Renegades (Hotbloods #3)

“Listen to him—‘magnum opus.’ Who do you think you are, Leonardo da Vinci?” Angie muttered.

“I don’t even know who that is, Angie,” Bashrik replied dryly. “You might think you’re hilarious, and where you come from, your jokes might get a polite clap, but they’re pointless on me.”

Angie grinned at me. “He’s just mad because I made fun of his magnum opus, and you must never do that.”

Navan put an arm around his brother’s shoulder. “Hey, um… I might need your help with something.”

Bashrik frowned. “What?”

“I’m about to get started on a concentrated serum from the poroporo fruit we picked up last night,” Navan began, only to be cut off by Angie.

“You went? You got it?” she said, her eyes wide. “Lauren said you might be going, but we didn’t hear anything from you, and Bashrik told me we couldn’t swing by to call on you this morning, though I’ve got no idea why,” she said, flashing Bashrik a look.

I smiled, my cheeks flushing pink at the memory of Bashrik walking in on us. I knew exactly why he hadn’t wanted to swing by, but I wasn’t about to say anything in front of him. “Yeah, we went, and we got it, and now we need to figure out a way of making it into a potent serum, strong enough to get Yorrek to tell us what we need to know,” I replied.

“You run into anything bad?” Bashrik asked, his voice tensing as he turned to his brother.

Navan shrugged. “The usual suspects, but nothing we couldn’t handle,” he said casually, sparing Bashrik’s nerves. He gave me a conspiratorial glance. “Anyway, I need to get my hands on a few things. A centrifuge, a Veracian extractor, and a black diamond compressor. I thought I might be able to get some of them at the market last night, but it was slim pickings where tech was concerned.”

“I think there are some things like those lying around, from the ruins of the old lab. Some of the underground storage chambers were relatively unharmed, so I should be able to get that stuff to you. I’ll do it as soon as I can,” Bashrik said. “Actually, I might have to send you on an errand for them later,” he added, looking reluctantly at Angie.

“You know it’s anything for you, Bash,” she replied sweetly, giving him a saccharine smile.

He frowned. “You know, you look really creepy when you smile at me like that. Like you’re plotting my death or something.”

Angie’s smile widened.

“Has Yorrek been back at all?” I asked, distracting their attention away from one another. He was the most important piece of this puzzle.

Angie gave me a strange look that made me feel suddenly nervous. “About that… Yorrek used to come to the site every day, to check up on things and give us a daily earful about how slow and useless we are, but he hasn’t been around in a few days. Whether he’s decided to wait for information, or he’s just being lazy, we don’t know. What we do know is, he’s not going to be as easy to kidnap if he’s not around here to kidnap. You know what I mean?” Her expression turned apologetic, and she wrung her hands.

I almost swore out loud. The journey to the Fazar Mountains hadn’t exactly been a breeze, but I should’ve known all of this was going too smoothly. There had yet to be a real hiccup, but here it was, as imminent and expected as a bus not arriving when it was pouring down rain.

“It makes it harder, but not impossible,” Navan cut in. “If he’s not coming to us anymore, then we’ll have to scout out his house, in the village outside Nessun. There might be a reason he doesn’t want to come into town anymore, and if there is a reason, we should find out.”

“That’s not a bad idea,” Bashrik said. “Plus, it might give us a better chance of discreetly snatching him, if we try to take him from his house later on. If you know the exits and entrances, and what the old man likes to do during the day, we’ll be in a better position once the serum is ready.”

After a momentary dip into optimism, I realized all wasn’t lost after all. It was a slight change in plans, but nothing too extreme. No, this was still going to work, I was sure of it. As soon as Navan had the hypnosis serum concocted, we’d be back on track.

“Why don’t Angie and I go, since Bashrik and you will be busy with the lab and the serum?” I suggested.

Navan immediately frowned at me. “You two go, alone? I don’t like the sound of that.”

“Well, I have no idea how to make potions, and neither does Angie. Our skills will definitely be better suited to the task of scoping out Yorrek’s place, and we need to utilize our time as efficiently as possible. I promise we’ll be careful.” Besides, it had been ages since Angie and I had had any alone time to catch up on things. If nothing else, I was intrigued to know exactly what was going on between her and Bashrik. It would be the perfect opportunity to ask.

“I still don’t like it,” Navan grumbled.

“They’ll be okay,” Bashrik said firmly, and I couldn’t help but gawk at him. I hadn’t expected him to back me up on this, given that he was usually the bundle of nerves. Then again, I was guessing he was probably motivated by the prospect of getting some headspace, being apart from Angie for an hour or two. “It’s not going to be that dangerous a task. They’re just scoping out the area. Riley’s definitely done more dangerous things. As long as they keep their faces covered and their intentions vague, they’ll be absolutely fine.”

Navan’s expression was still sour, but it was clear he wasn’t going to argue. He needed to get used to the idea that he couldn’t always be around to protect me, shadowing my every move, and I needed to develop a sense of self-reliance here on this alien planet.

Saying that, I knew I’d take my knives along with me, in case anything unexpected happened. I had learned to be cautious, my mind always expecting the unexpected.

After all, that seemed to be Vysanthe’s motto.





Chapter Ten





Navan and Bashrik joined us as we returned to the palace chambers to grab a few things. Much to my delight, I found that a stack of shirts had been delivered. They were waiting for me on the bed, each bearing the flexible wing-slits in the back. I knew I wasn’t likely to need my wings on the journey to Yorrek’s house, but I couldn’t help myself. I threw one on eagerly, knowing it would make my life a whole lot easier. It was the closest to coldblood I’d ever felt. Suitably dressed, I moved over to the big trunk in our apartment’s living room. I couldn’t access the bandolier of throwing knives I kept in the training center, but I had a spare one stowed away in the trunk, ready for occasions like this.

“Where did you get those?” Bashrik whistled as we entered the chambers that Lauren and Angie shared so Angie could pick up her jacket. Bashrik had his own room, farther down the same hallway.