Page 131 of Tempting Fate

I ruffled his headspines. “Possessive, much?”

Airida tugged me to him, squeezing handfuls of my arse. “You know I am. Hurry back.”

The deep hums and stark blasts of heavy weaponsfire shook the ground, shocking me awake. This was louder than any previous night. Closer. But tonight, Airida was in my bed.

We clung to each other. I tried to shrink inside his arms, as if we could merge together and become nothing but two souls in our own world.

Groups of mobilised villagers ran past in a clomping of boots and the telltale clank of armour. Shouts rent the air.

“This is bad,” I whispered, unable to do more than state the fucking obvious.

“They are here for me.” Airida detangled himself from our embrace and scrambled out of bed, pulling on clothes with reckless haste. “I can’t let anyone get hurt on my account.”

My sleep-fogged brain took a moment to grasp his meaning, but as it rushed in, so did full body chills. Of all the ill-advised plans, was he going to hand himself over? Selfless, honourable, utter fool of a man.

But he was already dressed and heading towards the door.

“Airida mai Tasra, don’t you dare move,” I barked.

He froze. His nostrils flared. “Don’t.”

I choked down a lump of hurt. “Please... Please don’t leave me. We can sneak out.” I shucked off the comforting warmth of the covers and reached for him.

“I won’t have—”

Daiytak ducked into the room. She was clad in metallic black armour that clung to her like a second skin, an assault rifle slung over her shoulder, her helmet’s visor open. “You need to move. Now.”

Airida averted his eyes and took a step closer to me. “Where?”

“Original plan, but you’ll have to find another way in. There’s a small band of them this time, the only place they don’t have surrounded is the gardens.”

“There is a way into the caves there.” My voice was reedy, faraway. “But it’s not a good one. It’s a drop.” A long drop. Down a dark, rocky hole. At least, I hoped the hole in the gardens would lead into the cave system. So much for our safe entrance under the wreckage.

“I’ll throw an extra medpack in. It’s the best I can do.” Daiytak gave Airida a longsuffering look. “Or you could come with us? We’re a couple of days early leaving but we’re ready to go. We suspected something like this.”

“No, Imani’s plan is good,” Airida said. “We will go to these caves, and we will be safe. Focus on getting our siblings free.”

She rubbed one hand over her brow. “As you wish. And we will. Thank you.” For a moment, I saw the worry etched in her features and the relief at having one fewer person to care about. Then her face shuttered. “We’ve deliberately let them see we use Reserve-standard cloaking tech, so they’ll be scanning for it. You can take the older Rintan devices. They won’t hold up so well, but it should get you away unnoticed. As long as you don’t get them wet, they should last a week or two. Good luck.” She tapped the side of her helmet, and the visor glided shut, reflecting Airida’s firm expression.

I stared at our waterproof packs in the corner, then scrambled out of bed, hauling on my darkest, plainest clothes as he took the small flexible bands Daiytak had left on the table.

I braced to pick up my pack, catching myself with a step backwards when it wasn’t as heavy as I expected. “I told you, I can carry my own supplies.”

“It is not logical for you to be overburdened,” he said in flat tones. Then, with tense promise curling through his words, “You can chastise me for it later.” He dropped a hand to Kri’s idol, which sheltered a sleeping Orbit. “Kri keep us all safe. Orbit, look after those eggs while we’re away. We’ll be back, I swear it.”

Orbit opened one eye and yawned. She let out a trilling coo before returning to sleep.

“We’ll miss you too, girl.” I pressed the flat cloaking device to the neck of my tunic. We’re really doing this.

Airida took my hand. “Ready?”

To run through a firefight and fall down a rocky hole into an unknown cave? Not especially. But when the only other option was being parted from him… I gave a sharp nod. “Let’s go.”

I flipped the folded section of the device, and it activated with a hum. Next to me, Airida shimmered and vanished, leaving nothing more than the slight sheen of a mirage when he moved.

Another explosion boomed overhead.

Airida’s hand found mine, and he tugged me towards the open door.