“Tell me it isn’t you?” he called to her. “Tell me this is some mad game of Dervish’s?”
Dervish gripped Zoe’s throat tighter.
She tried to warn X with her eyes, but discovered that she couldn’t even move them from side to side. All she could communicate was, It’s me. I’m sorry. It’s me.
She was ashamed, but even as X came forward, she could see him forgive her. It took half a second. Maybe less. His expression just changed. Softened. She loved him for it. He was so much kinder than she was. Had he always looked so tired? Had his face always been so thin?
Regent and the others followed X protectively. Zoe was moved by their loyalty. Maudlin and the Ukrainian could have just run.
“NOW!” shouted Dervish.
His men jumped from the archway, like animals leaping out of trees. They landed loudly, grunting on impact.
X and his friends whirled around.
The rest of Dervish’s men charged out of the rivers. The squad swarmed at X and the others from three sides, every man shouting some sort of war cry. A thousand prisoners pounded on their doors. The thuds made Zoe’s bones vibrate.
Though X had no powers, Zoe could tell that he knew how to fight. She watched as he head-butted a guard and took his club. But half a dozen men were on him instantly. He was the one they were after. The prize.
Even while he was under siege, X’s eyes kept returning to Zoe.
She heard him shout to Regent: “I cannot reach her.”
She heard Regent shout back: “I can.”
The lord left the melee, and moved toward Dervish and Zoe. When one of Dervish’s men tried to block him, Regent stiffened his arm and swung it at his throat. The guard flew backward, spitting blood.
Zoe felt a flash of hope as Regent approached: he was going to beat the shit out of Dervish. He actually pushed up his sleeves to fight, which she’d only ever seen in a movie.
Maybe they wouldn’t even need Zoe’s plan.
But without Regent to worry about, Dervish’s men attacked more viciously. A guard swung an ax handle at Maudlin’s face. She dodged it, took the blow on her shoulder, then fell. Three others pulled X down, and took the club back. Only Tree refused to fight. Maudlin had shooed her cat to safety, and Tree stood beside the animal now, ready to defend it.
Zoe looked for the Ukrainian.
At least he would have a weapon.
But no: one of Dervish’s men had wrenched the baseball bat away from the guard, and jammed the handle into his mouth. The Ukrainian crumpled to the ground, howling and clutching a silver necklace he wore.
X fought his way out of the knot of bodies, and ran to help him. Zoe remembered him talking about a Russian guard. This had to be the same man. She remembered X saying that he was ridiculous sometimes, but that he was a friend—that he was funny and never cruel, that he’d worn tracksuits in several different colors, that he’d had a crush on Ripper that had lasted decades.
Zoe approved of anybody who had a crush on Ripper.
Before X could get to his friend, Dervish’s guard dragged the Ukrainian to the river by his necklace, and threw him in. The water rocketed him toward the canyon’s edge. Dervish laughed approvingly and, with a snap of his fingers, set the river on fire.
Flames shot up like fountains.
Zoe could hear X’s friend scream in his native tongue as the current pulled him away.
At last, Dervish released Zoe, and pushed her forward with a boot.
“You have served your purpose, little girl,” he said.
Zoe stumbled toward Regent, and begged him to turn back and help X and Maudlin.
“Forget Dervish,” she said. “Come with me.”
“When did you become my commander?” said Regent.
“When I thought of a plan,” said Zoe.
She brushed past him, praying he’d follow.
He did.
Outraged, Dervish shouted after Regent: “For heaven’s sake, you are a LORD! At least PRETEND that you deserve that golden band! Let the insects fight each other!”
Regent didn’t answer.
Three guards were pummeling X with their fists. X could barely stand. He was just taking the blows.
Zoe looked at Regent. It was time to see what he thought of her plan.
“Give X his powers,” she said. “Don’t think—just do it.”
Regent looked shocked.
“No prisoner has ever been allowed that sort of strength here in the Lowlands,” he said. “Not even a bounty hunter.”
“You’re thinking,” said Zoe, “and while you’re thinking they’re beating the crap out of X.”
The guards were now holding X up just so they could hit him.
“I will do it,” said Regent.
“Thank you,” said Zoe.
She looked at Maudlin, who was trying to help X, trying to crawl to him. Dervish’s men struck her and kicked her, but she kept coming back. It was awful to watch.
“And also give her some powers,” said Zoe. “I’m not kidding. Don’t look at me like that.”
Zoe bent over, put her hands on her knees, and drew the first real breath she’d had since Dervish released her.
“And I want some, too.”
twenty-two
Regent spread his hand over Zoe’s face.
She felt her cheekbones ignite.
The heat shot down her neck. It made a path of her bones, her veins, her muscles, anything it could find. It was terrifying. Also awesome. Zoe felt like she was being eaten by fire.
“Is it—is it supposed to feel like this?” she said.
Regent seemed not to hear her. No, that wasn’t it—she hadn’t actually said it out loud.
The heat drowned her other senses. She felt her skin redden, her thoughts melt into each other. The flames crinkling in the rivers, the prisoners drumming on their doors … She couldn’t tell if the noises were real or not, if they were happening inside of her or out.
She wriggled her fingers to prove to herself that they were still hers, that she was still present in her own body.
Yes, she was still in control.
Or maybe she hadn’t really wriggled her fingers?
The heat seemed to hold her for ages, but when it vanished she discovered that not even a second had passed: Regent was still taking his hand away from her face.
As Zoe’s skin cooled, the heat was replaced by a kind of euphoria. She felt golden. Invincible. Her legs, her arms, her fists—everything pulsed with power.
She gazed around the arena, her senses on overdrive. That fire in the river: she could feel the minute fluctuations in the temperature of the flames. The screaming statue: she could see into the dark pits of its pupils.
“We must test your powers to see if they have taken root,” said Regent.
“Oh, they’ve taken root,” said Zoe.
How she loved saying words, all of a sudden! She could feel her mouth and tongue shaping them. Words!
“We must test your powers,” said Regent more forcefully.
Zoe couldn’t stop smiling.
She punched him in the face.
They darted back to the fight, Zoe just a few steps behind Regent. She was nearly as fast as him now. She felt as if there were stars in her blood.
X lay at the guards’ feet. The Cockney was kicking him savagely in the head, as if he held a personal grudge. The other men chanted encouragement.
The Cockney heard something, and turned to see Zoe fly at him. He gave her a patronizing grin.
Mistake.
However protective she’d felt of X up in the world, Zoe felt a hundred times more protective of him now. Maybe it was because she had seen the sickening place he’d been forced to grow up in. Maybe it was just that the powers Regent had given her were amplifying her feelings like they amplified every other stimulus.
She lowered her head, and tackled the Cockney like a linebacker. She hadn’t planned it. She didn’t know it was going to happen until it was happening. Her muscles moved faster than her mind.
The Cockney crashed onto his back, with Zoe on top of him. He was startled but, for the benefit of the other men, he said, “Hopin’ for a kiss, luv?”
Another mistake.