“I forgive you.”
Symbols light up over Eluni’s body, ones I never noticed before. They brighten until they shimmer with her Storm. She growls, strains to plant a foot under her as the Royals close in, trying to strengthen their assault.
Eluni’s eyes narrow, and she belts out a warcry. Her body throws an explosive wave of light with the grenade.
Turning away, I shield my eyes. The buzz of her arcs hums through the air.
The Royals fight to push her back into the crowd away from me. Eluni gets caught up in the flood of Denarso and New Order loyalists. But she keeps fighting. And that’s what matters to me.
Immense agony fills me for Eluni. I was hard on her and now regret it. This whole time, she has held back many painful secrets and an impressive Storm.
But all of it fades when I think of Jovie.
The king ofEvalarhad a thing for throwing bolts at anything and everything he despised. Eluni, undoubtedly, went after him because she knows the pain of losing a mate and the desire I now have for vengeance. But because the king’s head lies on the floor before me. There’s nothing left for me to do in this universe. It’s easy to give up when my hope is gone.
My father makes his guards tighten the net, forcing me to strain for breath as I watch my people fight for their lives and their loved ones. Denarso shred them. Rogues throw themselves in the line of fire and protect commoners with shields and bullets. They group up, holding off Denarso. But it’s only a matter of time until shield generators on their lower-tech wristbands run out of power, and the slimy orange bastards get inside.
I choke up because I can’t stop it. I don’t have the energy to break free.
“How are you okay with this?” I ask Pronkus.
He smirks and crosses his arms as his Arkus shield protects him from a thrown bolt. “Some of us are just born better.”
His sense of entitlement burns so hot it ignites a shred of purpose in me. Pronkus deserves to die because of what he did to Jovie.
“Too bad you weren’t born smart!” a familiar voice shouts.
Jorusk drops a gigantic string of metal parts. It’s held together only by strained wiring. It’s not Amphiran in design.It must be from the Denarsoan ship.
He darts away into the hallways as Royals fire at him. They roast the parts in their attempt to kill him, earning them the attention of nearby Denarso.
“That’s from our computers! You destroyed our ship!” a Denarso shouts.
“We will give you another ship. Finish the job!” The king in metallic purple armor, who steps out to speak with him, shimmers with an odd hue I don’t like, and I don’t think others can see.
Cold dread fills me.Cloaking tech. Concealers!“You’re not a Royal!”
He whips his head around and snarls. “Shut up!”
The truth is in the yellow gleam to his green eyes. When his back twitches and his Royal cloak moves like there’s something underneath, I know what he is.
“You’re aTalhuskin!”
He turns away from the Denarso and charges toward me. His concealer flickers and fades, exposing a massive brown, winged male with talons for fingers and teeth like Denarso. “You befriended the ones who betrayed us!”
The Talhuskin spreads his wings and soars toward me while my father and other Royals move aside like cowards.
“We escaped your bullshit hierarchy!” Jorusk, mid-flight, crashes into the Talhuskin, sending them into a tumbling battle of wings and claws and coals.
The Denarso snarl at the Royals the moment they turn their backs, advancing on them. “You brought us here for females. Get us a transport! We are taking what we came for or killing all of you!”
37: Jovie
I feel like a failure. I can still smell the hot polymers and tracework ink from the blast I’ve taken. I might be alive now, but I know in the days to come, my muscles and other soft tissues will slowly rot and decay as they die from the electrical overload. And soon after, so will I.
“Sorry about the pain,” Talros remarks somewhere nearby. My thoughts are awash with dizzy spells. Tines bite into my flesh near my temple with a momentary sting.
Com check. This is Allele.
