“I feel the hexid.” He spun his blades.
Suddenly, the hexid leaped onto a large, flat rock in front of them, holding the squirming, terrified woman in its claws.
It released her and she tumbled down the rocks with a scream.
“Here!” Mal waved at the woman.
Rhain leaped at the hexid. He slashed and stabbed.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the wild-eyed woman stagger toward Mal.
“Go,” Mal yelled. “Get back to town.”
The woman sobbed, then nodded and ran off, limping, into the trees.
Rhain thrust his blade deep, but hit bone. Mal jumped up beside him and cut fast, her sword moving in a blur.
“Charge your sword,” he said.
“I don’t know how.” She sliced again.
“Pull on the energy field, and direct it to your sword.”
“I thought you said only Zhaltons could do that?”
True, but he’d sensed her use some energy before, when they were in the medica ward. Maybe she had some latent Zhalton genes?
“Try it.”
The hexid leaped away, bleeding badly.
“I can’t do it.” She lifted her sword, staring at it. Suddenly, it started to glow with a silver-white light. “Holy hell.”
Rhain sucked in a breath. No Zhalton could charge silver-white. Red was the highest energy level.
The silver glow intensified.
“Use it!” he said.
She leaped off the rock. The hexid snarled and reared, and Mal attacked it. With a wild slash, she sliced its throat. Her charged sword moved faster, the sharp edge cutting deeper.
The beast collapsed.
Chest heaving, Mal stepped back, staring at her sword with shock.
“How is this even possible? I can…feel the energy.”
Then Rhain heard the crunch of a twig.
They both spun.
Six hexids slunk out of the cave mouth.
Rhain cursed.
“We’ve been had,” Mal muttered. “They lured us out here to attack you.”
Six would be tough, even for the two of them. “There are too many.”
One darted forward, aiming for Rhain. Mal leaped in front of him and drove her sword into the hexid’s eye. Its jaws snapped, a whisper from her face, but she didn’t even flinch.
He cursed and stabbed it, twisting his blades.
It collapsed.
But the others were moving in.
“Can we outrun them?” she asked.
“No.”
She scanned around. “Can they climb trees?”
“No, but they can jump. And they can bring trees down.”
“Great. Wait.” She pointed. “Can they climb walls?”
Rhain saw the ledge high above the cave mouth.
He narrowed his gaze. “That might work. Let’s get up there. My guards will find us eventually.”
“Okay, so we get past them, climb—”
“I have a better idea.” He shoved his swords in their sheaths, then wrapped an arm around her and lifted her off her feet.
“Hey, what are you doing?”
“I can jump up there.”
Her eyes widened. “That high? While holding me?” Her hand flexed on his shoulder.
“Yes.”
Rhain pulled the energy in, then jumped up—
A huge pain burned up his leg and they were wrenched wildly downward.
Gorr. A hexid was clamped onto his boot and he felt the prick of the fangs in his calf.
They crashed to the ground.
“I hate hexids.” Mal rolled to her feet.
Rhain held his palm up. The pulse of energy he released hit the hexid and the animal reared back.
Then it snarled, its muscles bunching, ready to attack.
Rhain wouldn’t have time to get his swords out.
Mal leaped between him and the hexid, pulling her blade impossibly fast.
She and the creature collided.
The blade disappeared into the creature’s chest, but he saw it slash at her.
“Mal!” Blocking the pain in his leg, he lunged for her.
She fell back into his arms, her stomach bleeding. Her sword pulled free of the dying hexid.
Without waiting, Rhain leaped into the air, using all his power to drive high.
They sailed through the air and landed on the rock ledge.
“You little idiot.” He dropped down, holding her in his lap.
“Saved you.” She gasped out, pressing her hand to the gashes on her stomach. Blood oozed between her fingers.
“Quiet.” She’d saved him. She’d risked her life for his.
She didn’t belong to his father. Rhain knew that in his gut.
He had to stop the bleeding, or she’d die before anyone found them. His brows drew together. His energy wasn’t attuned to healing, so it didn’t come easily to him, and he wasn’t good at it.
But he had to try.
He lifted her blood-stained palm off her belly, then moved his own over it. She moaned.
“Shh. I need to stop the bleeding.” He felt the energy coalesce inside him, whipping around. It wanted a target to kill, not to heal. He ground his teeth together, red energy curling around his hand, then he directed it into the wound.
“Hurts,” she hissed.
“Sorry.” He felt her watching him.
“This…isn’t easy for you,” she said.
“My energy skills are not the best fit for healing.”
“Zhaltons can all use energy?”
He realized she was trying to distract herself from the pain. He felt his own discomfort grow as his energy tried to heal her. “To varying degrees. Some can only feel it, and not utilize it for much. Others are very strong. Some can heal, some can kill, and others use it with technology, to power equipment. We’ve found ways to harness it to power our vehicles.”
“Your pretty flyers.” She huffed out a breath. “The blue energy.”
He nodded. “Blue is the lowest energy level. Healers’ energy is green. Then orange, gold, and red are increasing levels of power.”
“Yours is red.” She looked at the glow on his palm.
“Yes, only the Zhalton royal family has red energy.” And hers was a brilliant silver-white. Where was she from? What was she?
“You charged your weapon, Mal.”
“I…don’t know how I did it. I’m not Zhalton—” She groaned in pain.
Rhain fought back a curse. “I’m sorry, Mal. I know it hurts.”
But he saw her injury improving a little. The bleeding had slowed.
“I…can handle it.” Her body arched a little. “Fuck.”
Rhain stilled. He’d heard that strange word before. On Carthago.
His energy cut off.
He met her pain-filled gaze. “Rhain?”
“You’re from Earth,” he said.
Her eyes widened, then her face went pale, and she lost consciousness.
Mal woke to the now-familiar, white, octagonal-tiled ceiling.
“We meet again.”
Tavith came into view.
Mal pressed a hand to her stomach. She felt a faint twinge, but there were no bloody wounds.
“Don’t worry, I healed you all up.” The medica scowled. “Are you going to make a habit of running into danger and getting hurt?”
“Probably.”
He sighed. “Well, I guess you’ll keep me busy.”
“What happened?” She sat up. “Why am I alive?”
“Our illustrious overlord carried you in here, growling at us to fix you.”
Hmm.
“He said you threw yourself in front of a hexid. Actually, quite a few of them.”
“It seemed like the right thing to do.”
Tavith’s eyes narrowed, but he remained silent.