He finally turned.
The sight of him made her flinch.
The board Vaelor had thrown at him on the bridge had left a jagged, angry scar across his face. One eye was swollen and bloodshot. The other burned with something unhinged.
“Winning this damn game,” he said. “I’m going to be the only human to win the Galactic Survivor Games. I’ll be famous. Rich. Untouchable.”
“You’ve been trying to kill me because I’m the only other human here?” she asked, disbelief and fury tangling in her chest.
“I tried to get you to withdraw,” he snapped. “But you’re so stubborn.”
“So now you want to kill me.”
“I don’t want you dead,” he said, though his tone suggested otherwise. “But I wouldn’t mind killing your partner. That damn Crytharian has dodged every move I’ve made. Look what he did to my face!”
He stepped closer, looming over her. She recoiled instinctively. His breath smelled sour, his expression twisted with rage.
“He’s going to pay for what he did to me.”
Before she could respond, a voice echoed across the ice.
“Mara!”
Vaelor.
Her heart leapt—and then plummeted.
He didn’t know Blaine was here. He didn’t know Blaine was armed, desperate, and furious. He didn’t know he was walking straight into a trap.
She opened her mouth to warn him, but Blaine lunged and slapped a hand over her mouth.
“Sorry, babe,” he hissed. “Can’t let you do that.”
He pressed something sticky over her lips—tape. She gagged, the adhesive pulling painfully at her skin.
Blaine straightened, turning toward the direction of Vaelor’s voice. Mara’s pulse hammered. She had to do something. Anything.
Her hands were tied. Her mouth sealed. But Blaine had made one mistake.
He hadn’t tied her feet.
She waited—heart pounding—until his attention shifted fully toward the sound of Vaelor calling her name.
Then she moved.
She surged to her feet, stumbling slightly, and threw her entire weight into Blaine’s back. He shouted in surprise, arms pinwheeling as he toppled forward onto the ice.
Mara didn’t wait to see if he recovered.
She ran.
Her balance was off, her hands useless, still tied, but adrenaline pushed her forward. She crashed through the ice trees, branches scraping her arms. She tripped over a fallen log and hit the ground hard, her tied hands taking the brunt of the fall. Pain shot up her arms, but she forced herself up again.
Vaelor! Please find me!
She called out to him mentally, even though she knew the tether didn’t work that way. But she needed him. Needed his strength, his steadiness, his presence.
She kept running, breath ragged, vision blurring. She glanced over her shoulder, but the ice forest distorted everything—shadows shifting, shapes twisting. She couldn’t tell if Blaine was following.
