A flash of black clothing some distance away stood out, the figure twisting on its heels to retreat.
Before Rin knew what he was doing, he was giving chase, racing through the forest. Anger swept through him, spurring him on, and he ran harder, ignoring the burning in his thighs. Kel had been shot in the arm and from what he could tell when he’d glanced at it, there’d been minimal bleeding, so he’d be okay. Still, someone had been ballsy enough to shoot Rin’s Imperial, and all he could picture was stealing that blaster off of them and firing off a dozen rounds straight into their chest.
He was covering good ground but the culprit was still a ways away, and it was looking unlikely that he’d be able to confront him. If he could at least get a look at the person’s face he might be able to ID them later though.
Rin leaped over fallen logs with ease and pushed himself, cursing when the culprit suddenly seemed to be getting further and further away. He kept going even after he finally lost sight of them, only stopping when common sense kicked it, reminding him that walking into an ambush would be idiotic.
He twirled around, swearing again when there was nothing but trees and foliage as far as he could see. How—
Someone grabbed him from behind, tossing him against a tree trunk and pinning him by the throat. Rin lifted his arm to swing at his attacker, pausing the second he processed it wasn’t whoever had been shooting.
Kelevra’s grip tightened around his neck, the darkness swirling in his gaze promising pain. Blood trickled down the side of his arm, but the bullet had merely grazed him.
“Is this why you were strange earlier?” Kel asked him, voice thick with malice, enough to have Rin’s spine snapping straight and his shoulders drawing back.
The fear didn’t last though, the mixture of confusion and anger still burning acidically in his gut too great.
“What are you talking about?” He grabbed at Kelevra’s wrist but the guy wouldn’t budge. “You’re hurting me.”
“You lied to Lyra at the penthouse,” he stated. “Didn’t want to go to the hospital. You were severely against it, in fact. Was it because of this? Did you have this planned ahead of time? Is that why you came back last night, so you could lure me out here and—”
He thought Rin was behind the assassination attempt just now?
After everything they’d been through last night.
He—
Rin swung after all, his knuckles digging into the rise of Kelevra’s left cheek. Since he hadn’t even thought to hold back, it had to have hurt, and as soon as the hold around his throat loosened he jabbed Kel in the right side, sending the guy to his knees.
“I cannot fucking believe you!” he snarled, unable to keep in the vitriol. His skin was buzzing, the anger blindsiding him. “I can’t believe myself! After last night I really thought—” He stopped and cursed. “Fuck this. And fuck you, Imperial Prick! Good Light, I must have lost my mind to even consider—”
Kelevra rammed into him, taking him down onto his back in the dirt.
“Get the hell off of me!” Rin struggled, but his wrists were captured and pinned along with his legs as Kel flattened overtop him, the weight enough to constrict his lungs and make it difficult to breathe.
“Look me in the eye and tell me you had nothing to do with this,” Kelevra commanded, though it was clear he was less certain than he’d been a moment ago.
Not that that made it any better.
Rin was tempted to refuse, but why not let the asshole see just how big of a dick he actually was? He stilled beneath him and growled vehemently, staring directly into the computer eye. “I wish I had something to do with this because right now shooting you sounds like the most fun I’d have all fucking month. But no, Kelevra, I didn’t hire a terrible assassin—because let’s be real, he missed so he sucks at his job—to kill you in the middle of the forest like some loser.”
Kel searched his gaze. “It’s the only way you’d escape me. If you had me killed—”
“Good Light!” He dropped his head back, fuming.
“I gave you enough reason last night.”
“And you what?” Rin made sure it was clear in his tone that he thought he was a moron. “Thought that between then and now, I somehow orchestrated this whole thing? When, exactly, would I have had the opportunity to do so? Hmm? When we were in the sauna? Or perhaps when I was sleeping like the dead after the absolute wringer you put my body through?”
“You were so soft last night,” Kelevra murmured, almost as though he was trying to work things out on his own despite Rin’s continued protests. “Then with my sister…You were trying to come up with an excuse to avoid the doctor, I know you were.”
“So use that freaky intrusive eye now and get it through your thick skull that I’m not lying.” Rin was pretty sure beneath the fury there was a tiny prickle of hurt. He was insulted that he’d been accused, but the fact he was also allowing Kel’s opinion to affect him like that…Damn it. “Maybe this is a good thing. It’s exactly the reminder I needed.”
Yes, that was it. He needed to calm down before he did something stupid like attack the Imperial Prince again, so he latched onto that notion. If anything, this should prove to him he’d let things get too far. Maybe he hadn’t come up with a way out yet. There was still time. And all that other nonsense he’d been thinking earlier? A moment of weakness.
He should have known better than to believe even for a second someone like Kel could ever truly see him.
“What do you mean?” Kelevra asked.
