Hotbloods 6: Allies

“They broke while I was on Stone’s ship,” she explained, a flush of pink dusting her cheeks. “He gave me some custom contacts as a replacement. They’re cool—they snap straight onto the eye and don’t dry out like the ones on Earth. Plus, they let me read alien languages, which is the best thing about them. Stone had the software installed for me.”

I glanced suspiciously at my friend, wondering why she was blushing. Part of me was desperate to know more, but I didn’t press the matter, knowing there was a lot more we needed to catch up on before we could get to the subject of romance.

“Anyway, you’re one to talk. What’s with the red hair?” Lauren said cheerfully.

“Felt like a change,” I joked.

“Well, I approve. It suits you. I mean, it’s way better than those pink highlights you got in seventh grade!”

I grimaced. “Oh, God, don’t remind me.”

“I think your hair looks rather lovely, Miss Riley, and I think you would look equally sublime with or without spectacles, Miss Lauren,” Xiphio spoke up bashfully, having entered the room. He seemed shy around Lauren, his eyes constantly seeking her out.

“Thank you, Agent Xiphio,” Lauren said politely, clearly both confused and flattered by his kindness toward her.

“Please, it is simply Xiphio to you, Miss Lauren.”

“Yeah, Xiphio here has been helping me fill Lauren in on everything that’s been going on. He insisted on it,” Angie explained, with a conspiratorial wink.

Xiphio nodded, missing the wink. “I thought it best that I throw in the perspective of a professional. An objective observer, if you will.”

“Yes, very objective.” I grinned at Angie, though Lauren still looked confused. Suddenly, everything came rushing back to the forefront of my mind, sending a ripple of panic through me. “Wait, what happened to Navan? He was on the ground. Is he okay? Did you bring him back?”

Angie smiled, resting her hand on my arm. “Bashrik and Ronad brought him back with you. They helped him to heal.”

“Well, can I see him? I think I can walk.” I moved to get out of the bed, but Lauren and Angie restrained me.

“He’s asked us all to give him some time alone, to fully recover. We’re not supposed to disturb him,” Angie said, exchanging a brief look with Lauren that worried me.

“Yeah, but that doesn’t include me, right?”

“He said that, even when you woke up, you shouldn’t disturb him,” Angie replied, her tone apologetic.

Lauren nodded. “He’ll come out when he’s ready, and it’ll be like the two of you have never been apart.”

Truthfully, I didn’t know whether to be angry or disappointed. I’d been through a lot, too. I mean, Bashrik had thought I was dead when they found me. Surely, after that, Navan would want to see me? And yet, if what Angie and Lauren said was anything to go by, he really didn’t. I wondered if it was just because he didn’t want me to see him with bad injuries, but I’d seen him battered and bruised before. It didn’t matter to me—I thought he was handsome no matter how many scars he had.

“Oh, there’s one more thing,” Angie said, gesturing to the bedside cabinet. The compass lay in pieces, the glass shattered, the vials crushed, the metal shell bent out of shape. “It broke when you fell. We’re not sure if it’s fixable.”

Just then, Ronad entered, bounding across the room toward me like an excited puppy, pushing Angie and Lauren aside so he could wrap me in a tight hug. Fading bruises still dappled his skin, and there were a few scabbed wounds scattered across his body, but he seemed to be in good spirits.

“Rask’s sake, don’t you frighten us like that again!” Ronad murmured, giving me an extra squeeze for good measure.

I laughed, my disappointment at the broken compass lifting. “You’re one to talk. Last time I saw you, you’d been thrown around like a rag doll. How do I look, anyway?” I didn’t want to tell him that he was hurting me, not when his hug felt so comforting.

“Like the other guy got away easy.”

“I guess we both look like we lost a fight,” I said wryly, thinking of Ezra. It turned my stomach to think of him out there with Yorrek’s notebook. Then again, maybe that had been a figment of my fevered imagination.

“Speaking of which, there have been a few developments since Bashrik found you,” Ronad admitted, his tone grim. “I don’t know how much you can remember from the fight, but a couple of pirates managed to get away with several serrantium weapons. Ezra’s lackeys chased after them to steal the weapons back, resulting in a few unfortunate deaths. Now, some of the crews of those dead pirates have put a couple of revenge bounties on your head. They know you weren’t directly responsible, but they need someone to blame, and, sadly, that person is you.”

I frowned. “What? I had nothing to do with the serrantium weapons being stolen. If they’d just stuck with the first revenge bounty, none of this would’ve happened!”

“I know,” Angie soothed, “but you know what pirates are like.”

“I’m really starting to hate pirates,” I muttered, scowling.

“Anyway,” Ronad continued nervously, “that’s why we need to decide on a destination, and fast. It’s not safe for us here anymore—not that it ever was, but we’ve just become target number one.”

Xiphio raised his hand, glancing at Lauren. “Not that it has been a complete failure. I managed to valiantly capture Stone, after all these years. Indeed, had we not crossed paths in the rather unorthodox manner that we did, I wouldn’t have been given such an opportunity. Now, if you’d permit—”

I cut him off, my stomach sinking further. “Where’s the notebook?”

“I didn’t see it on the ground anywhere near you, but I imagine one of the pirates took it. It shouldn’t be too hard to retrieve if we’re careful,” Ronad suggested. “We might have to check the darkstar market instead of sticking around, though.”

I shook my head. “There’s no point. If you didn’t pick it up from the battlefield then Ezra has it.”

The others gasped in unison.

“What do you mean?” Lauren asked frantically.

“If it wasn’t on the ground, then Ezra took it. I thought it was safe—I didn’t actually see Ezra take it, but my mind was so messed up that I didn’t know what was real and what wasn’t,” I explained miserably. “I had it, and I threw it to Navan, to keep it out of harm’s way, but then I blacked out. He must have taken it while I was under the influence of the serum Kaido made.”

“You took that stuff?” Ronad stared at me, aghast. “No wonder you were wiped out!”

“I had no choice. Ezra was going to take us away, probably so Orion could do something horrible to me, to make me pay for what I did to Pandora. And Navan was out cold… It was my only option.” I sighed, suddenly filled with an immense sense of dread. Ezra had managed to steal the potential key to the immortality elixir, and he would undoubtedly deliver it straight into Orion’s blood-soaked hands.

A somber mood settled across the group at the conclusion that Ezra had, indeed, taken the notebook. We couldn’t afford to wait around and see what he was going to do with it. We had to follow him as soon as we could, to stop him from handing it over to Orion. First, however, there was something else I needed to do. To fight fire with fire, we needed to know the extent of what we were dealing with—and I knew just the guy to speak to.

“Take me to Stone,” I said. “I want a word with him.”





Chapter Twenty-Two





“Maybe you should stay in bed a while longer,” Ronad suggested. “We don’t know what other effects that serum might’ve had on you. I wouldn’t want you collapsing again and ending up in a worse state.”

I smiled. “I appreciate the concern, but I want to speak to him. Lauren, will you come with me? You know him better than I do.”

“He’ll be pleased to properly meet you without a million other things going on. I’ve spoken about you a lot,” she said shyly, helping me out of the bed. I took a deep breath, my body feeling unbearably weak, my legs shaking.

“He didn’t seem all that pleased to meet me the last time we saw each other,” I muttered.