Cade zoomed in, close enough to see the whites of Karr’s eyes as he removed his S2 helmet. He didn’t know what he’d expected to see on the recording, but certainly not relief.
Certainly not his brother, lying on his back as he gulped in the poisonous air like he was chugging a flagon of fresh water.
Moments after, the wyvern had emerged from the sky.
The two Dohrsarans upon its back had dismounted, and Cade saw, with a sudden hatred that flared in his gut… the woman that had stabbed Karr at the Gathering, days ago.
Jameson confirmed it, along with three more of Cade’s soldiers.
The Dohrsaran woman knocked Karr unconscious with her blade, then loaded him onto the beast’s back. The video cut off, the wyvern having soared out of the camera’s view before he could accurately see which direction it went.
Karr had been gone for twelve hours now.Twelve hours,enough time for the poisonous air to kill him. But there had to be hope. Therehadto be. For he hadn’t come all this way, survived all that he’d already been through with Geisinger, for Karr to die. Not once, but twice.
Cade set the helmet down, unable to look at it any longer.
Was this his payment, his penance, for what he’d done to the Dohrsarans?
They hadn’t stopped working. They’d made it half a mile into the Bloodhorn Mountains, the tunnel sloping deep into the earth. Already, they’d removed their first hint of Antheon. It was real. It would pay off.
But at what cost?
Cade winced as he stood, leaving the helmet at his feet. His back ached, his legs trembled, and his chest felt like it could split open. A small price to pay, compared to losing Karr.
Why had the woman taken him? She struck where it hurt him the most, as if she’d somehow known exactly which crew member would be best to take.
He composed himself as he heard the door to the loading dock slide open behind him.
“Kingston.” Rohtt strode through the doorway, dressed in his Crossman black. He had a prisoner with him, the beautiful southern queen who walked at his side as if she were his confidant. Cade could just see the fringes of the silver mite’s legs curling forward from the back of her neck.
A painful way to take a person’s freedom.
He felt a twinge of guilt, a sickness that reminded him of just how deep he’d gone down the rabbit hole.
But the mites worked exactly as Geisinger had promised they would. Cade knew that truth all too well.
Rohtt gripped the queen by the back of the arm, pushing her forward onto the loading dock. She kept her chin high, her blue braids perfectly smooth atop her head, unshaken by the raging wind.
“We showed the footage to the prisoners, Captain,” Rohtt said as he halted a few feet away. His dark eyes flitted towards the discarded S2 helmet. “The Queen says she has knowledge on his captor.”
Kidnapper,he should have said. But Cade couldn’t quite bring himself to correct Rohtt and utter the word. He’d lost Karr too many times. Was it possible that the fault had always been his?
“Speak,” Rohtt commanded the woman.
She tilted her chin ever so slightly away from him, as if he carried a particularly unwelcome scent.
“Captain Kingston,” the Queen of the Southern Kingdom said, and Cade fully looked at her for the first time. With two simple words, she took command of the conversation.
Despite the mite, she still held herself with a straight-backed pride of royalty. In the days since her capture, she had refused to bend, to lift a hand to work, accepting the pain of the mite to the point that it had nearly killed her. It was only when she realized her actions caused her people pain, too, that she relented.
“You have information for me?” Cade asked.
He cared not, about keeping his usual mask of indifference.
This was Karr.
The wind soared past, whistling as if it knew where Karr was being held, but did not wish to share the secret with Cade.
“Information in exchange for a deal,” the queen said. “Your liaison was accommodating enough, and has already ironed out the terms with me. Myself and my court will walk free tonight.”
