing from him to Ryker. “It’s the best chance we’ve got.”
A chill raced across Zane’s frozen skin, but she was right. “We have to trust him. But I need you to go to the Speaker’s cave first, Mira. Convince her to come and give the challenge her blessing.”
Ryker shook his head. “She won’t come, not if a commoner asks. I’ll go.”
“No. I need you here, to sell the surrender.” Zane swallowed thickly, meeting the dark stare of the man who could’ve been Kalie’s fiancé. “If this goes wrong, I need you to promise me you’ll do whatever it takes to protect Kalie.”
“I swear it on my soul.” Ryker bowed his head. “Keep her alive, Wells. May Azura bless you.”
Wind lashedthrough the ranks of barren trees as Zane’s tempor bike tore through a patch of mud. Fed warplanes had tailed them in orbit, but in true Mira fashion, Mira had managed to crash-land their battered ship on the next ridge over. She’d left just enough time to get out with the bike before the whole thing blew.
