Tzader thought on that. “Why’d they let Storm help you when we couldn’t?”
“They didn’t. When the Tribunal had me teleported to Tristan’s spellbound cage in South America—”
Tzader cursed in Gaelic.
“—Storm found me on his own. I’m not entirely sure how he did it, but he did and he refused to leave me while I searched for Tristan and the other Alterants.”
“In that case, if he hadn’t quit I’d thank him,” Tzader said. “Sen blew me off when I asked about Storm. Said he was jacked up over you being locked up. Sen thinks he’ll be back in a day or two once he cools down. Storm’s one of their best trackers, so VIPER won’t let him get away.”
That sounded like a story Sen would fabricate to cover why Storm had left if Sen didn’t want to deal with explaining a dead agent.
But Evalle wanted what Tzader said to be true with every part of her being no matter how little chance she believed he’d had of surviving Sen’s attack.
Sen would have made sure Storm could not help her again, no matter what.
Thinking of that blasted Sen, he might pull Tzader out any minute, too. She needed Tzader to do a couple more things.
“In case you can’t come back to see me, please give this to Nicole.” She reached around her neck and untied the leather thong holding Nicole’s amulet. She wouldn’t think about how this could be the last time she ever saw Tzader. When she held the amulet out to him, he reluctantly opened his hand. “And make sure that Feen—”
Her voice broke. She’d thought she could say his name.
Tzader wrapped his arms around her. When he spoke, his voice sounded as if he’d eaten rusty blades. “We won’t abandon you.”
She pulled in a shaky breath, determined to get this out. “I know.” She licked her dry lips, searching for the strength to make sure her baby was cared for. “Take Feenix . . . to Nicole . . . so he won’t be alone. Tell Feenix . . . tell him—”
Her baby would go berserk when she didn’t return.
The first tear charged down her cheek.
Tzader hugged her. “We’ll take him to Nicole’s tonight as soon as I finish all the VIPER meetings. We’ll tell him you love him and take care of himuntilyou get back. I swear it.”
More tears rushed to join the first one, but she squinted her eyes tight.
The door to her cell opened on its own.
She pulled back from Tzader and tried to smile. “Thank you for all the times you’ve been my friend and believed in me.”
“Don’t talk in the past tense. Iwillfind a way to get you out of here. Quinn and I won’t stop until we do.”
Should she tell Tzader about Kizira’s claim that Quinn had shared information about Evalle? Not without proof. Evalle could only live with so much guilt, and she’d hurt enough Beladors for one day.
She trusted Tzader to know who his allies were.
She couldn’t spend forever in here thinking Quinn had betrayed her to Kizira.
Tzader stepped away, looking back once more before he walked out.
The door swung shut and dissolved into a rough-cut rock wall again.
Her heart dropped with the sudden empty ring. Her watch emitted a loud tick . . . tick . . . tick every time a second passed.
Sen’s doing, no doubt. He wanted her to be aware of every second she spent in this cage.
He’d made sure she’d spend all those seconds in agony thinking about Storm and everything she’d lost in one day.
THIRTY-SIX
The watch had become Evalle’s nemesis. She tried to stomp out the noisy thing, but the timepiece was indestructible, so she put it beneath the thin mattress on her bed.
