“You thought if you pulled me here,” I say, “I would arrive stripped down to muscle and bone.”
He shrugs. “A warlord without his terrain is just a body.” His gaze flicks over me, and I see the doubt creeping in.
The jungle isn’t a weapon I leave behind. I don’t need to use the vines, or any other part of it. Its strength flows into me. It’s a secret I’ve tightly guarded until now. I’m not sure how far I could get from the jungle before I lose strength, but I know I haven’t crossed that line. Reach’s End may be Vorak’s by Concord decree, but my jungle has long grown here. Soon, it will be a united Green Reach biome.
I take another step forward. He’s a good fighter. It might have been a fair match between us five hundred years ago. It’s not fair now. Vorak sees it in my face. My certainty of victory. He feels the swell of power that answers only to me.
"You're here. You've breached every defense." Vorak smiles, wider now, and reaches under the table. "But you came alone."
The shield snaps into place between us, floor to ceiling. Vorak’s smile grows wider. Then the pressure hits my ears and drives into my skull. Black spots swarm my vision. My knees buckle. Blood fills my mouth where I've bitten my own tongue. My knees hit the floor. Vorak’s guards are dying around me, blood pouring from their eyes and ears and mouths.
Vorak watches through the shield, arms folded. He looks like a man watching an animal die in a cage. "Do you like my new toy? I stole the design from the Concord Council. It was useful for convincing Elena to come to me. It worked very well on your warriors. The Concord ship that used it is gone now, of course. I’m not sharing this design with anyone," he says. "At this range, it should liquefy the connective tissue in your inner ear. After that, you won't be able to stand, let alone fight."
He is confessing on live surveillance feeds that go straight to the Concord Council. The proof the High Lord demanded, delivered by Vorak himself, because he has never once resisted an audience. I hear him through the ringing. Through the blood. Through the pressure that is trying to flatten my brain against the inside of my skull. He's right about one thing. This hurts. But every living cell in the Green Reach is pouring into me through the ground, through the stone, through the metal floor that Vorak thought would keep the jungle out. The device screams in my skull.
I get to one knee.
Vorak's smile falters.
I get to both feet. The shield hums between us. I touch it, and the energy of every living organism in the Green Reach flows through my palms.
The shield bows inward, buckling, the hum rising to a shriek.
Vorak steps back. For the first time since I've known him, his face shows real fear. "That's not possible," he whispers.
The shield shatters. I cross the distance in two strides. He throws a punch. I catch his fist in my hand and squeeze until the bones grind. He swings with his bandaged hand. I do not even feel it.
I grab his throat with one hand and lift him off the ground. "You took what is mine," I say. "You touched what is mine."
His feet kick. His hands claw at my wrist. His eyes bulge. "She left willingly," he chokes.
I tighten my grip. "This is the last mistake you will ever make." I snap his neck. The life goes out of him, and I feel it drain into the ground, back to the jungle, back to me. Reach's End ceases to exist. It is all Green Reach now. It always was. Vorak just didn't know it. When he stops moving, I let him drop.
I follow the mate signal down another door to more stairs. The lockdown is still in effect, but every door opens at my touch. The Green Reach’s system is embedded in my skin now. Loyalty is engineered, hard-wired into everything—but still quick to serve the most dominant.
At the lowest level, I kick open the last door and find her. Inside, the lights are bright, the air dry. She’s on a med table, hands and feet strapped down. Her face is pale, eyes closed. Vorak had to tranquilize her to keep her under control. I wish I could wake him up and kill him all over again. I’d do it slowly. Make him pay for every bruise.
If she had stopped breathing, I would have burned this planet down to bedrock.
I rip the restraints off her. She doesn’t wake, but her vitals are strong. The scent of her fills my head, and for a few seconds I just stand there with my hands on the table, breathing her in, letting my pulse slow down from killing speed to something that won't frighten her when she wakes.
I pick her up and hold her in my arms. I have her. Everything else can wait.
CHAPTER 29
BEHIND THE WATERFALL
ELENA – REACH’S END
My first thoughtas I awake is that I’m on New Terra. The alarms are going off and I need to evacuate, but I can’t move my arms. I can’t even open my eyes.
Then the world reboots.
I’m on Xytheos. Large arms hold me, and hot breath hits my neck. I try to fight him, but everything is sluggish. Clumsy. We sprint through cold, dead corridors until the air and the life of the jungle hit us.
He tires of my struggling and sets me on my feet, holding me up with both hands as my useless legs collapse. I’m shaking so hard my teeth chatter. My knuckles ache. Whatever I did in the missing hours, my body kept the receipts.
I try to say something, but all that comes out is a hoarse whimper as I finally process his scent. Even without opening my eyes, I know it's Rythar. He presses his forehead to mine as he runs his fingers along the side of my head. I force my eyelids open, and for a moment, all I can see is the ember fire in his eyes.
