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The sound of Sable’s voice rooted Aria—and everyone— in place.
“Where are you?” Hess searched the ring of people around him. “Come forward, coward!”
Aria spotted Sable as he slipped past a few of his soldiers. “I’m right here. ” He gestured to the burning Hovercraft as he approached Hess. “I would have come without all of that. ”
Panic crept over Aria with every step he took. He wore a knife at his belt. But Hess had a gun.
She sensed movement behind her. Horn soldiers closed in, forming a wall around them. Roar caught her eye and shook his head. It was too late.
In seconds, Aria felt a gun press against her spine.
Kirra smiled and said, “Hi. ”
They were stripped of their weapons. Her, Roar, and Soren. Trapped, all three of them. Again.
“We were going to do this together, Sable,” Hess said. “That was the arrangement we made. ”
Sable measured Hess in that same quiet way Perry had. The way of Scires. The flames from the exploded Dragonwing roared in the silence, the fire a bright spot against the night.
Perry wasn’t in that Hover. He couldn’t be.
“Together?” Sable said. “Is that why you were planning to betray me?”
“You gave me no choice. We made a deal, and you broke it. Tell your people to stand down. We leave on my orders, like we planned, or no one leaves. I’ll level every one of the Hovers to the ground. ”
Sable took a step toward Hess. “Yes, you’ve said that. ”
Hess lifted his gun. “Don’t come any closer. ”
“I always keep my word,” Sable said, still advancing in deliberate steps. “I didn’t break our deal. You only believe that I was going to. ”
Aria noticed the crowd loosening. People dropped back, responding to some instinctive signal.
“I will shoot you,” Hess said.
“Yes, yes, yes, do it!” Soren chanted at her side.
Time slowed, every second lasting an eternity. Aria couldn’t move, couldn’t utter a sound.
“If you shoot me,” said Sable, “then my men will cut you down next. That doesn’t sound like a solution, does it? It sounds very similar to what you’re proposing . . . all or nothing. Lower your gun, Hess. You got what you wanted. We’re at a stalemate, and we both know you won’t pull that trigger. ”
“You’re wrong about that,” said Hess. “Stand back. ”
“Shoot him!” Soren screamed.
Sable’s eyes snapped to Soren. “Bring him here,” he said to his guards.
Hess found Soren in the crowd, his face transforming with fear. Then everything happened at once.
Soren yelled, “No!”
Sable shot forward in a flash, drawing his knife and slashing it across Hess’s chest. Hess rocked back, his scream shrill as it broke into the air.
The wound was shallow, grazing instead of piercing, but to a man who’d never known real pain, it was debilitating.
Hess gasped, eyes glazing as the agony paralyzed him.
Sable moved in again.
