Page 152 of Under the Iron Sky

He stared at her, then without looking away, he cut his hand through the air and something cracked on the other side of the room as the piece of the Arch broke free of the strappings securing it to the jet and floated to the ground.

“Go.”

Raina did not move.

Ikarus’s head snapped toward her. “Are you fucking deaf? I said go!”

Raina didn’t need to be told again. The jet had only just disappeared when two Irons stepped into the room. Ikarus ordered them to secure the Arch, then vanished, dragging Soraya with him.

52

Monster.

Ikarus was an utter, utter monster for making her do this. If someone had done that to him—if they’d forced him to attack Aeris or Malakai or Emelda like that …

He’d want them dead.

An arm around her waist, he pictured black rock and red mist.

Wind whistled through his ears, his head. The temperature plummeted, and there was just enough time for him to cradle the back of her skull and shield her from the harsh rock wall before they reappeared at the checkpoint several miles away.

“Go be useful somewhere else,” he snarled at the three armored guards he felt lingering behind him.

If they thought it was odd seeing him kneeling over the human like this, they didn’t make their feelings known.

All three immediately slipped their helmets on, one pushing the glowing runes in the wall to pull back the shield of magic blocking out the Vordellian air, and quickly ascended the steps to disappear above.

Only one guard lingered. “Someone needs to stay behind to man the checkpoint. Make note of who comes back.”

“I’ll send for someone when we’re done,” Ikarus snapped. “Leave. Now.” His tone left no room for argument.

The guard quickly followed the others, and Ikarus sent a pulse of his power to the rune on the wall. When the shield was back in place, he tore his helmet off and tossed it aside, the new chain that secured it to his armor snapping. His gauntlets quickly followed, and he was suddenly overcome with the need to touch her. To see if she was all right.

He ran a hand over her face, hating that her usually warm skin was cold beneath his fingertips. “It’s all right. The Hex is gone, I promise.”

The human started to rock against the stone at her back, her arms curled tightly around her chest as though she was trying to physically hold herself together. Her wide eyes stared at her boots, at the blood there.

“I almost … Oh Gods …” She looked like she was struggling to breathe. She blinked up at him, her face crumbling with panic. “Raina … Oh Gods, oh Gods, oh Gods.” She started to sob. “I almost killed her …”

“You didn’t. You stopped. She’s safe, I promise.” Darkness below, what was he saying? Why did this matter so much to him? And why did he feel each tear that slid down her face like the drag of a knife?

She was human.

She was the enemy.

He should not care.

But he did.

And he was tired of pretending that he didn’t. That she hadn’t changed things. That she hadn’t given his faceless enemy a name and a soul and now everything was different.

Her arms were suddenly around his neck. She pulled him against her, pushing onto her knees so she could sob into his neck.

“You let her go.” He thought that was what she said, but it was hard to be sure with her pressed so tightly against him. “Thank you. Thank you.”

She clung onto him, her arms like vices around the back of his neck. He let a hand settle on the small of her waist, even her armor felt cold.

She sobbed into his throat for a long minute before pulling back to look at him. He expected her to shove him away but she didn’t. Her hold around the back of his neck stayed strong and she stared into his face. The tears in her eyes made her irises look like emeralds glittering in firelight.