Chapter 35

Chapter

Thirty-Five

M yrria held a finger to her lips as she proceeded to gag Tobert, lifting his head and then letting it thump back onto the floor.

Zala's eyes widened at her mother's quick, determined movements, but she quickly joined her and held the man's limbo legs together to be bound.

"We need to tie him and hide him," Myrria whispered as Rixx glanced at the door. "Then we can deal with whoever's out there."

Rixx grunted in agreement as she and Zala finished tying Toberts's wrists behind his back. He bent and lifted the man under the armpits and dragged him through the curtains. Myrria heard another dull thump as Tobert was unceremoniously deposited on the floor again.

She wiped her damp palms down the front of her apron and squared her shoulders, knowing the knocking on the door was not going away. When Rixx poked his head from behind the curtain, she waved him back. "Stay hidden."

The knock wasn't hard or insistent enough to be a Zevrian search party, but it could very well be her landlady again. She gave Zala a smile that she hoped was reassuring before crossing to the door and opening it just enough to peek outside.

"Is he here?"

Myrria backed up as the female with short alabaster hair pushed her way into the house, her gaze sweeping back and forth.

Zala stepped forward, as if to block the woman's way, but Myrria shook her head. "It's okay. She's helping Rixx."

The woman swiveled on her heel, managing to flash a brief smile at Zala. "I'm Rose. I work with the underground resistance here on Kurril."

Zala stared at her in awe. "There's an underground resistance? And girls can join it?"

"Sweetie," the woman winked at her, "girls run it." Then she slid her gaze to Myrria and her smile faded, replaced by a serious expression. "Well? Did he come here? I know he left Serena's, even though he promised to stay put, and she thought he might have come here."

"I am here." Rixx pushed the curtain back so he could join them.

Rose ran a hand through her choppy hair. "You had me in a panic. I was sure you'd been taken by someone hoping to cash in on the bounty."

Rixx stepped to one side so that she could see Tobert lying trussed up and gagged in the corner of the bedroom. "I almost was."

Rose put a hand over her hand to muffle a laugh as she shook her head. "He doesn't look like a Zevrian."

"He's not." Myrria's nose wrinkled in distaste at admitting who he was and what he'd done. "That's my husband."

Rose cocked her head, shifting her gaze from Rixx to Myrria, the question hanging unspoken in the air.

"He's been gone for years," Myrria said. "Since Zala was a baby. I thought he was dead." Had hoped he was dead was more like it. "He returned on his mercenary ship yesterday."

"He figured out that Rixx was the one wanted by the bad guys," Zala said. "He pulled out a blaster and said he was going to turn him over for the reward."

Rose took in the shards of pottery on the floor and the blaster on the floor by the oven. She walked over and picked it up, turning the weapon over in her hands. Then she handed it to Rixx. "I take it you know how to use one of these?"

Rixx curled his fingers around the grip. "I prefer a blade, but I was taught how to use a blaster when I joined the bounty hunter crew."

"Good. Keep it close when we move through the city." Rose pointed to his cloak. "And keep your hood up. You might have taken care of one mercenary, but the city is teeming with them."

"Why does he have to go out into the city?" Zala asked.

"We got a message to your ship." Rose answered Zala's question while looking at Rixx. "They happened to be close, so they're on their way and will be touching down in the shipyard later today." Then she cut her gaze to Zala. "We have to get him through the city so he can meet his crew and safely escape from Kurril."

Myrria saw Zala's shoulders sag and she rested a hand on her daughter's back. "You know Rixx has to leave. He was never going to be able to stay. Not with the Zevrians hunting him."

Zala nodded, but Myrria was sure she was fighting back tears. She felt like crying herself.

Rose inclined her head toward Tobert's body, which still hadn't stirred. "We'll take care of him. I'll send my team around to move him."

"I don't think he's dead." A part of Myrria wished she'd hit him harder.

Rose scrunched her lips to one side as she thought. "He knows too much. We can't have him getting free and talking before Rixx is safely away." She swung her gaze back to Myrria. "You probably don't want him talking even after that."

Myrria wondered what Tobert would do when he came to. He hadn't seen her hit him, but it wouldn't take a genius to know that she'd betrayed him when he learned that Rixx was gone. "Not really."

"Would you mind if he disappeared again?" Rose locked her gaze onto Myrria, many unspoken questions passing between them.

Myrria didn't hesitate before giving a single shake of her head. Rose's serious expression was replaced with a broad grin. "There are a lot of things that can happen to a man in the Den of Thieves—fighting rings, slave auctions." Then she gave Myrria a knowing look. "Whatever it is, you won't have to worry about him ever again."

The relief Myrria felt was part hers, but it also belonged to Rixx.

Rose pivoted to the Dothvek. "We need to move before the city starts to get rowdy."

Myrria couldn't look at him. She'd thought she'd said her farewells the previous night, but now that she'd been promised her freedom from Tobert, it was hard to remember why she was letting him go.

"I am ready," Rixx said, his words shattering her heart.