Penny pushed against me, squirming out of both my hug and my jacket. That snapped my attention back to her as she focused on the engine. Pale skin turning blue in the freezing wind, she still pulled off her cloak. I snarled and reached for her, wondering what madness had afflicted my companion.
Before I could restrain her, she whipped off her whisperlight cloak and wrapped it around the engine block. I paused, giving her the few moments she needed to pin it in place using hairpins and her brooch.
“There,” she said, teeth chattering. That did nothing to reduce the fierce intensity in her voice. “Don’t stand there gawking, get moving.”
“You’ll freeze,” I objected, mouth on automatic as my brain struggled to keep up. She just glared at me, impatient, shivering, beautiful.
“This won’t work.” I leaped into the driver’s seat and grabbed the controls as I spoke, my heart leaping with hope in defiance of my words. “You’ve blocked the air intakes.”
The skimmer hummed back into motion, several new error messages appearing on the control surface. I swiped them away as Penny pulled my jacket back on and pulled herself up next to me.
“Better ideas are welcome,” she said, squeezing in tight at my side. For my body warmth, I told myself. Nothing more than that.
Doesn’t matter. If I’m going to die, I will take what joy I can find.I slipped one arm around her, holding her to me as I gunned the engine.
13
PENNY
The skimmer went over the edge in a burst of speed, and I screamed. I couldn’t help it. The ice-cold air tore the breath from my lungs, and I held tight to the alien who I swear was trying to kill me.
The thrusters kicked in with an unhealthy whine, bouncing the skimmer off the scree-and-ice slope. Varok twisted the controls, pulling us around a rock that would have killed us both, and then struggled to right us before the violent turn threw us off the vehicle.
It’s like a rollercoaster,I told myself.Better than thinking of it as a death trap I’d stuck us in. The boosted power of the engine gave Varok just enough control over our descent to avoid one crash after another, but he never had a moment to relax, and I was half-certain he’d slip, killing us both.
Or the engine, deprived of cooling airflow, would overheat. That would kill us just as dead.
We leveled out with a bone-shaking jolt, crossing the road again. I tried to remember the switchbacks we’d driven up—had there been four? Five? I didn’t remember. Before I could think, we’d skidded over the far edge. I screamed, the sudden dropthrowing me into the air, my hands scrabbling for something to hold on to.
Varok didn’t even look. He just reached up and grabbed hold of my shoulder, pulling me back into my seat with irresistible strength. His firm grip held me tight, and I wanted to scream at him to put both hands on the controls instead of sparing one for me.
The only reason I bit back my words was that distracting him would kill us both.
Okay, no, that isn’t true. At least as important were the heat of his touch, the strength of his muscles, the electric connection sending tingles through me where his skin met mine. Catching my breath was impossible, between the fear, the exhilaration, and the desperate need his hand awakened in me.
Again, we crossed the road. I clung on for dear life, but I didn’t need to. Varok held me, and against his strength, the violence of the ride was nothing. We plunged down the mountainside, avoiding barren trees and tumbled rocks, and I realized that, against all reason and despite myself, I was having fun. Itwaslike a rollercoaster—without control, I might as well enjoy the ride. Even if it killed me, it was better than being torn apart and eaten.
It was almost disappointing to leave the rocky slope, at least for the moment it took our success to register. We’d survived the mountain with only a few scratches and bruises. Both of us laughed giddily as Varok released the controls and the skimmer coasted to a stop.
“Where the fuck to now?” I said once I had my desperate laughter under control. We didn’t have time to spare.
“Your plan, your choice,” Varok said, earning him another glare. He grinned at me, unrepentant. “Penny, you know Wardal as well as I do.”
I couldn’t keep my glare up, so I threw my hands in the air and cursed. “Great. Wonderful. So we’re on the loose in an abandoned city on a hostile planet, freezing, hunted by predators, with no idea where we’re going.”
“That sums it up neatly, yes. Except you forgot to mention the Hive of immortal crystalline insects hunting us. A minor oversight.”
“Does anyone actuallylikeyou, Varok?” I wrapped my arms around myself, shivering and trying to think. He laughed again, starting the skimmer moving and shaking his head.
“I’ll hide us in the alleys while we plan our next moves. It would be a pity if they saw us from the sky as they fly overhead.”
His instincts were strong. They had to be, I supposed, given how much he improvised on a heist. We reached cover seconds before a skiff flew past overhead with the barest whisper of air displacement. No chance we’d hear that coming.
“We need to find shelter,” I said. Or tried to. My chattering teeth made words difficult. “Without getting spotted.”
Whether he understood or had the same idea, Varok looked at the buildings beside the alley. Of course, we weren’t that lucky. On our left, the wall had large holes smashed through it, and I saw daylight—not much protection from fliers above us, nor from the elements.
The right looked worse. Only a single standing wall remained of the building that once stood there. This was a city of ruins, not refuge.
