Nate tried the bindings at his wrist again, momentarily forgetting there was no chance they’d budge when the urge to punch the medical student in the jaw arose. “Are you fucking serious right now? You’rehelpingthem?”
Martyr, who’d been reaching for the knife, hesitated. “You two know each other?”
“He’s a graduate of my university,” Zane said blandly with a single-shoulder shrug. “We’ve spoken less than a handful of times, if even.”
He turned to Hernan who nodded that it was the truth, then took the knife and secured the blaster behind his belt at his narrowback before holding the new weapon up to the light. “This is cool, what is it?”
“Star crystal,” someone answered from the hallway a second before the sound of a blaster went off.
Zane moved faster than Nate’s eyes could follow, grabbing the weapon tucked into Martyr’s belt, aiming, and firing it at the man’s head before any of them even had a chance to react to the shot from the hallway.
Blood splattered all over Nate, but he was still staring at the doorway where Hernan’s body was now dropping, a bullet hole through his forehead, same as his fallen partner.
The body hit the ground with a thud, and Nate felt a rush of deja vu when Kazimir was revealed standing there.
“And my name is Kaz,” he said down at the dead body, “by the way.”
A feeling of relief rushed through Nate, so strong that the world spun and suddenly his head felt too heavy to hold up. “You,” he struggled to get the words out, eyelids already drooping, “are such an asshole.”
He managed to catch Kaz rushing across the room toward him, saw him shove Zane out of the way, and then, knowing he was finally safe, he gave in and allowed the darkness to take him.
Chapter 30:
Regret was an interesting emotion.
Kazimir wished he’d never learned that.
He stood by the side of the bed, watching the even rise and fall of Nate’s chest. The doctor had already come and gone, treated him and given the all-clear, yet Kaz couldn’t shake the uneasy feeling.
If he’d been just a minute later, how much more would Nate have had to suffer?
“Kind of creepy, don’t you think?” Nate’s weak voice pulled Kaz out of it. He was awake and staring up at him. His coloring hadn’t returned yet, and the swelling on both sides of his face would take a bit longer, even with medicine, to subside it, but at least he was conscious. “Watching me sleep like that?”
“You passed out,” Kaz said. “Due to shock.”
“Ah, because I was shot? Yeah. Makes sense.”
“You remember everything?”
“Like how Zane was there?” He snorted and winced when that seemed to hurt.
“Don’t move,” Kaz ordered. “Just try and stay still. I made them give you the best pain meds available, but you woke sooner than anticipated. It’ll take a few more minutes for them to really kick in.”
“I thought he’d screwed me over,” Nate told him. “When he first walked in, I was so sure of it.”
“You aren’t the only one.” Zane appeared in the doorway and entered, holding up his hands when Kaz gave him a steely look. “I’m only here to inform you that we’ve found the last member of their party. They’re currently being shipped off planet as we speak. We were also finally able to get in touch with Pious Prince.”
“And?” Kaz asked.
“He claims he had no knowledge that some of his people had stayed behind.”
“He’s saying they lied to Lyra about having his permission?”
“That’s the story.”
“Do you believe him?”
Zane thought it over. “It’s plausible. There’s no reason for him to care enough to risk angering the Brumal. The man who was killed was supposedly a new hire. There were no strong ties between them, and the Ancient have numbers. What’s one or two shaved from the ranks to a leader like Pious?”
