CHAPTER 6
Mooralan tries to step in front of both of us, but the woman who had been with the Trulavian before jumps onto his back, holding a needle to his throat.
“Only one of you needs to die right now. There’s no reason to make that number any higher.”
“He can’t be king.” I tell him. “He doesn’t pose any threat.”
“No, I’m sure he wouldn’t, but that doesn’t really matter. He’s on the list. He’s got to go.”
“He shouldn’t be on the list. It’s just caught up in paperwork. I swear.” I hold up the receipts.
“You can swear all you want. That doesn’t mean I can believe you.” He looks at Ferrok. “Sorry. I bring back your head or I lose mine.”
“I’m not moving,” I tell him.
Ferrok looks at Mooralan. “You have eight hands. Use them. Keep her safe.”
Mooralan grabs me and I try to shake him loose.
“Don’t. You belong to me. You don’t get to just let him kill you.”
Ferrok tries to smile. “I’ve belonged to you for a very long time. But you belong to me too, and if the choice is one, or all of us, then it has to be one.”
With a sigh so heavy it makes me flinch, the Trulavian says, “I don’t need to deal with this.
He raises his hand, and a gun forms in it, like it’s grown out of the blade-like appendage.
“What the fuck are you doing?” I ask. Because I know they’re listening, but if they haven’t opened up a hole in the floor to save him yet, I don’t think they’re going to.
I yank myself out of Mooralan’s grip and turn into Ferrok, blocking as much of him as I can and I flinch when I hear the sound of the shot.
But the Trulavian is the one who makes the ugly noise of death.
Trembling, I look back over my shoulder and I see two portals: one suspended between us, one behind the Trulavian’s back.
He shot himself, even though he didn’t intend to.
The alien woman makes a startled shriek and yanks her hand back. She falls to the floor, shuddering and twitching as her eyes turn black and she chokes. A puncture wound on her own neck tells me that two more portals opened.
The relief makes me sag against Ferrok, who is not happy with me.
“What the fuck did you do that for?” he asks.
“Why the hell did you think I was going to just let you die?”
Mooralan grabs both of us, squashing us together. “Don’t either of you ever do that again. Do you hear me?”
My feet dangle, but I don’t care.
From here, I can see the bodies. I can also see the holes form beneath them, pulling them out of sight to… God knows where.
“There might be others,” I say quietly. “We’re not safe here.”
Phantom either hears me, or he’s come to the same conclusion.
A hole opens beneath us, too, and we drop… but they’re kind enough to let us land on our feet.
Phantom turns to each of us, one after another, stopping at Ferrok. “Perhaps you should lay low until you receive confirmation the bounty on you has been called off. Jade likes you, and I’d hate to see you lose your pretty head.”