Caged Warrior

gold’—and believe me, ‘living gold’ is the perfect description for when you two stare at one another. Then we’d know it was time to go.”

“But why?”

“Something about the Chasm.” He frowned. “But also something about keeping the children safe.”

Nynn flinched. “What children?”

“All of them,” the Pet said. “In the labs. I saw which would survive whole of mind and body, and which would not. Then . . . decisions were made.”

Hark scowled. “Dr. Aster doesn’t hold the secret to conception?”

“No, but he never stopped looking—to the misfortune of those housed here. I bought him time.”

“Do you have any idea what you’ve done?” Nynn whipped across the hallway and caught the Pet around the throat—a throat unblemished by any collar. Sparks and flickers of white-hot light shot out from where their skin meshed. “You helped perpetuate this horror.”

Although she gasped for air, the Pet’s green gaze was unapologetic. “Your Leto knows about slavery. He’s not the only one.”

“Where is Aster?”

“Helicopter.”

“He left you?”

“I stayed. I’ll be hunted now. Unless . . .” With a grimace of a smile, she showed off brilliant white teeth in tiny, even rows. “Will you kill me, Nynn of Tigony? I’ve seen it both ways.”

Doubt stilled Nynn’s wrath. Could she kill a woman who had done nothing more concrete than stand at Aster’s side? She’d believed Leto a useless, brainwashed thug. There was no telling what the Pet had done to survive. She could be as guilty as the sadistic doctor, or as innocent as a child born to the dark life of the Cages.

The decision wasn’t Nynn’s to make, not with Mal there. She exhaled, relaxed her grip, and let the woman go. The Pet didn’t flinch or dart away. She only tipped her head, retaining her deliberate means of moving—a woman as fluid as water.

The dark-haired Pendray stranger who’d cleared the way through the guards caught up with them. “If you want to strangle the little freak, let’s take her with us.”

“Tallis,” the Pet said evenly. “How interesting to see you here. Nynn deserves an introduction before you run again.”

Nynn caught his eye. He flinched. And looked away. That eerie feeling of familiarity covered her skin like a fast-growing mold. “Tell me.”

The stranger swallowed and met her gaze for the first time. Head proud. Chin lifted. “Nynn, your father was named Vallen of Pendray. He was my older brother. And I owe you a debt beyond words.”

“Yeah, we don’t have time for that,” Hark said. “I’m Sath, remember? Borrow a little here and there? This green-eyed girl is a soothsayer, which means right now I’m seeing a big ball of flames and very crispy Dragon Kings. Couldn’t tell you why, but she doesn’t think this building has much of a future.” His attention flicked to a chuck of wall just behind the Pet. “And I don’t think it’s because of the Giva.”

Nynn grabbed the Pet and swirled to one side, where Hark protected them both with the bent shield. Concentrated blasts of lightning scraped through the whitewashed inner walls. Mal ripped through marble and cinder block like shredding a paper towel. The blasted, blackened hole was large enough for her cousin to step through.

Leto followed . . . holding Jack.

Nynn leapt to her feet with a cry that was nearly a scream. She snatched her boy from Leto and crushed him to her chest. She smoothed his hair back from his dirty face and kissed him. Again and again. With a sense of disbelief making her shiver, she buried her nose in his hair and inhaled past the lab’s sterile stench. Jack. Her Jack.

“Baby, oh, by the Dragon.” She breathed his name, like a mantra against the madness of having nearly lost him. She would never know his suffering. But then, he would never know hers. Perhaps they could protect each other that way.

“You told me never to swear by the Dragon.” His voice sounded different. How could she have forgotten its timbre? No, this was different. Darker and artificially mature.

“There are exceptions.”

Wariness clouded eyes so much like her own, which shone with a golden tint. “You’ll explain all of it to me.”

“Yes, baby,” she said with a shiver. She pulled him close again and met Leto’s gaze over her son’s shoulders. “Thank you.”

She recognized distress in Leto’s dark eyes. They were narrowed so tightly that his lashes nearly touched.

“What is it?”

“This building.” He glanced at Jack, then closed his eyes. Set to explode.

Nynn flinched as if burned. Not just the tickle of his voice in her brain, but the terrorizing words he delivered. “We could leave. Snowmobiles. The Sath borrowing your gift.”

Silence and the Indranan woman from the snowmobile stepped through the hole. Together they supported an unconscious woman. Her head lolled at an angle that suggested she hadn’t had control of her muscles for a long time. No resistance at all.

“Meet Pell,” Leto said quietly, helping them lower his sister to the ground. “And there are dozens more, Nynn. All of Aster’s test subjects. We can’t make it out—not all of us. Even with my gift, I don’t think I could move that quickly. If Silence is right about the detonator, we have roughly twenty minutes.”

“Is that why the guards have gone?” She shook her head. “And the alarms. When did they stop? Everyone who could flee has already left.”

“Including the other telepath,” said the Indranan woman.

“Ulia?”

“Gone with Aster.” The Pet still sat on the hunk of sheet metal Hark had used to protect her from Mal’s blast.

Leto stepped to within inches of Nynn. “We could leave,” he whispered. His damp breath feathered over her lips. She couldn’t be sure if he spoke out loud or into her mind. The sensation that had been unnerving with Ulia was comforting from Leto. “You and me. Jack and Pell. I could get the four of us out. The Sath could take care of themselves.”

“And the others? And those who’ve suffered?”

He nearly shrugged—so slight. “I’ve never fought for anything but my family.” With a glance toward the fair-haired boy Nynn still clutched, he added, “That means both of you now.”

Nynn’s heart jumped at the chance. Her family. A new family. Safe and away from this place of nightmares.

“I haven’t seen this one either,” the Pet said without inflection.

As if caught stealing, Nynn blushed. Her skin flared hot, then frigid cold. She met the gaze of each person in that blasted corridor. Mal and the dark-haired stranger. The Dragon Kings who’d come to their aid. Even the Pet and the Sath couple. That didn’t take into account the men and women—the children—who’d suffered at Aster’s hands.

She wasn’t a soothsayer, but Nynn saw her future.

She nuzzled her son’s hair and drew in a breath, then kissed him. “Take him. Keep him safe, as I know you would’ve kept me safe for the rest of my days.”

Mal stepped forward in the wake of Leto’s confused silence. “Nynn, what is this?”

“You know what I can do. I take the energy from the air and make it mine. I own it. This detonation will be no different.”

She said it with the confidence of a woman who knew her place in the world. She’d always envied that confidence when watching Leto in his element. Now it was hers—not the serpent she’d imagined when filled with Ulia’s twisted intentions. No, this was a destiny she’d never imagined. She would save her new family and these