“For what?” I asked in shock. “For coming to my aid. You would have defended me against every man in here.”
“That's being generous,” he drawled. “Some of these things aren't men. They'remale, but not men.”
I chuckled. “You would have died, Rain. But you still came to help me. Thank you. It was heroic.”
He snorted. “I'm not a hero, I'm a warrior. And women are highly respected in my culture. Defending you was instinctual.”
I laughed. “You're as bad at taking compliments as I am.”
“I guess I—”
Another siren went off, followed by the sound of the elevator. Our captors were probably getting antsy, what with their cameras being blacked out. I glanced up to remove the illusions from the camera lenses. As I was distracted, Rain leaned forward and kissed my cheek, then he ran back to his cell, leaping over the pile of bodies. He made it back just before the cell doors shut.
Then guards swarmed into the corridors... and froze.
A lot of Cantonese and Mandarin cuss words peppered the air, then questions came that no one could answer. Finally, they realized that Rain, the Fury, and I were the only prisoners awake, alive, and in our cells. A man started barking orders into a radio and the cell doors opened again. Another sharp command and the doors of Rain's, the Fury's, and my cells slid back closed. The guards started dragging the dead away as the man with the radio strode over to my cell.
He pointed at Rain and me as he snapped in English, “What happened here?”
“The other prisoners left their cells and just passed out,” Rain said.
“We saw you fighting,” the guard snapped. “Outsideyour cell.”
“Only for a few minutes,” Rain argued. “Then I saw the others go down so I ran for my cell. I thought you guys had coated the floor with one of your drugs.”
The guard frowned at Rain, then looked at me. “What did you see?”
“The cells opened, and the guy in the cell next to mine came after me. He”—I pointed at Rain—“defended me. The other men turned on each other. They started killing each other but then they suddenly fell to the floor unconscious. I thought you might have been trying to stop the riot and, oh, I don't know, save my life. I should have known better. What did you do to them anyway?”
The guard scowled from me, to the bodies, to Rain, and then to the Fury. He must have been considering questioning the Fury. The Fury stood up, off his bed, and lifted a brow at the guard.
“Sit the fuck down!” The guard shouted at the Fury, even though his cell was secured.
The Fury grinned and sat back down.
The guard narrowed his eyes at me, then turned on his heels and went to supervise moving the unconscious prisoners back in their cells now that the bodies were out of the way. Once the inmates were secured, the guards gave us one last suspicious look and left.
I let out a relieved breath, then whispered to Rain in Dralmarin, “Why the hell did they let us out?”
“They like to watch us fight each other,” Rain whispered back. “I think they use it to check out everyone's magic.”
I remembered the videos they had played at the auction—in particular, the prison videos. This was their way of cataloging the supe abilities they had available. Bastards.
“I think you're right,” I said. “But they didn't get any footage today.”
“What do you mean?”
“I blacked out the cameras. That's why he was questioning us.”
“Who the fuck are you, woman?”
I told him. I told him all of it. It wasn't as if we were going anywhere and after defending me like that, he deserved to know.
When I was finished, Rain gaped at me a few minutes, then he said three words, “Fucking super spy.”
I laughed my ass off.
Chapter Twenty-Four
