Renegades (Hotbloods #3)

All through the night, I’d wondered if there was a way we might prevent people from dying, but I hadn’t managed to come up with anything. It seemed too vast a task for one person, or even two people to undertake, without alerting suspicion. And, right now, we couldn’t risk crossing Brisha or Pandora, for fear of what they might do in retribution. Pandora in particular. She seemed to fully support Brisha’s decision, for whatever reason, which had to mean Orion did, too.

“You want something to eat?” Navan asked groggily, wandering into the kitchen. I knew he hadn’t gotten much sleep either.

I shook my head. “I’m not hungry,” I said quietly.

“You should get your strength up. You’ll need it. There’s no telling when you might get the chance to eat again,” he said, slicing up some fruit and putting it into a bowl. He took down a vial for himself, drinking the fluid in one gulp before handing the bowl to me.

I took it from him, grimacing at the sight. My stomach was in knots, my mouth dry, my eyes tired. The last thing I wanted to do was force breakfast down my throat, but I could see the sense in his advice. Reluctantly, I worked through the slices, chewing slowly, gulping the sweet fruit down before my body could reject it.

After breakfast, I dressed in black military fatigues, with my civilian clothes underneath, and laced up my combat boots, pulling my hair back into a ponytail before splashing cold water on my face. I looked at Navan’s reflection in the mirror. He stood in the doorway of the bathroom, a worried expression on his face.

“You know, vampires aren’t supposed to have a reflection,” I said, trying to lighten the mood. “In all the stories, you’re invisible in mirrors. I’ve seen enough Dracula remakes to know.”

A hint of a smile pulled at the corners of his lips. “Your vampire stories get a lot wrong,” he said. “We’re supposed to be immortal already, in those tales. A stake through the heart is the only way to kill us, right?”

“That’s right,” I replied, coming up to him and curving my hand into a fist, as if I were holding a stake. I raised it above his heart, play-acting, while he put his arms around me. As I plunged down the invisible stake, he made a face, but we didn’t laugh. It only reminded me of what we were about to do. It might not be a stake pressed to his chest, but Navan’s mortality was definitely on the line. Mine, too.

Reaching up, I kissed him tentatively on the lips, wanting to freeze the moment. I longed to rewind to the night before, or even the day before, when we were happy in our false bubble of security. I didn’t want this. The moment had come for me to act, and I wanted it to go away.

“We should get going,” he murmured.

I glanced up at the clock on the wall in the living room. How had an hour passed so quickly? Feeling panic begin to course through my veins, I held his face in my hands, kissing him with everything I had, and he returned my kiss with desperate passion. Only when he pulled away did I stop, knowing the time had come. There was no putting it off any longer.

“Navan, will you promise me something?” I asked, snatching up my knives and attaching them to my chest and waist. From the table, I grabbed the quarter-full vial and the last full one, and slipped them into my pocket, the glass clinking together.

He looked at me curiously. “What?”

“Promise me you won’t be a hero,” I urged. “Promise me you won’t put yourself in danger for me, okay? If I put you in harm’s way, I’d never forgive myself.”

He smiled. “I’ll try,” he said, but I didn’t believe him. It wasn’t in his nature to stand by and do nothing if I got into trouble. Still, I had to ask him, just to comfort my own fears, if nothing else. “Will you promise me something, too?” he asked, strapping two blades onto his back.

“It depends,” I murmured, knowing I couldn’t make promises I wasn’t willing to keep.

“Promise me you won’t leave my sight throughout this mission,” he replied, his expression serious.

“I’ll try.”

“I mean it, Riley. Don’t leave my sight,” he warned, all humor gone from his voice.

With a sigh, I nodded. “I’ll do my very best not to leave your side, unless something tears me from it.” It was the only compromise I could make, since I had no idea what would meet us when we got to the Observatory. There hadn’t been many guards the last time we’d visited, but that didn’t mean they wouldn’t have heightened their security in the wake of Gianne’s attack on her sister. Perhaps they would be expecting a counterattack.

We left the apartment together and headed for the tunnel entrance, my nerves building with every step. On the ground floor, I froze, realizing I hadn’t even had a chance to say goodbye to Angie and Lauren. It had all happened so quickly, with my mind so confused that I hadn’t told them I was going, or when I might be back. If I died, they would never know what had happened to me. I mean, someone would fill them in, but they would wonder why I’d gone without saying a word. I didn’t want to listen to it, but a small voice inside my head reminded me that, for all I knew, this could be the last chance I’d ever have to see them again.

“I have to go and say goodbye to Angie and Lauren,” I said desperately, backing away from the palace entrance.

“There’s no time,” Navan said, reaching out to pull me back. “If we’re late, or we don’t show, you know what the consequences are. You heard the queen lay them out for us, plain and simple. Do you think she won’t extend that vengeance to your friends?” His eyes were sorrowful.

“But I need to let them know where I’ve gone. They won’t forgive me, if I don’t,” I said, my heart and head torn in two directions.

“They’ll understand, Riley. Come on, we have to go,” Navan insisted, his pull on my arm increasing, until I was helpless to do anything but stagger after him. I looked back over my shoulder, my thoughts with my friends, as his arm slipped around my shoulders, comforting me. Holding me tight, he led me out of the palace, into the driving rain. Each icy pellet stung my skin as it landed, but I lifted my face to the downpour regardless, wanting the cold water to calm me.

We made our way up to the tunnel entrance where a group of soldiers was already waiting. I recognized most of them as fellow trainees, but there were one or two unfamiliar faces. They looked older, their features grizzled, a darkness glinting in their eyes that suggested they had witnessed the horrors of war. Pandora was there, too, though Queen Brisha was nowhere to be seen.

“Navan, Riley, how good of you to grace us with your presence,” Pandora announced tartly as we approached. Glancing down at her watch, she pulled a face. “On time, with three minutes to spare. I hope you won’t be cutting it quite so close when it comes to laying explosives,” she mocked, prompting a snicker from the assembled group.

Navan leveled his gaze at her. “Apologies, Pandora. We’re here now, and that’s what counts, right?” he remarked, his tone cold.