Again.
Gus suppressed the urge to kick Caius’s unconscious body.
What kind of individual tries to kill the person who just saved them?
See—this was why she was a hermit.People were confounding.
Annoyed, Gus looked up, pinning the boy in place with a glance.He clung to the wall, pressing against it as hard as he could as if in hopes of merging with the metal.
“Come here,” Gus ordered.
She supposed she shouldn’t be surprised that the boy had sided with Caius.People stuck with what they knew, even though points of commonality were by no means the protection most people thought they were.You could be betrayed just as easily by someone you grew up with versus a stranger.
Actually—maybe even easier.With a stranger, there was some resistance.A guard.When it was someone you knew and trusted, it was that much harder to protect yourself against their duplicity.
“I-is he—?”
“He’s not dead,” Gus snapped.
More’s the pity.A lot of Gus’s problems would be solved if he was.
“What did you do to him?”the boy asked.
He shot a glance at Caius, a look of relief crossing his face as he caught the rise and fall of his chest.
“I gave him a sedative.”At the boy’s surprised look, Gus shrugged.“He seemed tense.”
The boy had an odd expression on his face as his eyebrows rose.
“He called you Anandra.Is that your name?”Gus asked, crouching to get a better look at Caius.
They’d sure done a number on him.Where he’d gotten the energy to threaten her, she did not know.There were two puncture wounds in his abdomen.Another on the left side of his chest; alarmingly close to his heart.
“Yes, and that’s Cai,” Anandra answered, an expectant look on his face as he waited for Gus to offer her name.
He would wait an eternity.Gus didn’t plan to get any more involved than she already was.The fact that he’d seen her face when so few ever had was bad enough.There was no reason to bring names into this too.
“We were attacked.”
Gus cut him off before he could say anything more.“I don’t need to know what happened.”
Anandra closed his mouth, looking like he was struggling not to cry.
“I’ll provide safe harbor until this guy is healed enough to protect you.You’re on your own after that.”
Don’t get involved.That was the forty-three’s motto.Until now, Gus had followed that directive to the letter.No bereft little boy was going to jeopardize that.Especially not after she’d gone to the trouble of saving him only to have him turn around and lie.
Oh, yeah, she’d caught his little omission.He’d been smooth about it.Using the shortened form of Caius to try to fool Gus.If she wasn’t already familiar with the power brokers of the major Houses, she might have fallen for it.
Maybe there was hope for him yet.
“He’s hurt pretty bad.What if he doesn’t heal?”Anandra asked.
Gus had to admit that she was a little concerned about that herself.
His wounds were bad enough, but it was the fact that he wasn’t wearing any synth armor that worried her most.It made no sense.Caius should have earned his own set long ago.
Synth armor was created by embedding the scale of alu-onginto a Tuann’s body.Overtime, the scale would replicate under the surface of their skin.Piece by piece until finally there was enough to cover the entire body.The process could take up to a decade depending on the quality of the first scale seed.Longer sometimes if it was of poor quality.The older thelu-ongthe quicker the scales replicated and the stronger they were said to be.
