“I’m not going to abandon you to die!” In a just universe, her furious gaze would have melted the frozen hell-world around us. “I rescued you from those monsters, so youhaveto be okay.”
A rueful chuckle escaped my lips. “I was unaware of that rule. Perhaps you should lodge a complaint with the management.”
“This isn’t funny. And I refuse to let you die. I need you.”
Those words made my heart swell with pride, but I shook my head. “You, Penelope Halford, need no one. You are as formidable as a shock trooper, and wiser than a sage. I am privileged to have met you.”
Another slap, fast enough that my reflexes only caught her arm after she’d delivered it. “Nope. No past tense, dammit. I’m getting you out of here, and if you really believe I’m that formidable, you might as well help. Nothing you can do is going to stop me.”
“Dying will. Even you can’t stop that.” This time I was ready, and I grabbed her free wrist before she moved it. “And for the love of the Voidborn Stars, stop beating me up!”
“I’ll stop when I’ve knocked some sense into you.” Penny struggled, but even in my injured condition she was no match for my strength. “I’m getting us both out of here, or neither.”
“You were on your way to escape alone,” I pointed out.
“And I came back.”The intensity of her words hit like a piledriver. “If you were in any condition to survive on your own, fine, I’d leave you behind and you’d catch up to me. But you aren’t. If I leave you, you’ll die here, and I won’t let that happen.”
I let go of her arms warily. No sudden assault materialized. “If you stay, all you do is kill yourself. I need medical attention, and you need to go.”
“The opening’s passed,” she said, voice sweet and reasonable. As though I’d let her reason her way into her grave. “If I try for the spaceport now, I’ll fly straight into the Collectors’ security bots, so I might as well stay.”
I took a deep breath, savoring her last word before replying. “No. You will get to theVoidborn Fooland escape while I keepthe Collectors’ attention. I have enough strength remaining to cause a little chaos.”
Fishing in a pocket, I pulled out my ID tag and pressed it into her palm. The black metal disk glowed green for a moment as it acknowledged Penny as a valid user. “My ship will get you out of here safely, my mate, and my death will serve a purpose.”
“Fuck that. We’ll set a distraction and both go. Don’t tell me there isn’t an autodoc aboard theFoolthat could save you.”
“Of course there is,” I replied patiently. “But we’ll never make it there without a cunning plan to distract the Collectors. I can keep their attention.”
I lay back, suddenly exhausted, the frozen air washing over me. For the first time since waking, I paid attention to our surroundings.
Penny had landed the skimmer in the upper levels of an apartment building, one sturdy enough that three walls still stood. It was an impressive bit of flying, and a well-chosen refuge. Rubble blocked the stairwell, keeping the predators at bay, and while the wind whistled around it, the remaining walls gave us some shelter. The frozen remains of a fire showed where its occupants had burned their furniture for heat.
No corpses. I hope they made it out okay.I shook off the irrelevant thought. Whoever lived here had made it off-world or died long ago.
I unclipped my safety harness and got up, or tried to. All I could manage was an ungainly slump to the icy floor. Penny tried to catch me, grabbing my arm and not slowing my descent one bit.
I grinned up at my mate. “You can’t lift me,” I pointed out. “So you’ve got no choice. Staying here and dying is a pointless waste, so go and live.”
“I can’t!” Her voice was rough, ragged, and her fingers gripped me hard enough to bruise. The pain was only a distantache, and her touch well worth the price. All my pain faded, and I just felt tired. “How am I meant to abandon you when we’ve just met?”
“Treasure the moments we’ve had and remember me. I have no regrets. Few enough people get to meet their mates in this broken universe. I have the privilege of dying for mine.” I smiled. “If you will do me one favor, meet my brothers at the Fading Sun and tell them what happened. TheFoolwill help you find it.”
With that, I breathed deeply and conserved my strength. I needed to survive long enough to distract the Collectors, and my life was draining fast.
21
PENNY
It almost worked. He almost talked me into leaving him behind, into saving myself and giving him the martyrdom he wanted. The meeting with his brothers was the final touch and a clever one—how could I refuse his dying wish?
By not letting him die, of course.Yeah, but to hide behind that technicality, I had to figure out how to save him. Getting him back onto the skimmer was out of the question and just got us back where we started. Even Varok, tough as he was, couldn’t survive long with the wounds he’d sustained fighting the predators.
Whatever I did, I’d have to do it fast.
The icy chill seeped into my bones as I tried to think, but it was useless. I’d already used all my clever ideas, so planning our way out wasn’t plausible. What did that leave?
Stupid ideas. The wild-ass, seat-of-the-pants solutions I hated. I looked at the darkening sky, took a deep breath of frozen air, and thought.
