Chapter 43

Chapter

Forty-Three

M yrria's heart swelled when she saw Rixx, and she could not stop herself from grinning when Tori spoke from behind the ragged Zevrians.

She held her deathly sharp hair sticks in her hands, spinning them and baring her teeth and looking every bit the Zevrian warrior herself.

The two Zevrians whirled around, sputtering in shock when they recognized her. "It's…you're…"

Tori lunged for the smaller warrior and jammed her pointy stick into his neck before he could even raise his arms in defense. Rixx used the distraction to punch the bigger Zevrian in the stomach while more Dothveks rushed from behind Tori to help him.

Myrria held Zala back from rushing headlong into the fight. "We were only the distraction, remember?"

"I'm not only a distraction." Velen flashed them a brutal smile before racing toward the battle that was already proving to be one-sided, and not in favor of the Zevrians.

Curved blades glinted in the sun that was peeking over the roofs of buildings and slanting into the alley, as gold-skinned, shirtless Dothveks attacked. There were so many of them that Myrria lost track of Rixx, but soon the two Zevrians were on the ground unmoving with blood pooling around their bodies.

Tori gave one of the Zevrians a kick with the toe of her boot and then stepped over them. She strode toward their group, grinning broadly. Despite having sharply pointed teeth, hers were not stained red with blood, which made Myrria release a relieved breath. As much as she liked Velen, the female's penchant for biting made her cringe.

"Good work, ladies." Tori swept her wild mane of dark curls onto the top of her head and jammed the metal hair sticks in to hold it in place. Myrria noticed that those were sporting blood.

Serena bowed her head. "You and your Dothvek crew did most of the work."

Tori glanced over her shoulder at the Dothveks wiping bloody blades off on their leather pants and prodding the inert Zevrian bodies. "They would not consider this work."

Zala pushed forward and threw her arms around Tori. "You saved Rixx."

Tori looked startled and stricken for a moment, and Myrria wondered if the Zevrian spent much time around children. Then she noticed that the female's own belly had a firm swell to it. She would have to get used to them soon, she suspected.

Tori's shoulders relaxed and she awkwardly patted Zala's head. "You don't have to thank me. Rixx is part of my crew. We never leave a crew mate behind." She caught herself. "I guess this time we did leave him behind, but we didn't know he was alive."

Zala stepped back and looked at Tori with wide eyes. "Mama and I saved him and hid him from the bad guys."

"Then you're very brave," Tori said, her voice serious and not modulated as if she was talking to a child. "You and your mother must have the hearts of warriors."

Zala drew herself up to her full height. "We do."

Myrria stepped forward and put her hands on her daughter's shoulders. "We took care of someone in need." She twisted her neck to meet Serena's gaze. "Someone did that for us once, so we were paying it forward."

Tori nodded to Myrria, Serena, and Rose. "You are all warriors for surviving as females in Kurril. I admire your courage."

A Dothvek with long, black hair and dark markings around his biceps came up behind Tori and let loose a low whistle. "That is high praise. Tori does not call just anyone a warrior."

She narrowed her eyes at him, the corners of her mouth twitching. "It takes more than big muscles to be a warrior."

"You know I have more than big muscles."

"Still so cocky." She folded her arms over her chest, but Myrria could tell that she was only pretending to be annoyed. The affection between the two was obvious, and she was pretty sure the Dothvek was the reason for Tori's swollen belly.

Zala broke away from the group and ran forward as Rixx walked slowly toward them. He held his hand over a gash in his side, and blood seeped between his fingers.

Myrria ran forward, catching Zala before she could launch herself at him. "He's injured, Zala."

Her daughter stopped, her bright smile vanishing. "Are you okay, Rixx?"

Rixx used his free hand to pat Zala's head. "I am now that I've seen you again." He lifted his gaze to Myrria. "Thank you for saving me again, even though you should not have risked yourselves again."

"It wasn't much of a risk once we had your entire Dothvek crew to help us." Myrria's voice was thick as she gazed at him. "Besides, we couldn't let the Zevrians take you after keeping you hidden for so long. It was a point of pride."

Rixx chuckled then winced and pressed his hand harder into his side. "So it was just about pride?"

Myrria's heart pounded as his eyes held hers. Now that she was near him, his emotions swirled around hers again. Instead of being overwhelming, she found it familiar and comforting, as if their feelings were always supposed to dwell together. "Of course not. I—"

"Rixx!"

A Dothvek and a human woman hurried up to him, the woman instantly focusing on his wound while the Dothvek's chest heaved as he stared at Rixx as if he'd seen a ghost.

She pushed a lock of brown hair from her eyes and frowned. "I need to get you back on the ship and stitched up."

Rixx cocked his head at the Dothvek with black rings marked into his forearms. "It is good to see that I was right about someone waiting for you. I am glad I did not have to push you from the window, Zaandr."

Zaandr threw one arm around his friend, taking care not to touch his injured side. "I searched for you for days. I thought you were…"

"Myrra and Zala saved me." Rixx gestured to the pair. "They have kept me alive."

Zaandr pulled away from Rixx and hugged first Myrria and then Zala. "We owe you a debt of gratitude."

Myrria shook her head. "There is no debt."

The woman with Zaandr shifted from one foot to the other. "I hate to break this up, but I really need to get Rixx treated."

Tori joined them. "Now that we've killed even more Zevrians, we should probably not waste time leaving the Den of Thieves."

A chill washed over Myrria as the storm of emotions inside her seemed to be doused by the harshness of reality. She had to say goodbye to Rixx again. This time for good.