26. Vai

Islowed my ascent up the stairs, my chest heaving with the exertion.

Sweat peeled down my face in lengthy plows.

But I couldn't stop.

Not when I knew Emma was out there.

Somewhere.

For all I knew, she could already be in the arena and—

There!

I felt her.

A blip on the bond, like a tiny mouse tugging on a length of rope.

I followed it through the hallways like the voice of God in the direction of—

No…

The arena.

She was being taken there.

It was her turn to "perform."

A squawking crowd of onlookers milled in the cramped corridor.

My heart leaped into my throat and I ran into the fray.

I raised my elbows and knocked the others aside, shoving them out of my way, and took advantage of every narrow gap that opened up.

I turned down two more corners, then a third, and felt that pulse glow brighter, stronger…

Whatever the Surgeon did to the bond that bound us, it was not permanent.

It really hadn't been Severed.

It'd been dulled somehow at the beginning.

Just a way to make us think the bond had been removed.

The thought brought tears to my eyes.

There was still hope for us.

There was still a chance.

I was drawing closer to her, traveling much faster than she was.

But the hallways were growing denser with bodies.

Not to mention excited anticipation.

I slowed to a crawl, unable to run any longer.

Then I saw her.

A shock of blonde hair done up in a gorgeous style.

But was it her?

Or was it someone else—

She turned a corner, following a hefty female Shadow.

I caught the profile of the blonde's face.

It brought me to a stop, my heart along with it.

It was her.

There was no denying it now.

It was Emma and she was being led to the arena.

"Emma!" I wanted to shout but knew it would sign the death warrant for us both.

Even if I managed to get my hands on her right now, what did I expect I could do?

I couldn't rescue her, not with so many Shadows here.

They would overwhelm me and I would be used to torture Emma, used as a warm-up act before they carried out their terrible deed on her.

Or even worse, they might make me watch.

I ground my teeth and forced myself to let her go.

For now.

The crowd jostled me as they continued rushing like an open river down the halls.

I needed a plan.

I needed a way to sweep her out of there.

But how?

How?

Think about the ceremony back home, I thought.

"The groom," Computer said, whispering in my ear.

"What groom?" I spat.

"The ceremony back on M'yaw. The groom always enters from a different entrance."

I had no idea what he was talking about.

"If you've got something you want to say, then say it!" I snapped at him.

I caught the look of a curious Shadow that eyeballed me.

I took the opposite turning to the crowd to get a little space.

"What are you talking about? I need a way to rescue Emma! I don't need to be thinking about the wedding ceremony back home!"

"But perhaps you should. This world is a reflection of yours. This building, this ceremony, and all its practices…"

I felt a shimmer of something in the ether, the corner of a shard, light blinking off its edge.

An idea.

It wasn't fully formed yet but it was sprouting.

"The ceremony…" I spoke.

The realization was like a lightning bolt, every bit as powerful as the fake Severing machine back at the Surgery.

It struck me hard and I blinked against the effects.

"The ceremony… Of course! Thanks, Computer!"

"Our real problem is the ship. I'm not sure I can keep the engineers from investigating it further. They may detect something's wrong before we can return to it."

I turned and ran down the adjacent hall.

"Don't worry about the ship now," I said. "Do what you can, and if you have to hack into their systems to hijack one of their ships, so be it."

"Your father isn't going to be happy…"

"He might not be happy for a few days but I would be unhappier for the rest of my life if I lost Emma."

I took the hallways, following Computer's directions to a T.

I remembered the general direction, having played down these same hallways back on my homeworld when I was a child.

My cousin had successfully returned with her fated mate and they got married in the Citadel, along with thousands of others that day.

It was a mesmerizing and beautiful event, one I had always dreamed of experiencing myself.

"Down here," Computer said.

This hallway was far less busy than the others.

I supposed it would be until a male fated mate was forced into servitude in the arena.

But I had a problem.

I peered at one door and spun to another.

Then eyed the halls that seemed to stretch into infinity.

"Which one?" I said. "Which one leads to Iav?"

Computer was silent for a moment.

"I don't know," he said simply.

It was a response I'd never heard him admit before.

"The rooms are assigned randomly when the couple first arrive," Computer said. "There's no way to know where he is."

Shit.

A door opened along the hall and a figure stepped out.

He was too short and skinny to be my Shadow.

I ran through the problem, peering at it from multiple directions.

The moment Iav left his room it would already be too late.

I needed to know where he was right now.

I had no bond connection with him.

I couldn't locate him the way Emma could.

Someone hustled past me.

I snapped to attention in case one of the prison guards had managed to escape from earlier.

It wasn't a guard.

It was a Shadow carrying a silver tray.

His physical agility was the only reason he hadn't crashed into me.

"Are you lost?" he said. "The arena's that way."

"I know," I said. "I'm… looking for a friend of mine. He's going to participate soon and I wanted to wish him luck."

"There are thousands of participants today. I'm afraid finding his room is like picking a needle out of a haystack."

I knew that but so long as there was a needle to find, I couldn't give up.

The waiter appraised me before checking over his shoulders.

"I'm not supposed to do this," he said. "But I can see how nervous you are. You probably need this more than the guy that ordered it."

He lifted the silver tray and plucked a single succulent glock from its stem and handed it to me.

"I suggest you get to the arena," he said. "Your friend will be there soon."

He turned on his heel and left.

I held the glock between my fingers and rolled it over.

A waiter brings fresh glock for a participant.

It wasn't for his nerves.

It was what he ate when he was excited.

Nobody liked glock as much as I did.

Except for maybe myself.

My Shadow.

I trailed the server and kept my distance.

The glock idea was a thin and tenuous thread but it was the only one I had.

Finally, the server came to a stop outside a door halfway down a corridor that to my eyes looked identical to all the others.

He knocked on the door.

It opened but I couldn't make out the figure inside.

The door blocked him out.

The figure reached for the tray and checked its contents before taking it from the waiter.

The server smiled, nodded, and turned to head back down the hall.

The door began to shut when it froze for a moment.

"For your trouble," the figure said.

He flicked the coin through the air.

The waiter caught it, bowed gracefully, and tucked it in his front jacket pocket.

I turned my back on the server as he strode past me, whistling as he went.

I turned back to the hallway and watched the door swing shut.

I had found him.

Iav.

It was him.

And he hadn't yet left for the ceremony.