Hate was too mild a word for what he felt for this traitor. It was right that in their final moments they’d face each other again.
Tian’s gaze narrowed then. “Where are the others?”
Cathal ignored him. Instead, he glanced down at the counter.Twenty seconds.
And when he looked up once more, Tian raised his pistol, aiming it at his head.
Laughter bubbled up within Cathal. It was too late. There was no stopping this.
Tian’s mouth twisted. Of course, from this angle, he couldn’t see that his hand was buried inside the central core, for the clan-lord had leaned up against it, adopting an indolent pose. “Just in time for what?”
Cathal smiled back as the last seconds of his life ran out. “For this.”
30. ALL GONE
THE EXPLOSION HIT when they were deep inThe Passage. Even so, it threw Malik against the wall. He loosened his grip on Jenna, and she slid to the ground.
He reached for her again, but she pushed herself away from him. “I can walk,” she croaked. “Let me go.”
The tunnel shuddered, the metal panels around them groaning in protest.
Jenna tried not to think about what had just happened behind them—about her brother’s tragic mistake.
Grief would flatten her later—yet she had no time for it now. Instead, she stumbled onward, ignoring Malik.
Asshole.She’d pleaded with him to help her, but he’d denied her. Instead, he’d obeyed Cathal.
Ahead, Isla’s raw sobs echoed through the tunnel.Vic now carried the struggling woman over his shoulder. They’d found Bea waiting for them insideThe Passage, but the moment the girl saw her hysterical mother, she’d burst into tears. Obsidian had swept Bea up in its metal arms and entered the escape tunnel first.
Her wails echoed down the tunnel now, blending with her mother’s sobs.
Grief did barrel into Jenna then; it gripped her around the throat and squeezed tight. She hated to see Isla and Bea so distraught.
Cathal.Her brother was gone.
Tears stung her eyelids, yet Jenna staggered on.
Smoke drifted throughThe Passageas the aftershocks of the explosion died away.
Bile surged into Jenna’s throat. She couldn’t believe her grandfather had built a detonator into the core of Mir-Brennan Tower. She barely remembered Nial Mir-Brennan, for he’d died when she was five. He’d become a father late in life, and so Jenna’s father took his seat at the age of twenty-five. Her shadowy memories of her grandfather were of a quiet man with an intense gaze. His victory against the Mir-Ferrins had been hard-won, and when he’d built his fortress upon this planet, he’d clearly been paranoid that it might fall into enemy hands.
However, he’d never intended to sacrifice his life.
Neither had Cathal.
Jenna continued up the tunnel, her gaze focused on where Isla hung over Vic’s back, sobbing gently now as exhaustion claimed her. Around them, metal panels creaked and rumbled ominously in the aftermath of the explosion.
As soon as Jenna stepped out of the tunnel, the heat hit her. The late morning sun burned onto their exposed skin.
Vic and Obsidian set their charges down, and Jenna hurried across to them, scooping a trembling Bea against her with one arm, while she embraced Isla with the other.
The three of them clung together for a few moments, a silent knot of grief.
Someone cleared their throat nearby, and Jenna glanced up to see Malik standing before them. His face was taut, his gaze shadowed. “I’m sorry, Jenna … but we need to go. It’s not safe here.”
For a few moments, Jenna merely stared back at him, fury pulsing in her belly.
“Malik’s right,” Vic agreed. “There are still plenty of Mir-Ferrin soldiers about … we need to avoid them.”
