Red eye shields glowing in a dark helmet. Beneath that, a face she’d never seen.
But eyes she knew were violet and filled with stars.
This final ache settled in her chest between burning, desperate lungs. Her body relaxed, and she breathed in.
Chapter 12
Kedar
Where was she?
Vessa had killed the horde leader, that he knew for certain. It seemed the Orcru would fight to their deaths even in an unwinnable situation, but killing the ogg was akin to cutting off their head. The others fled immediately.
Kedar wound his way through the snowbanks as that unnatural lightning flashed in the distance. Her tracks were easy to pick up, and he followed them. Until they ended.
Something within him told him he needed to find her. Time was running out. That unexplainable tether, that inner knowing, was all he had to guide him.
To ice.
Jagged slabs of it had broken and reformed. Her scent was here, evidence of a fight. An Orcru axe lay near where Vessa’s tracks ended.
And where a break in the ice had opened.
Kedar’s mind went void of all else. His singular focus was finding her. There were many ways death could claim someone, even a warrior, but this couldn’t be how it ended for her. Carefully placing his boots and balancing his weight, he made it to the spot without causing any new fissures to form. Powering his plasma dirk, he cut into the thick freeze.
It became immediately apparent to him that the plasma would take too long to cut through. “Nevskol!”
She could already be dead with how long it had taken him. He should have been more aware. He needed to get in there, find her. He should have—
The axe.
Kedar grabbed it, brought it high over his head, and, with all his might, smashed it into the frozen surface. A single hit and the ice broke open again. He threw the bigger chunks of it away so they wouldn’t reseal the entry point. Then he plunged in.
It was an immediate shock to his system. Overwhelming. His suit was only designed for ease of movement during fighting. The light armored fabric was water resistant, repelling snow and ice, but the deathly cold water seeped in around its edges. Xaal may run hot compared to a Seken, but this water was more frigid than anything he’d ever felt in his life. His limbs prickled, his hearts beat faster.
Even if Vessa could have broken through the ice on her own, the likelihood of her surviving…
He turned in all directions, searching for any sign of her. This ocean was vast and ancient. Deep. He couldn’t see her, couldn’tfindher. Had it already claimed her?
Where the fuck was she?
Time was already up. If he didn’t find her, didn’t bring her out…
But then the barest hint of heat caught his attention. A flutter of movement. A fading ember in suffocating black. Herheart.
His thermal vision barely picked her up. She’d drifted far from the entry and was already so cold. An unfamiliar sensation crept through him.
Kedar cut through the water as fast as he could. Warnings flashed in his HUD. The extreme temperature put a strain on his body. He ignored indicators about his hearts, nervous system, and his dwindling survivability rate. He ignored the numbness in his limbs. All he could focus on was her.Herstrugglinglungs.Herfailing heart. Each stroke of his brought him closer to her while she drew closer to death.
When he snatched her to him, she didn’t fight it.Couldn’t.With an arm wrapped around her midsection, he willed his body to move. To rise. The light from the exit was only a pinpoint in his vision.
His alarms flashed from orange to a dark red. Danger levels. Unable to fight off this kind of enemy, his body was shutting down. He swam on willpower alone. Promises he made so long ago rattled through his mind. Regrets and forgotten desires.
His hearts slowed.
Perhaps he should let it have them both—this watery grave. It would be fitting, somehow. He’d spent so long obsessed with finding her, with setting fate right. And when he finallydidreach her, it was only to destroy them both.
This was what he did. It’s who hewas.
