“You fucking shot me,” Maria sniped back. “My legs still feel like rubber, asshole, so you only have yourself to blame.”
Flagro had already struck her once, but Maddix stepped in, reminding him that his father wanted her back intact and unharmed.
“He’ll never know.”
Maddix shook his head. “That might bruise. And if you cause any lasting damage, hewillknow. You would be served well to remember that. This mission has a very specific goal.”
“I’m well aware of that. And it was me who found her, not you. The mighty tracker would have missed her entirely.”
Maddix extinguished the desire to throttle the spoiled man as best he could. He didn’t succeed entirely, but at least he managed to reduce it to a simmering anger rather than outright open disdain. But that didn’t mean he would hold his tongue.
“Remind me, oh Great Hunter. Was it not you who so confidently decreed we should head the other direction? That we were heading the wrong way?” he asked with faux politeness.
Flagro shrugged, blowing off his own shortcoming with the ease of a man used to bluffing his way out of pretty much anything, his own utter unwillingness to ever admit he was wrong essentially steamrolling any disagreement otherwise.
“I changed my mind,” he said, confidently. “I knew where to go.”
“When I pointed out the trail,” Maddix noted.
“I said I knew which way to go. Do you dare question me, Maddix? Do you doubt my skills? My formidable abilities? You forget, I am Flagro Vinchi, son of Chancellor Vinchi and top-tier competitor in the Husken Games.”
“Of course. How could I forget? Especially when I can learn so much from your example.”
The elite sneered, oblivious to the sarcastic dig. “You do have some talent, Maddix. I’ll give you that. And you did participate in the games. Of course, that is why you are now in the situation you are in, is it not?”
“You know the answer to that.”
“You’re right, I do. And the answer is that while you did take part in the games, you lost. Can’t you see? One of your position will never live up to what a true elite such as Galla and I can achieve.”
“Foolish me for ever thinking otherwise,” the trackerquipped with an exhausted sigh. The fool loved the sound of his own voice. If only he had something useful to say.
“You move to slow. We should be back at the ship by now,” Galla grumbled. “My feet hurt, and I need a shower.”
Maddix shrugged and kept trudging along. “We will be back as soon as we can.”
“My sister is right, you move too slowly,” Flagro agreed.
Maddix once again felt his anger flare. And once more he kept it in check. “You forget, I was forced tocarryher much of the way. You could have shared the load.”
“You are the help. It is your job,” the man shot back.
“And yet you were the one who used an absurdly high stun level.”
“So? What of it? It worked, didn’t it?”
“Sure, but you got lucky. What were you thinking? You had no idea how it would react to her physiology, not to mention you utterly sprayed the area in the process. You’re just lucky that you only hit her once, and that it only immobilized her for the better part of a day.”
“She’s fine. You worry too much.”
“And what if you’d killed her? What then? What would your father have to say aboutthat?”
“She isfine, and you willnotspeak of this any further. Not to me. Not to my father. Not toanyone. Is that understood? I am the leader. You followme, not the other way around!”
Maddix caught Maria’s gaze as she shook her head slightly and realized he had gotten a little too heated. A bit carried away. He needed to ease off before this got ugly.
“Of course. You are right. I will follow your lead and keep my opinions to myself.”
And he did just that, falling back and staying close to the prisoner, letting Flagro take the lead. He knew the way, their guidance devices were pointing the way back to the ship, afterall. Even a child could find it. But a child would, perhaps, have taken a bit more care with the environment, looking around more cautiously rather than charging ahead full of ego and bluster.
