“You have already lost,” Torran growled. “Let her go and die with honor.” His eyes bored into mine. He was trying to tell me something, but I was in too much pain to figure out what it was. But if he could get me free, then I’d do my best to stab the bitch holding me.
The telekinetic dragged me backward, toward the reinforced door. Locked in her power, I floated along like a balloon—not a comforting thought. One of her soldiers was down but still alive. She left him where he lay. When the other tried to help him up, she snarled, “Leave him!”
Clearly her love for humans extended to her allies, too.
I heard the door behind us open. If I let her drag me through it, I was finished. Pain, terror, and furious, burning anger bloomed. Rather than pushing it aside, I focused on it, letting it bolster my mental shields.
I had thrown Torran out of my mind during our shielding practice. Once. But if I’d done it once, I could do it again.
Then I’d show this smug Valovian traitor exactly how I’d survived a decade of war.
My finger moved. Not much, but it was a start. The hot rush of victory was nearly drowned by a wave of pain, but I pushed onward. Slowly, so slowly, I wrapped one finger, then two, around the hilt of my plas blade.
The loud squeal of metal tearing came from behind us and the telekinetic’s mental vice grip loosened for a fraction of a second. It was enough. I shoved her from my mind with a roar, and in her surprise, the telelock faltered. My feet hit the ground, and I spun, operating on muscle memory and adrenaline.
I drew and activated my blade in one move, then closed the distance between us and drove it upward, under her chin, into the weakest part of her armor.
The red blade sank a centimeter, right on target, and I pushed harder, so focused on her death that I didn’t notice she’d lifted her hands until she shoved me away. The blast of power flung me across the room. Torran shouted, and I jerked to a stop so close to the wall that I could see individual dust particles clinging to the flat surface.
For a moment, the cool comfort of Torran’s power wrapped around me before the mental ice pick returned. Something yanked viciously on my head, and I arched my back, trying to save my neck. Bones cracked and the pain became a suffocating blanket that stole my breath. It felt like I was being torn in two.
I groaned in agony. My mental shields were shot. I’d failed, and now I didn’t have the energy to throw her out again. Distantly, I heard a heavy, metallic crash and the sound of plas weapons, but it was all I could do to cling to consciousness.
Then strong arms wrapped around me and the pain receded slightly. “Hang on, I’ve got you,” Torran murmured.
It was the last thing I heard before my overtaxed brain shut down and everything went dark.
I awoke to the gentle rocking of someone carrying me. For a brief, fuzzy moment, I enjoyed the sensation. Then my memories caught up, and I cracked open my eyes to see where I was.
Pure darkness met my gaze.
My head felt better, but had something happened to my vision? Terror dug in with sharp claws.
“You’re safe,” Torran whispered in my mind.
“Why can’t I see?” I asked. My voice echoed oddly, and now that I focused, I could hear people moving around us.
My team shouted in relief over the comm, but Torran’s mental voice cut through the noise. “You lost your helmet and we’re still in the tunnels. Havil healed some fractures in your ribs and neck before we moved you. You’ve been unconscious for about ten minutes.”
“And the telekinetic?”
Torran’s arms tightened. “She brought the tunnel down behind her. The two humans didn’t make it, but she escaped.”
“Oh, shit,” Kee breathed.
Her voice came over the comm, so I had no idea where she was relative to me. That didn’t prevent me from craning my neck, trying to see. “What?”
“I left a couple of cameras behind in the tunnel, just in case the kidnappers came back. They didn’t, but a dozen Valoffs in imperial guard uniforms did.”
It took my brain far longer than it should’ve to connect the dots. The kidnappers were trying to frame us for the kidnapping.
Or the empress was.
That’s why the telekinetic wanted me. If the hero of Rodeni had stolen the empress’s grandson, then it would be easy to sway public opinion toward another war. After all, if Cien wasn’t safe, then who was?
“Move,” Torran shouted. The easy swaying turned into a harsh jostling as he broke into a run. I wanted down, but I wasn’t sure my legs would work, and even if they did, I couldn’t see a damn thing.
We slowed, near what I hoped was the door into the underground bunker. The door opened and the sound changed.
“Wait,” Kee hissed. “There are more guards outside the monitoring station, at least three. They haven’t overridden my surveillance mods yet, so they likely think the building is empty, but it’s only a matter of time until one gets curious and sees our rope.”
“Torran, can you bluff my team past them?” I asked over the comm. He was a high-ranking general and Cien’s uncle. In the dark, and with minimal contact, my team might pass for Valoffs if Torran kept the soldiers off balance. Without a helmet, though, I was fucked.
Torran didn’t answer. Instead, he asked, “Nilo, can you get Tavi’s team out?”
I didn’t catch Nilo’s response, but Torran’s arms tightened around me. I assumed that was a no, then.
I steeled my courage. “Take my team with you and leave me hidden in one of the rooms in the bunker. Once it’s safe, you can come back and get me, or I’ll crawl out on my own.” Being left alone in the dark would be a nightmare, but I’d faced worse.
“We’re not leaving you here,” Lexi said, no give in her voice.
Torran’s voice whispered into my head. “Nilo can get you out, but once he does, he’ll be down for a few hours. I need you to watch over him until we catch up.”
“What about the rest of my team?”
“They’ll come with me. I will get them out, Tavi, I swear it. Their lives are your happiness. I will not let them be hurt.”
I swallowed, then nodded and relayed the message to my team.
There were a few grumbles, but Kee opened a private comm channel with me. “Do you trust him?”
“Yes.” I trusted Torran, not just with myself, but with the people who were most important to me. I knew what that meant, but now wasn’t the time for grand declarations.
“That’s good enough for me,” Kee said. “I’ll tell the others. Stay safe.”
“Thank you. You, too.” When she closed the connection, I pulled Torran’s helmeted face down to mine and pressed a kiss against the smooth armor that protected his jaw. “Be careful. Take good care of my team.”
Torran hugged me close. “I will be, and I will.” He carefully set me on my feet, aware that I couldn’t see a thing. “Nilo needs to touch you. Don’t be startled.”
A gentle hand wrapped around my upper arm, and Torran let me go. “I’ll see you soon,” he promised.
I nodded, my throat clogged.