Chapter 19
Graz
“D on’t!” I rush to grab the dynamite out of Gusak’s hands, but he holds them just out of my reach.
“Calm down, bookworm.” He flaps his hand far too cavalierly. “This will do the job. We’ll set it, then exit the way we came in.”
“It will bring the whole mountain down!” I could just punch him. “And who knows what would happen if you blew up the magic? I’ve seen the damage it can do.”
Gusak studies me with suspicious eyes. “You don’t want me to find it, do you?”
I snarl in frustration. Sure, that’s part of it. But I don’t think the ruin will be here at all if he blows a charge inside it.
“Don’t be an idiot,” I say rather boldly. Gusak has a gun on him, and so do the others. But I can’t let him do this. “The tunnel will collapse, and we’ll all die in this dark place under rubble.”
“Then what do you propose?” the boss snaps. “There’s no other way in without your little human.”
I wish I had a better answer, but I don’t. As much as I wish I could see her again, as long as my soul clamors to be near hers, this would be the poorest moment for her to arrive. Gusak would slap her in chains and use her for his own purposes, and then who knows what he’d do with her afterward?
“Boss,” Agna pipes up. “I think we have company.”
Gusak whips out his gun, and we turn to face the tunnel where Agna is watching our backs. All three of them position their weapons, ready to shoot whoever might appear.
Then a small person, a familiar person, emerges from the darkness. She has cropped yellow hair and bright blue eyes, so piercing they shine even in the low light.
Fuck.
Vienne comes to an abrupt halt when she sees what’s waiting for her. She holds up her hands, backing up the way she came.
“Don’t you dare,” snarls Gusak, and even though she can’t understand him, she obeys, coming to a stop.
Vienne? I use my thoughts to say her name.
That’s when she notices me standing a few paces behind the boss, holding the lantern. Her eyes narrow.
You? What are you doing here with... them? Her brows lower in suspicion. I knew it. I knew you would lead them right to it.
I didn’t have a choice, I snap back. It was that or be killed.
Maybe you should have let them kill you. Her eyes are hard as flint.
It hurts, I won’t deny it. My mate is standing in front of me again, and I want nothing more than to throw my arms around her, to kiss her all over, to make sure she’s well. But I don’t think that would be welcomed by anyone.
“Stop it,” Gusak barks when we’ve remained silent for too long. “What is she saying?”
“She wishes I were dead,” I say grimly.
“Hmm. Not the reunion I expected.” Gusak tilts his head. “Well, she’s here now. What good luck.” He nods in Kal'zan’s direction. “Tie her up. Now we can finally get into this place.”
I want to object, to tell him he doesn’t need to do that, but it’ll fall on deaf ears. He doesn’t trust a human, and I’m not sure that I trust her, either.
But seeing her with my own eyes again, everything in my chest pulls tight, so tight I almost can’t breathe. I need her in my embrace, and it’s like every moment I don’t have her is another nail in my soul.
Kal'zan snatches Vienne’s arm roughly, and I growl as he jerks her toward him. Vienne lets out a squawk, and shouts what’s obviously a curse in her own language.
What are they doing? she demands of me, her eyes flashing with anger.
What does it look like? I should be kinder, but the relief at seeing her again twines with the sense of betrayal I left with.
Vienne snarls as Kal'zan ties both of her wrists together. Out of one cookpot and into another .
What do you mean? I ask. How did you get here?
She simply shoots me a deadly glare as Kal'zan leads her into the room. Gusak points at the handprints on the wall.
“Right there,” he says. “You too, Graz.”
Nodding in understanding, I follow them. Vienne struggles against her bonds as she’s forced to kneel, and Kal'zan turns her so he can press her hand to the handprint there. I want nothing more than to free her, but I don’t want Gusak to turn on her.
I knew you would spill the secret, Vienne says, her voice defeated. Now we’re all doomed.
She closes her eyes as I crouch beside her. I hesitate just before putting my hand on the print.
Vienne. I try to get her to look at me, but she refuses. I didn’t mean for this to happen.
Her answer is silence, her gaze pinned straight ahead.
I swallow as I press my hand to the wall, and the moment I do... the earth all around us rumbles.
Kal'zan stumbles, dropping Vienne’s rope. Before any of us can react, she yanks her wrists apart, pulling the rope free. She dives for Kal'zan, tackling him to the ground while the rest of us try to get our feet under us. In a flash of motion, she gets her hand around his gun and pulls it free of his holster.
Our handprints depress into the stone, and the floor shifts. Vienne jumps to the side as the rock right under her feet slides open.
Now there’s a hole with purple light spilling out, illuminating the whole room. Less than a second later, Vienne has the barrel of her gun aimed at my face.
I hold up my hands as I fall onto my ass. Gusak’s managed to get to his feet again, but no one moves as Vienne keeps her weapon pointed at me.
Tell them to let me go, or I shoot you.
She would kill me to get what she wants. I swallow down just how much it aches. The bond between us must only go one way if that’s what she’s willing to put on the line.
They won’t care if you shoot me, I tell her. You’ll just be sealing your fate.
“Once again, not how I expected this to go,” Gusak muses, taking a step toward her.
Vienne shakes her gun and hollers something threatening in her language. Tell him to stop.
But Gusak doesn’t care if she puts a bullet through my brain now that the door is open. So Vienne pivots, aiming the gun at him, instead.
Gusak comes to a stop.
“I guess we’re at an impasse,” he says, his face betraying nothing as he nods at me. “I thought you said she was your mate. Can’t you do anything?”
I bite my lip. If she shot Gusak... it could solve some problems for me, but then we’d still have to deal with Kal'zan and Agna.
You can’t win, I say to Vienne, putting as much certainty into the words as I can. You could take him out, but what about the two others?
I’ll kill them all. Her hand is shaking, her expression fierce and vengeful. I have something to protect.
What does she mean by that?
He’s not going to give it to the Grand Chieftain , I say, hoping I can convince her to stand down. He knows better than to touch it. It can make you... very sick.
Vienne’s eyes briefly travel to me before going back to Gusak.
Sick?
Remember when you found me passed out? I remind her. Like that. Too much exposure to magic makes you sick. I don’t know what it does after extended exposure, but... he’s afraid of it.
A sort of clarity registers in her expression.
Like Raiden. She frowns. Raiden is sick, too.
Who?
Vienne presses her lips into a thin line, clearly not keen to fill me in. Keeping the gun trained on Gusak, she gestures to me.
Get down there, she says, indicating to the hole in the floor. We get to it and destroy it before he can do anything terrible.
Slowly I rise to my feet, considering her plan. If she shoots at Gusak, she’s dead. And I can’t let them gun my mate down, so that means following her orders.
“What are you doing?” snaps Gusak as I move toward the hatch that’s opened in the floor.
“She wants me to destroy it, or she’ll kill you.”
Gusak rolls his eyes. “I know you don’t care that much about my life.”
I ignore him as I move to the hatch and peer into it. A great pool of magic lies underneath us, a good way down. Taking a deep breath to steady myself, I scoot my legs over the edge. I don’t know how far it is, but I’ll have to take the risk.
Hanging from my hands, I drop the rest of the way to the floor. My feet absorb most of the shock of landing, but it still hurts like a bitch.
I’m in, I say to Vienne.
Her feet appear overhead, and she slides over the edge and drops like it’s nothing. When she lands, her beautiful face is illuminated by the glowing purple magic.
She points her gun at me, and her blue eyes are like razors.
You know what to do.
* * *
Vienne
Every part of me aches, seeing him again. I want nothing more than to throw myself at him, to have him touch me every place he touched me before, to bury my face in his chest and inhale how wonderful he smells.
But I can’t let my feelings get the better of me. I have a mission here, and I need to do it before Raiden catches up to us. Then, somehow, I have to get out of this situation alive.
I’m responsible for more than just me now.
Overhead, the trollkin are yelling at one another, peering down over the side with their own weapons in hand. We don’t have time.
I gesture at the pool of magic with my gun. Poison it, I tell Graz, trying to keep my voice firm even as I want to fall apart. He brought others here. He spilled the secret, and now I have even more reasons why this place needs to be gone. We’re going to take this mountain down, too.
Before he can answer, though, the stone rumbles once again. This time I’m prepared, digging in my heels and remaining steady even as the whole ruin around us moves. Then, overhead, the hole in the stone where we entered starts closing.
“No!” I shout. Fuck. I can’t get trapped in here. I can’t die in here.
I rush to the pool of magic, climbing up onto the stone rim, hoping I can find us a way out. But the hatch closes in mere seconds, and everything goes completely dark—except for the bright pool, and the carvings in the walls around us.
No, no, no! I lean down to gather up magic in my hands. I can’t be stuck like this!
I pour the magic out of my hands, all while Graz watches. I make my wish: to open that stone door and let us back out.
Nothing happens.
A hand lands on my shoulder, and—scared out of my skin—I leap two feet away, spinning around to aim my gun at my attacker.
Graz doesn’t even raise his hands up as I point it right in his face. He stands there, arms at his sides, a horrible sadness in his eyes.
Vienne. You’re not going to kill me, are you?
I’m breathing much too fast, but I can’t slow the furious beating of my heart. What if we never get out of here? I’ve never felt claustrophobic before now, but it’s too much. It’s all too much. Even if we do escape, there are three big, armed trollkin waiting, and somewhere, Raiden is on his way.
And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. What lies underneath, all the things I can’t say and can’t feel?—
Vienne? Graz’s brows crease. What’s wrong?
Nothing! I would never shoot him. Not Graz. Not my Graz.
I hate how much just seeing him has reduced me to this trembling damsel.
He takes a step toward me, and then another, until the barrel of my weapon is right between his eyes and I can almost feel his breath on me.
Do it , he says. If you really want to.
Of course I don’t want to. It’s just all I have to defend myself with against this onslaught of emotion.
You left me. I practically snarl the words out. Why shouldn’t I? You lied through your teeth. You told me all these pretty things, and then you left.
I back away from him, lowering the gun. I need to put space between us again. I need to reclaim my sanity.
I can’t let you do what you want to do, Graz says, voice soft. I can’t, Vienne. I’m sorry. I understand why you ? —
I’m the one with the gun, I interrupt. But we both know there’s no force behind it. I couldn’t do that to the father of my kid. Just the thought fills me with nausea, and my knees almost buckle under me.
Graz’s arm darts out, curling under me, righting me again. I try to push him away, but he doesn’t let go.
There’s something wrong. Graz nudges me toward the edge of the pool, lowering me until I’m sitting against it. I don’t have the wherewithal to push him away. Vienne, tell me what’s going on.
I hate him. I hate him so much right now that I don't want to share this precious nugget of truth with him. But I also need him, so badly, and I must know that baby is going to make it out of this alive.
Falling forward, I cover my face with my hands.
I’m pregnant, I finally say. It’s like dropping a boulder I didn’t realize I’d been carrying. I’m pregnant, Graz. With your child.