CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

KYRION

T he minutes ticked by and turned into an hour, then two, then three.

Esmina and Pollux moved through the cavern, along with their mercenaries. In the back of the chamber, the mercs had set up a mobile command center, complete with open crates full of blasters, cannons, and other weapons and portable holoscreens that showed security feeds of the outside of Stardrop Falls, the abandoned mining museum. This wasn't a secret base so much as it was a staging area. Despite their heavy losses at the estate, Esmina and Pollux still had more than enough men to capture Vesper, and they were obviously preparing to attack the Colliers again.

My gut clenched with dread. I reached out through the bond as I'd done countless times over the past few hours, but once again, I couldn't sense Vesper. Whatever chemicals Esmina had given me were still disrupting our connection, which meant I couldn't warn Vesper about just how many mercenaries were in the cavern. Of course, Vesper would know she was walking into a trap, but she would come here anyway, just as I would have come for her even if she'd been on the other side of the galaxy.

But the most curious thing was that the mercs weren't alone in their underground base. Every few minutes, Esmina would round a corner, disappear into another section of the cavern, and speak to someone in a low voice. Even more curious, the other voice sounded familiar, as though I had heard it somewhere before. I was tilting my head to the side, trying to listen to their latest conversation, when Pollux strutted over to me.

"Not so tough bricked up in a wall, huh, Arrow?"

I surged forward, but the stones shellacked over my chest held me fast. "Let me out of this rock, and I'll show you exactly how tough I am."

Pollux smirked. "As fun as it would be to beat you to death with my hammers, Esmina has other plans."

"What did she do to me? Why can't I feel my truebond with Vesper?"

Pollux tapped his finger on the plasticuff around my neck. "This cuff delivers a low dose of chemicals to your body through your skin. That's why you can't use your precious bond. The Serpens Corp scientists have been working on how to block psionic powers for a long time, and they finally concocted just the right formula."

A frustrated growl rose in my throat. The cuff scraped against my neck, and an oily sensation oozed against my skin. Pollux was telling the truth. The cuff really was dosing me with chemicals, and I had no way to remove it.

Pollux shook his head. "It's a shame. A warrior like you shackled to someone so weak."

"Vesper is not weak . She's the smartest, strongest person I know, and she's going to help me kill you and Esmina and all your men."

Pollux laughed and poked his finger into the cuff, zapping me with another dose of chemicals. "Keep telling yourself that, pal. Esmina's seen it all play out with her precognition, and you and Vesper are both going to die screaming in this cavern."

Esmina stepped back into view and went over to speak to one of the mercs, who showed her something on his tablet. Esmina studied the device, and psion power surged off her like a tidal wave—so much power . Even with the chemicals dampening my own abilities, I could still feel exactly how strong she was.

I'd always thought Callus Holloway was the strongest psion I'd ever encountered. Well, Esmina was just as powerful—perhaps even more so, since her power was her own to command and not constantly stolen from other people like Holloway's was.

"You're a smart guy," I said, focusing on Pollux again. "You know Esmina will eventually betray you."

I didn't believe for one second that I could sway Pollux to my side, but perhaps I could plant a small seed of doubt in his mind. Something that might make him hesitant later, even if it was only for a second. Holloway had waged similar psychological warfare on my parents for years, and right now, this was the only battle I could fight.

"Esmina will betray you," I repeated. "As soon as you're not useful anymore, she'll find someone else to take your place. Someone stronger, faster, younger, more powerful."

Pollux shrugged. "Maybe she will, maybe she won't. We've been together a long time, Esmina and me. We've been through a lot of shit together, and in some ways, we're connected just as tightly as a truebonded couple."

He glanced over at her, admiration filling his face. Pollux might be a stone-cold killer, the same as me, but he really did care about his partner. I just had to figure out how to use that concern against him, the way Holloway had used my parents' love against them.

Pollux faced me again. "Esmina and I built Serpens Corp out of nothing , taking any dumb, dangerous job that came our way. As soon as she heard about the Techwave's new hand cannon, Esmina knew it could change everything for us. And thanks to her planning and precognition, we're about to get everything we've ever wanted."

"What do you want?"

"First, we're going to finish tearing down House Collier. Once that happens, the other major Houses will have no choice but to officially recognize Serpens Corp as a new House." Pollux's shoulders squared, and his chest puffed up with pride. "It might take a few years, but eventually, Esmina and I will be running things on Sygnustern, and the rest of the Erzton will finally bow down to us."

"So you want revenge," I said. "How typical."

Pollux's nostrils flared with anger. "Not revenge— retribution . When Esmina and I decided to free ourselves from the shackles of our truebonds, we did something the Erzton nobles didn't approve of, something they were too bloody weak to do, and they exiled us for it. Well, fuck them and their stupid rules. Truebonds aren't these wonderful, magical things the Erztonians make them out to be. House Collier and everyone who supported them is going to pay for what they did to me and Esmina all those years ago, more than they ever dreamed."

A fervent light gleamed in his eyes. He truly believed every word he said, and he wanted to burn House Collier to ashes.

"Do you know how many people end up with truebonded partners who hurt them? Abuse them in terrible ways?" Pollux's face darkened with fury. "When my sister Derissa and I were in a transport crash, we were trapped in the wreckage, and we were both unlucky enough to bond with two other survivors. I got saddled with a sickly old woman named Lorna, while Derissa was bonded with a guy our age named Haron. Derissa thought forming the bond was true love, destiny, and all that other shit, so she married him a few months later."

"What happened?"

Even more fury darkened Pollux's face. "Haron beat my sister—and worse. Derissa hid it from me for a long time, but eventually, I figured out what was going on."

"And you killed him for it."

"Damn right I did," Pollux snarled. "Caved his skull in with one of my hammers. I didn't even give Haron a chance to beg for his miserable life."

"But killing him also killed your sister," I guessed.

"I told Derissa everything Esmina had discovered about truebonds, and I even showed her how to take her husband's power for her own, just like I had taken Lorna's power. I gave my sister a chance and a choice, which was more than Haron and their bloody truebond ever did." Pollux's nostrils flared with disgust. "But she didn't want to do it. Despite all the times Haron had hit and burned and kicked her, Derissa still loved the cruel bastard, and she didn't want to go on without him. She just gave up, shriveled up, and died like a cut flower."

Even more fury blasted off him and scorched up against my telempathy, despite the chemicals still dampening my abilities. I understood his fury. I'd felt the same way when I'd realized what Holloway was doing to my parents, and just like Pollux, I'd been helpless to save my family.

"Nothing in the galaxy is perfect, especially not a bloody truebond," Pollux continued. "I'm going to teach House Collier that very painful lesson, and they're going to suffer just as much as my sister did."

He glared at me a moment longer, then stalked over to the mobile command center. Pollux's words echoed in my mind, and I thought of my parents again. He was right. Truebonds weren't perfect, just as the people involved in them weren't perfect.

When I'd first formed a truebond with Vesper, I'd been worried she would get herself killed and thus kill me too. Later I'd been worried Holloway would capture us both and turn us into his psionic batteries. Ever since we'd escaped from Crownpoint, I'd been worried about protecting Vesper from Zane, the other Arrows, and the bounty hunters. And now I was worried that I'd failed her by getting captured.

Determination surged through my body, and my inner monster roared in response. Vesper was coming here, and I was going to do everything in my power to help her, starting with figuring out how to escape my brick-and-plasticuff prison.

I jerked my arms, but the cuffs remained tight against my wrists, as did the one around my neck. I growled and flexed my fingers, trying again and again.

Something scraped up against my skin. What was that?

I glanced down. A tiny bit of stone was sticking out of the cavern wall beside my left wrist. Hope surged inside me, and I stretched my fingers out as far as they would go. I couldn't quite grab the stone, but it bumped up against my cuff. I shoved my wrist forward, then started moving it up and down as much and as fast as I could. If I could use the stone to saw through the plasticuff, perhaps I could free myself from the rest of my prison—

"She's here!" one of the mercs called out, and everyone in the cavern snapped to attention. "Vesper Quill is here!"

He swiped his fingers across a portable holoscreen, and a hologram popped into the air. The feed showed Vesper standing on a street outside a pair of closed, locked doors. Vesper looked up at the security camera and hefted the object in her hands—the Techwave cannon.

Esmina examined the hologram. "Let our guest inside, and escort her down here."

The merc nodded and hurried away, as did several others.

Esmina turned to Pollux. "Anyone else on the feeds?"

Pollux swiped through several more security feeds on his own tablet, then shook his head. "No one is showing up, and I'm not getting any thermal readings on the sensors. Looks like she came alone."

Esmina tilted her head to the side, and her green eyes glowed with power.

"Something wrong?" Pollux asked.

The power faded from Esmina's eyes, and she shook her head. "Too soon to tell. But have everyone on high alert. Vesper probably has a few tricks up her sleeve."

Pollux nodded and started barking orders at the other mercenaries. Most of the mercs spread out across the cavern, although several climbed a set of permaglass stairs to the second level. Every merc was armed with either a blaster or a hand cannon.

More frustration surged through me. Vesper was walking straight into a trap, and there was nothing I could do to help her.

O ne minute passed, then two, then three. A tense silence dropped over the cavern. None of the mercenaries moved or spoke, and the only noise was the steady cascade of the waterfall.

Then, in the distance, footsteps scraped across the stone, quickly growing louder and closer.

Once again, I tried to reach out with my psion power, and once again, I couldn't get a grip on it. The chemicals were still dampening my abilities, and I needed to get out of these cuffs if I had any chance of helping Vesper. So I redoubled my efforts, rubbing the plasticuff on my left wrist up against that jagged bit of stone over and over again . . .

Vesper entered the cavern, trailed by a couple of mercenaries. She was carrying the Techwave cannon in her arms, and her stormsword dangled off her belt, along with my sword. She glanced around, looking at Esmina and Pollux standing in the middle of the open space, with their mercenaries arrayed behind them and more enemies stationed on the second level.

Finally, Vesper's gaze met mine. Her eyes blazed with determination, the silver flecks burning like pinpoint stars in her dark blue irises. For a moment, I could feel her through the bond, and I stared back at her, trying to tell her so many things just with the force of my gaze.

Vesper stared at me a heartbeat longer, then strode forward and stopped in the center of the cavern.

"I see you fixed my hand cannon," Esmina purred. "Excellent! Pollux was right. Taking Kyrion properly motivated you."

Vesper hefted the cannon a little higher in her arms. "I don't need any motivation to kill you."

"It's nothing personal. And it's certainly not my fault you're so weak in your psion power. Jealousy does not become you." Esmina clucked her tongue in mock sympathy, and Vesper flinched.

I am not a weak link. Vesper had said that after our skirmish with the Hammers in the antiques emporium, but for the first time, I realized just how much Esmina had made Vesper doubt her own abilities. Once again, I cursed the cuff around my neck, because if I could have used my telepathy and telempathy, I would have told Vesper exactly how strong she was and let her feel every ounce of my unwavering belief in her.

Esmina stepped forward and held her hand out. "Give me the cannon."

She didn't say anything about letting us go, and I knew she wouldn't. So did Vesper, judging by the way her jaw clenched.

"Nah, I'm going to hold on to the cannon for now," Vesper said. "After all, I haven't met your boss yet, and I'm just dying to talk to them."

Boss? What boss? Who were the mercenaries working for?

Esmina's hand plummeted to her side. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Sure you do," Vesper replied. "The person who told you about the Techwave cannon and hired you to come after me in the first place. Your boss is here, right now, in this very cavern. They wouldn't leave such an important moment to chance, especially since you haven't been very successful in carrying out your missions so far."

Esmina stiffened, and for the first time, a bit of uncertainty flickered across her face.

"I know you're here," Vesper called out, her voice ringing through the cavern. "So you might as well come out and face me, instead of hiding like the coward you are."

For several seconds, nothing happened. Then more footsteps scraped against the stone. A figure rounded one of the stalagmites and stepped into view. A long dark blue cloak covered their head, along with the rest of their body, and I couldn't tell if it was a man or a woman.

"Come on," Vesper called out again, her voice even more mocking than before. "There's no need to hide any longer."

The figure huffed in annoyance, then tossed back the hood of their cloak, revealing familiar features—long dark brown hair, pale skin, and eyes that were the same dark blue as Vesper's.

The mercenaries' boss was Nerezza Blackwell.