His body goes still.
Heart still pounding, I scan the room.Just two.But footsteps overhead tell me more are coming.Three?Maybe four?Hard to tell with the storm pounding above.
My pulse spikes.Kelly.
“Kelly!”I call, low and sharp.“You okay?”
“Yes,” her voice trembles out.“Riot?”
“I’m here.”Always.
I check the attackers—gear, patches, weapons—looking for clues.Both wear the same symbol Looney pulled off that fabric scrap, a raven with a line of red paint slashed through the beak.
Bratok’s old mark.Reborn.Twisted.
A remnant that wants revenge.
But as I kneel beside the larger guy, I see something tucked against his vest.A folded paper.My stomach drops.
I rip it out, unfold it with shaking fingers.
Block letters.Bold.Spaced with intention.
YOU TOOK OUR KING.WE TAKE YOUR QUEEN.
My blood turns to ice.
Kelly.
A violent roar builds in my throat.
I crumple the note in my fist as a fresh wave of thunder rattles the structure.
And then I hear it—A soft, terrified gasp behind me.
I turn fast.
Kelly stands just outside the blast-barrier alcove.Gun still in her shaking hands.Eyes wide with horror.
She read the note.
“Kelly,” I start.
But she takes a step back.“Queen?”she whispers.“Riot, they meant me?”
My chest caves inward.“Sunshine, listen.”
“They’re coming for me because of you,” she chokes.“Because I matter to you.”
“Yeah,” I rasp.“You do.”
Her bottom lip trembles.“Then this is my fault.”
“No.”The word snaps out of me like a gunshot.“Don’t you ever say that.”
Her eyes glisten.“But they hurt me to hurt you.They almost killed me because they,”
“Because they know I’d burn the whole damn world for you,” I say, stepping toward her, voice shaking now for a whole different reason.“Not because you did anything wrong.”
