Jaw clenching, Jenna nodded. As much as it galled her, she knew they had to leave. Lingering near the tower, or what was left of it, was dangerous. Despite that the explosion would have taken out most of the Mir-Ferrin force, there would still be patrols nearby.
Malik moved back inside to where his own hopper was parked, ready for departure, and retrieved hooded cloaks for them all. He then handed them out to his human companions as they followed him back into the tunnel. At his hour, they had to wear them. If they didn’t, the ride back to Melor would blister their skin.
Malik’s hand brushed Jenna’s as he passed her a cloak, and she jerked back from him as if she’d just stuck her hand into a live socket.
Her bodyguard’s mouth compressed at her reaction, his gaze narrowing.
Nonetheless, he knew better than to say anything.
Jenna was a primed pyro-grenade right now. One word would set her off.
Malik and Vic started their hoppers, while Obsidian took one from the neat row in the corner of the bay.
Wordlessly, Jenna threw on a cloak and pulled up her hood. She then retrieved her own hopper. Kicking the engine into life, she felt Malik’s gaze upon her but ignored him. Her needle-nosed craft lifted off the ground before she angled it toward the exit and opened the throttle.
The four hoppers roared out into the gorge. Isla and Bea sat on the back of Malik’s hopper, while Vic, Jenna, and the battle-droid traveled alone.
They barreled down the narrow space, red dust boiling in their wake, and when they finally emerged onto the sun-scorched hills beyond, Jenna glanced over her shoulder in the direction of Mir-Brennan Tower.
Part of her didn’t want to, and yet she couldn’t help herself. They were too distant from the tower to see the rubble—but the sky told the grim story of what had transpired behind them.
Indeed, a purple-black cloud billowed high into the pink heavens. Fortunately, they were far enough away to escape the chunks of falling masonry and the noxious gases and smoke from the explosion.
Jenna swallowed as grief tore at her throat once more.
It was all gone. Her brother. Mir-Brennan Tower. The Mir-Ferrins—and all those within the tower who’d served them.
Her stomach clenched then, as it occurred to her Tian and his father might not have even been inside the tower when it blew.
A moment later, she realized it was likely they were. Cathal’s execution had been looming, after all. Neither of those bastards would have wanted to miss it.
Nausea rolled over Jenna, and she tore her gaze away from the smoke, focusing on the craggy landscape she was speeding over. She wanted to feel relief Tian and Mican Mir-Ferrin were both gone. But she just felt sick.
It wasn’t supposed to go this way.
There had been a part of her that had feared they’d never rescue her family, a part of her that believed she’d be captured or killed during the attempt. However, this eventuality had never occurred to her.
Tears scalded her eyelids then, blurring her vision. Hurriedly she blinked them away.
As they sped through the outskirts of Melor, it became evident that news of the destruction of Mir-Brennan Tower had already reached the town. The tower was twenty klicks away, too far for the residents of Melor to see or hear anything.
Nonetheless, news traveled fast.
Cloaked figures gathered on the roads, and Malik caught the excited babble of various tongues. When they slowed to pass through a square, he spied a holo-image looming above one of the buildings, showing the billowing black cloud surrounding the ruin of Mir-Brennan Tower.
Malik ground his teeth.
He didn’t need to see that right now, and neither did his companions.
Glancing left, Malik’s gaze alighted upon Jenna. Crouched over the handlebars, her hood pulled forward, it was impossible to see Jenna’s face. All the same, he noted the rigid set of her shoulders and the way she bowed her head forward.
She’d been furious earlier, yet sorrow had come for her.
Maybe once she weathered the storm, she wouldn’t blame him—wouldn’t hate him.
Right now though, she wouldn’t even look his way.
As the streets narrowed and they neared the center, they slowed their hoppers.
