Caged Warrior

“You and Silence wanted a diversion so you could deactivate the collars. This looks a lot like a diversion.”

“If this was our doing, I’d be holding her hand and we’d be getting the fuck out of here.”

“Where is she?” asked Nynn.

“Our room, probably grabbing our packs. Do you have cold weather clothing?” At Leto’s blink of confusion, Hark rolled his eyes. “We didn’t plan this, but we can use it. Are you coming or not?”

“Really?” Nynn was frowning. “You and Silence planned an escape?”

Silence snuck behind her and grasped Nynn’s head with her hooked forearm. The woman pressed the tip of a petite dagger at the soft juncture between Nynn’s jaw and ear.

“For six months,” Silence whispered. “Let him go, Leto.”

Despite his renewed surprise at the woman’s voice, Leto assessed her posture. He knew her affection for Hark and read the determination in her black eyes. Leto backed away. Hark doubled over to rest his hands on his thighs, coughing the pressure out of his abdomen.

Leto tightened the last strap of his armor. “We’ll need another name for you now.”

Silence only shrugged and released Nynn.

“I told you, it should be Patience,” Hark said. “You’re lucky she likes you both. Normally she would’ve cut rather than turn all civil.” Then he spoke directly to her in what must’ve been some Sath code—or maybe one they’d devised together.

She nodded.

Hark grinned as if they’d agreed to a friendly sparring match. “Now, unless you’re excessively fond of the things, it’s time to take off these Dragon-damned collars.”

¦   ¦   ¦

After taking down additional guards, Nynn and the others reached the training Cage arena. Hark carried two large duffels while Silence and Leto collected what weapons they could. In a telling gesture, Leto winced and rubbed one ear with the back of his hand. The alarm must be killing him, even with the collar still active and in place.

The pair was likely insane—some sort of Sath madness—only adding gasoline to a fiery situation. Nynn wanted to be the one wielding the lighter fluid and matches. That meant she needed to take a chance on Silence and Hark. If they could get free of the dampening field, if they could escape the complex, if they could find her son . . .

And if Pell was being held in the labs, they would find her, too.

During the night, during the last few months, she and Leto had fused. That was the only way she could explain why the safety of his sister now ranked with saving Jack.

With a ring of stolen keys, Hark locked the arena door behind them. “The others need to stay out of here when we make with the big bang. If this works, they can fight their way free.”

From her duffel, Silence produced a small black dragon idol. The tiny hairs on the backs of Nynn’s hands stood. Why should a little figurine produce such a visceral reaction?

“Hark was playing with that during my initiation,” Nynn said. “It was in two pieces.”

Silence nodded, turned her around, and placed the idol at the back of the collar. With a snap and a strange, rusty groan, the steel dropped away. Nynn jumped at the chance to touch her own skin, which was raw in the center and calloused at the edges.

Then came a flood. Unchecked, her gift surged to life under her skin, even more powerfully than in the Cages. It seemed that even in providing a measure of freedom to fight as Dragon Kings, the Asters had discovered a way to keep them small.

“Leto,” she said, catching his gaze. “You’re going to love this.”

He submitted to Silence as she fit the tail of the dragon idol into the hated lock. “Where did you get that? You’ve been hiding it?”

Hark stood beside his woman. “Half of it was here. Silence found it. Isn’t that cool? Like any old rock— although, granted, we had an inside track on where to look. Don’t ask. You wouldn’t believe us if we told you. The other half came with me from Hong Kong. It’s not just a city of hot prostitutes and really, really high buildings.”

While Silence spirited the idol into the folds of her armor, Hark sobered in that unnerving way of his, turning his jester switch from on to off. “So yes, we’ve hidden it. And we waited.”

“Dragon-damned Sath with your patience.”

“See? Patience. You’re catching on. We have thousands of years of experience keeping our mouths shut. Something of a clan specialty.” He grinned. “Although I didn’t get the official rule book.”

The collar unsnapped and dropped with a metallic thud. Leto gasped, then groaned. He wrapped his hands around the column of his throat. A manic beauty filled his chocolate eyes. Nynn had seen that expression when he’d pressed her body into the mattress and strove toward satisfaction, finally overtaken by the strength of his release.

He looked to the ceiling and roared an unnamable pain. “Twenty years!”

While Silence and Hark unlocked one another, Nynn found her lover and caught his face between her hands. He was inhaling short, heavy breaths, his face distorted by anguish.

“I did everything they demanded and more,” he rasped. “They kept this from me.”

Nynn nodded. “They did. Now it’s time to dig those graves.”

They stared at one another. A bright golden glow gathered between their faces. It had happened before, but never like this. They generated their own energy. Nynn reached to touch it. Nothing. It was entirely pure. She could see individual molecules as they shivered with unspent potential.

“That’s it. Living gold.” Hark sounded awed. “That’s what we were waiting for.”

When Nynn blinked away her amazement, she found the couple staring at her and Leto.

“What is it?” Nynn thought her head should hurt. How could something so potent be without consequences? Yet she felt stronger than ever, and closer to Leto—joined in new, inexplicable ways.

Hark slugged Leto on the shoulder, which would’ve been a very bad idea under other circumstances. “Come back to us, my friend.” He eyed the ceiling where the unseen alarms continued to blare. “It’s gotta be hell, but we need you.”

Silence led Nynn by the hand until they stood at a far corner. Her eyes were dark marbles, like the unblinking gaze of a raven. “Weakest right there.”

It was like hearing a cat start talking.

“Weakest?”

The clamor of metal caught her attention. Leto was racing in seemingly haphazard directions, so fast that her eyes couldn’t follow. Was he testing his powers, or being overwhelmed by them?

“Leto! We need you!”

He snapped to her side. A huge, unbelievable grin took ten years off his face. The care and grim thoughts were momentarily lifted. His throat was a column of scars and overlapping callouses. He would never be rid of that mark, nor his tattoo. Perhaps having his powers in full—not returned, but for the first time—would be compensation.

“Okay, folks, we have one shot,” Hark said. “And even this is . . . well, let’s say I’d like to get out of this alive, but I’m not holding my breath.”

What he explained was ridiculous. Ludicrous. None of it was possible, and yet Nynn felt deep inside that this was a strange destiny. That four Dragon Kings with such compatible skills could come together, work together. She could almost feel the tattoo on her shoulder buzzing with excited approval.

“Too bad we don’t have an Indranan with us,” she said. “I’m half Pendray. The Dragon would be pleased by the cooperation of all Five Clans.”

Don’t be so sure.

Nynn and the other two stared at Leto. He’d spoken right into their minds.

He appeared almost embarrassed. “I’ve always felt it.” His words were halting. “I could almost see what an opponent was going to do before it happened. The only Dragon Kings who can fight like that are the