He stopped short, inky eyes flicking between my grin and the rebels. Cautious, barely containing the panic.
Oh, but the look on his face! If only I could bottle it, keep it for later when I was retelling the downfall of a forgotten Empire. “Not another step, Captain Rawlings.” Gleeful, I brandished my stolen weapon, keeping it trained on the captain’s chest. “I’m leaving,” I purred, pausing for a moment to enjoy the ballad of chaos sung by the good men at my back. “Tell these parasites bloated withPriestesski to drop their weapons, then bring themallto me.”
For a moment, as his shock turned into something darker, he said nothing. Glaring with a tight-lipped fury that whipped at the bond, he pulled at me, at what remained of the darkness. Beseeching. Trying to manipulate me with tempting, drugging ki.
But I was quite finished withthat. Burrowing behind the High Priestess’ cocoon, I forced him out, though the effort made my head spin, stuffing my ears with fuzz. “Do it,” I said, blinking away dark stars as the good men shouted. “Tell them to—”
“Don’t move, you stupid,stupidgirl!”
Incredulous, I laughed. “You’re hardly in a position to—”
“Mila!Get down!”
A hollow thud hit the earth to my left, throwing me to the ground in a shower of mud, the choking stench of ozone, and scorching hot rocks.
Shocked, I gasped. “What—”
Electric-blue plasma danced over my skin, singeing me with the unmistakablezipof ki. Bewildered, my eyes found the captain’s, for it was not the first time he’d taken a shot at me—but his face had gone waxy with an emotion I couldn’t name.
It looked like pure, unfiltered terror.
“Cover fire!” Marco bellowed, igniting the Caledonian forces. Dozens of shots sailed over my tangled body, setting the air ablaze and searing that trademark sickly green into the backs of my retinas. They pummeled the rebel shields with such enthusiasm as to give them no choicebutto wait it out.
“Don’t move!” the captain snarled, making his way toward me with Marco at his back, the latter sending wave after wave of Elite ki at the rebel shields.
Soaked in mud and filth, I scrambled for my stolen weapon, wrapping both hands around the grip. “Get back! Or you die where you stand!”
My threat did nothing to slow them, nothing to temper the fury etched upon the captain’s face. “Go ahead, my fierce little lunatic,” he purred, closing in. Lit by wave after wave of Caledonian firepower. “Shoot.”
The bond crackled with dark flames, charring the back of my throat.
“You think I won’t?” I rasped, hesitating only aninstantbefore I cannibalized the High Priestess’ cocoon, dumping what I could into the weapon as I lay there, flat on my back. Knees spread. Arms locked. Staring down the sights at the captain’s handsome, furious face.
Obsidian eyes bore into mine. Utterly ignoring my threat and the warfare exploding all around us, he simply raised his left wrist with a mocking sneer and tapped the matte-black manacle with his forefinger. “You are not Elite, little girl.”
“Aren’t I?” I whispered, and though my hands trembled and the air was thick with screams and ki, I smiled, cheeks flushed with fire—and squeezed the trigger with my remaining strength.
Nothing happened.
The captain’s bark of laughter echoed through the empty place in my chest as he spread his arms, nearly upon me. “Passion and fury, Mila. No training. No knowledge.”
“Quite a flare for the dramatic, hey, wildcat?” Marco asked, unlit cigarette dangling bent and broken from an unhinged grin.
Abandoning my attempt on his life, I scrambled to my feet, turning toward the last dregs of hope. Toward the glimmer of blue and the flurry of activity on the horizon. All I had to do was make it across the field of muck and scars, covered by Caledonian firepower, and I’d be free. Free to join the rebellion and fight another day.
I didn’t need to bring them weapons! Iwasthe weapon. Belle had said it herself, many times! Hiking skirts grown heavy with filth, I charged forward, slogging through the mud.
It was a foolish attempt.
Tackling me with his entire weight, the captain’s shoulder struck me just below the ribs, driving us both into the mud
Gasping, I hadn’t the sense to fight him before he was prying his sidearm from my stiff fingers with brutal force. At once, gold flooded my veins, the searing agony a promise of the devastation the captain could do with my power—woulddo, for I had failed.
“Move!”he snarled, jerking me to my feet and shoving me back, toward the trench filled with enemies.
“No—”
The tip of his weapon lit with blinding, furious green matched only by the terrible expression etched upon his face.
