Last he saw, she’d climbed the dune after the dronsian. She’d been outside the fray then. But now—now the ridgeline was empty. Did she come back?
Augustus turned, searching?—
A tall woman emerged from the smoke. Calm smile. A Cat-o’-Nine-Tails swinging from her hand.
His spine locked.
Memories unleashed inside him like a blade: every lash, every scream whipped from his body. The phantom burns lit his skin.
His left foot slid back before he could stop it.
Blaze started for her. “I’ve got this one.”
“No.” Augustus’s voice was rough. “I’m good.”
The woman struck.
The whip whistled past his face, metal tips slicing the air. He ducked. Rolled. Came up swinging.
His blade cut through her mid-swing. Her cry was lost in the chaos.
Augustus stood over her body, panting. Sweat stung his eyes.
He bent to retrieve the whip and found that the handle was still warm.
“Are you all right?” Lili asked.
She and Blaze stood to either side, practically on top of him. He hadn’t even noticed them there.
Blaze gripped Augustus’s shoulder and squeezed.
“I take it you heard what happened?” Augustus asked. He’d wondered how much of his public humiliation and punishment had reached them.
They nodded.
Augustus turned and flung the whip into the nearest burning building. “I’ll live.”
“Aye,” Lili said. “You will.”
“Forever, apparently,” Blaze added, mouth in a slanting smile.
“Can wefocus on?—”
Two men sprinted by Augustus, nearly tripping in their haste. Thorne’s men, fully armed and focused on one target.
Selene.
She stood just ahead. Smoke swirled behind her like a curtain. Feet planted. Poignard knives in hand. A smile on her beautiful mouth.
Augustus exhaled.
Selene’s voice carried to him like a song lined with knives. “Hello…”
“…boys.”
Alf and Finn. Selene wasn’t surprised they found her…only that their reunion hadn’t happened sooner.
Finn’s teeth flashed with warning. The wind knifed through the street, whipping his red hair into wild snarls. “No rig race, this time. No rules.”
