CHAPTER THREE

VESPER

T his situation had quickly gone from bad to worse to catastrophic, like a blitzer spinning out of control and about to crash into the ground.

Esmina sighed, as if the reinforcements bored her. Pollux grinned and kept swinging his hammer back and forth.

"You're surrounded and outnumbered," Rina crowed. "Now what you are doing to do, you arrogant bitch?"

Esmina blinked a few times, and the gold flecks in her eyes brightened again. Her lips puckered, and a sour look crinkled her face. "Nothing."

Rina blinked in surprise, as did the other bounty hunters. Me too. Usually, these sorts of standoffs involved more threats and posturing until someone escalated things to their inevitable bloody conclusion.

"So . . . you're . . . surrendering?" Rina asked in a bewildered voice.

Esmina scoffed. "Please. I never surrender, but this fight is already over."

"Are you sure?" Pollux asked. "It won't take me long to kill them all."

Rina tensed, as did her men. Even when facing down more than a dozen armed enemies, Pollux was still certain he could win, and my seer magic was whispering that he was right.

"You know I'm always sure, and I'm always right," Esmina replied in a chiding tone.

Pollux shrugged, but he stopped swinging his hammer.

I frowned. Esmina and Pollux might be severely outnumbered, but I had no doubt they could still kill the bounty hunters and capture me. So why was Esmina acting like the battle was already lost?

Boom!

A bright green blast of energy zinged through the junkyard, hitting the bounty hunter closest to me. The man screamed and dropped to the ground, his chest sparking and smoking with deadly electricity.

My head snapped up, tracking the blast's trajectory. A tall man clutching a silver hand cannon stood on top of the building in the center of the junkyard. A dark blue jacket stretched across his broad shoulders, while his tactical shirt and cargo pants outlined the rest of his muscled body. A lunarium sword with a silver hilt dangled from his black leather belt, and a silver blaster was holstered to his right thigh.

My gaze traced over his features, which were as familiar to me as my own. Longish black hair with a hint of a wave. Pale skin. High cheekbones. A long, sharp nose. A strong chin. And eyes that were such a dark blue they bordered on black, just like the sapphsidian chips in the butterfly brooch I had bought in the marketplace.

Kyrion Caldaren looked every inch like the Regal lord, rogue Arrow, and elite assassin he was. The cold, hard nugget of him in my mind pulsed with even more icy fury, but to me, it was as comforting as a warm blanket. My heart quickened, my breath caught in my throat, and a smile spread across my face.

Kyrion fired the cannon four more times, hitting another bounty hunter and forcing a third man to dive behind an old furnace. He released the cannon, which was attached to the silver bandolier slung across his chest, then spun the bandolier around so that the cannon was on his back and out of the way. The second his hands were free, Kyrion plucked his blaster out of its thigh holster and took aim.

Pew! Pew! Pew!

He dropped three more bounty hunters in rapid succession, causing the others to scatter around the junkyard.

"Return fire! Return fire!" Rina screamed, ducking behind a stack of broken transport wheels.

She sent several bolts shooting up at Kyrion, as did the other bounty hunters. He ran forward, leaped off the roof, and dropped down behind a pile of junk.

One of the bounty hunters lunged forward and latched onto my arm. "Come here—"

I snapped up my hand and punched him in the throat. The bounty hunter staggered back, coughing and gasping for air. He tripped over the first man Kyrion had killed with the hand cannon and went down in a wheezing heap on the dirt.

I crouched down and scuttled in the opposite direction, heading toward my shopping bag, which was still lying on the ground. I shoved my hand into the dark depths, searching for my stormsword among the fruits, vegetables, and other items. Where was it? Where was it?

There.

My hand closed around the silver hilt, and I yanked the sword free of the cloth. The lunarium blade pulsed with a dark blue light in a reflection of my seer magic and my connection to Kyrion.

Off to my right, Rina whipped around, aimed her blaster at me, and pulled the trigger.

Pew!

I threw my body down and to the right. The red bolt zinged past me and slammed into a tin can full of nails. The small, sharp projectiles shot out in all directions, pelting my arms, legs, and back, cutting through my clothes, and scratching my skin. So much for taking me alive.

I hissed at the stinging pain, scrambled back up onto my feet, and darted forward, ducking behind the cement blocks that propped up the Regal carriage.

Pew! Pew! Pew!

Rina fired a few more bolts in my direction. The corners of the cement blocks cracked, and stone chips flew out and pelted my cheeks. I hissed again, but I held my position, lifted my sword, and blinked through the tears running down my face.

Pew!

Rina fired another bolt at me, then broke cover and headed toward the blitzer parked at the back of the junkyard. Saving her own skin must have been worth more than my bounty.

The remaining bounty hunters hunkered down behind broken transports and piles of metal and kept firing their blasters.

Still crouching behind the cement blocks, I turned to the left, and my gaze locked onto the pile of junk Kyrion had taken refuge behind. Kyrion? Kyrion!

That cold nugget in my mind finally cracked wide open, and his voice and presence rippled through me. I'm here . Get ready to move.

Before I could ask what he was planning, a swirl of scarlet caught my eye. Across the junkyard, Esmina jerked her head to the side, spun around, and strode away. Pollux scurried after her.

Kyrion popped into view and hurled a small metal ball through the air. The ball arced up, then down, and landed in the exact spot where Esmina and Pollux had been standing.

Boom!

The explosion ripped through the air, the force knocking some of the bounty hunters off their feet, but Esmina kept walking forward at a slow, steady pace. Pollux kept moving right beside her, backpedaling all the while, and the two of them headed away from the battle and toward the front of the junkyard.

I frowned. Esmina had known exactly where the device was going to land and detonate even before Kyrion had thrown it. How was that possible?

The bounty hunters scrambled back up onto their feet. Some of them fired at Kyrion, while others targeted the retreating Esmina and Pollux.

Esmina never turned around, but Pollux used the lunarium heads on his war hammers to send several bolts shooting right back at the bounty hunters, who screamed at the brutal impacts.

A man stood up, aimed his blaster at Esmina, and pulled the trigger.

Pew! Pew! Pew!

Bright blasts of energy streaked through the air toward her. Pollux spun in that direction, but he was too far away to deflect the bolts with his hammers, and Esmina was directly in the line of fire.

My seer magic surged to life, and time slowed down, as though I was viewing everything one frame at a time on a holoscreen. The blaster fire zinging through the air. The streaks sparking and crackling with deadly electricity. The colorful bolts painting Esmina's scarlet cloak in an eerie glow . . .

I blinked, and time snapped back to its normal speed and flow.

At the last instant, right before the bolts would have slammed into her back, Esmina stepped smoothly to the left, then to the right, and then to the right again. She easily avoided all the bolts, which punched into the piles of junk around her. Sparks and smoke spewed up into the air, even as several engines crashed down, blocking the aisle behind her and Pollux, but Esmina didn't duck for cover. Instead, she just kept walking forward as though she was strolling along a garden path instead of away from a dangerous battle.

My jaw dropped. How could she avoid blaster bolts when her back was turned? When she couldn't even see the danger zipping her way?

Esmina stopped and glanced over her shoulder, her gaze locking with mine. I see everything , Vesper. Don't worry. We'll meet again soon, and then we'll see how useful you really are.

Her smug voice and thought stabbed into my mind, as clear, sharp, and bright as if she had just punched her lunarium dagger into my skull. Pain exploded in my head, and white starbursts erupted in my eyes, blotting out everything else. Her words echoed in my brain, and her magic was so strong that every syllable felt like a splash of acid burning everything it touched.

I sucked in a breath, too stunned to even scream. My left leg buckled, throwing me off-balance, and I couldn't stop myself from staggering forward, away from the relative safety of the cement blocks and out into the middle of the junkyard for everyone to see—and target.

F or a moment, all I was aware of were the psionic echoes of Esmina's magic jangling through my mind like a bad song blaring on repeat. A second passed. Maybe two or three or even ten. I staggered back and forth the whole time, listing dangerously from side to side like a space cruiser about to crash into a skyscraper.

Pew! Pew! Pew!

More blaster fire rang out. Bolts zinged through the air all around me, the bright streaks of color adding to the starbursts still exploding in my eyes. I snapped up my stormsword and whipped it back and forth in a wild motion, trying to stop the bolts from hitting me.

Pew!

A bolt slammed into my right bicep. Electric agony erupted in my arm, as though someone had stabbed me with a red-hot knife. I screamed and crumpled to the dirt, my stormsword tumbling out of my twitching fingers.

Vesper? Vesper! Hang on! I'm almost there!

Kyrion's frantic voice sounded, cutting through some of the pain, and I latched onto the sticky cobweb of him in my mind. The cool, silky threads helped me push away some of the electric pain, although my arm continued to burn and burn, like a chemical fire that refused to be extinguished.

I sucked down one breath after another, and the starbursts faded from my vision. Somehow I had stumbled past the cement blocks and ended up close to the blitzer at the back of the junkyard. Blaster fire zinged through the air behind me as Kyrion battled the remaining bounty hunters. I needed to help him, so I got up onto my hands and knees and focused on my stormsword, which had landed a few feet away.

My right arm was still burning from the blaster bolt, so I stretched out my left hand, trying to use the truebond and Kyrion's telekinesis to make the sword lift off the ground and zip over into my waiting fingers.

Nothing happened. No bond, no telekinesis, no sword spinning through the air.

I growled and tried again with the same useless result. I didn't have time to figure out what was wrong, so I crawled forward. I reached out with my left hand again, and my fingers finally closed around the hilt—

Footsteps scuffed on the dirt, and a shadow fell over me. I froze and raised my head.

Rina loomed over me, her blaster leveled at my chest. "Why couldn't you just come along quietly?" she snarled. "This should have been the biggest, easiest score of my life, and you ruined it."

"Yeah," I rasped. "I tend to ruin things for people."

Fury flared in her dark eyes, although it quickly gave way to a cold, calculating look. "I get ten million credits if I bring you in alive. Only a million if you're dead." She paused. "But I'll take the million."

Once again, my seer magic roared to life, and everything slowed down. Rina's eyes narrowing in concentration, her lips drawing back into a feral grin, her index finger curling around the blaster trigger.

Even worse, I also felt like I was moving in slow motion and doing everything at half speed. Once again, I reached for Kyrion's telekinesis to toss Rina aside or rip the blaster out of her hand, but my arm kept burning, and I couldn't quite grasp the silky threads of Kyrion's power.

"Vesper? Vesper!" This time, Kyrion's voice cut through the air instead of sounding in my mind, and everything snapped back to its normal speed.

I quit reaching for the truebond. Instead, I curled my fingers even tighter around the stormsword's hilt, then heaved it up and slashed it forward.

It was a desperate, awkward blow, but the lunarium blade clipped Rina's right leg and sliced a deep gash across her shin. She screamed and pulled the blaster trigger.

Pew!

I jerked to the side. The bolt zipped past my head and smacked into the dirt, so close the acrid stench made my eyes water.

"Vesper!" Kyrion yelled again. "Vesper!"

He was using his stormsword to cut down and deflect blaster bolts at the remaining bounty hunters, but he was too far away to help me. Kyrion's worry surged through the bond and clawed against my skin like razor-sharp talons, but I shut the sensation—shut him—out of my mind.

Rina was cursing and staggering around, so I surged up onto my knees and lashed out with my stormsword again. This time, the blade sliced across her left knee. She screamed again and tumbled to the ground beside me.

She was still clutching her blaster, and she lifted her arm to aim the weapon. I tightened my grip on my stormsword, raised the blade, and propelled myself forward.

For the third time, everything slowed down. Rina's blaster arcing toward my body. My stormsword zooming toward her chest. The glint of her silver weapon mirroring the gleam of the opalescent lunarium blade . . .

Crunch.

Time snapped back to its normal flow. My sword punched into Rina's chest, and one of her ribs cracked under the sharp blade. She screamed and tried to aim her blaster at me again, so I shoved the sword deeper into her chest.

Rina's gaze locked with mine. She opened her mouth, but this time, no sound escaped. She stared at me for a heartbeat longer, then slumped to the ground, still clutching her blaster.

I yanked my sword out of her chest, then got to my feet. Sweat rolled down my face, and my breath puffed out in ragged gasps, despite my O2 enhancement. My stormsword was as heavy as an anvil, and I couldn't hold it upright. The tip dug into the dirt, and I leaned on it like a walking stick to keep from toppling over. All the while, my right arm kept burning and burning.

Pew! Pew! Pew!

A few more blaster bolts zinged through the air behind me. A man screamed, and then everything was still and quiet.

Footsteps smacked into the dirt, and a tall shadow engulfed me. I forced myself to straighten up and hook my stormsword to my belt.

Kyrion's gaze flicked over me. Concern creased his forehead, and his hand tightened around the hilt of his blood-covered stormsword. "You're wounded."

"Just a few bumps and bruises." I rasped out the lie. "I hardly feel them."

"Well, I can feel them too, remember?"

Drat. I'd forgotten that Kyrion could sense my injuries through the truebond, the same way I could sense when he was wounded. Sometimes our injuries would even physically appear on each other's bodies, like a few days ago, when I'd cut my hand on a piece of metal, and a smaller, shallower slice had popped up in the same spot on Kyrion's hand.

I scanned Kyrion from head to toe, but he didn't seem to be in any pain or mirroring my injuries this time. Good. Although some wounds appearing while others didn't was another mercurial quirk of truebonds that aggravated my scientific, results-based, lab-rat heart to no end.

Kyrion slid the sword onto his belt. He started to take hold of my injured arm, then grimaced and dropped his hand. More of his worry surged through the bond, and the sticky cobweb in my mind vibrated with a mixture of icy fury and chest-tightening fear.

I glanced down. The blaster bolt had obliterated most of the right side of my jacket and my shirtsleeve and severely burned my skin underneath. Mountains of blisters had already formed around the deep hole the bolt had punched into my bicep, and my entire arm felt tight, like it would burst open if I so much as breathed on it. Electricity was still burning through my muscles, and my heart throbbed out a painful rhythm I could sense all the way down in my fingertips. My stomach roiled at the gruesome injury, and I swallowed a mouthful of hot, bitter bile.

"I'm fine." I repeated my earlier lie. "Just a little charred."

Kyrion's lips pinched into a thin, grim line at my black humor. "In addition to sensing your injuries, I can also tell when you're lying."

"So our truebond is nothing but a giant tattletale?" I muttered. "Wonderful."

He stabbed his finger at my burned arm. "Bond aside, anyone could see that your skin is more than just a little charred . Hold still."

Kyrion pulled his silver bandolier of supplies from his back around to his chest. He plucked a skinbond injector out of one of the slots, then plunged it into my arm, right above my elbow where the burn stopped.

A skinbond did just what its name implied—it stitched cut, bruised, broken, and otherwise injured skin, muscles, and bones back together. A cool wave of chemicals flooded my veins, soothing the intense burning. I sighed with relief. Some of the redness faded from my skin, although the blisters, tightness, and throbbing remained, as did the deep puncture wound.

"You're still hurting," Kyrion murmured, his voice lower and more concerned than before. "Here. This should help."

He gently cupped my left cheek in his right hand, and his thumb stroked over my skin, making me shiver, despite my injuries. Kyrion's dark blue eyes glimmered like stars, and the sticky cobweb of him in my mind surged, pulsed, and expanded, until I was securely wrapped in the threads of his magic. A strange sensation flowed through my body, as though I was being bundled into a cool cocoon, and each new smooth, silky layer lessened my pain.

I glanced down again. My burned arm looked the same as before, and I could still feel the tightness and throbbing, but the sensations were muted, as though they were on the outside of the cocoon that was protecting my mind and body from the stark, vivid pain.

"What did you do?" I asked, staring up at Kyrion.

"I created a psionic shield to help you block out the pain. A trick my father showed me. Chauncey would do the same for Desdemona whenever Holloway took my mother's power." Kyrion grimaced and dropped his hand from my cheek as though his right arm was suddenly hurting him as much as mine had been hurting me.

My eyes narrowed. "Wait. Did you just take my pain for your own? Psionically absorb it so that you would experience it instead of me ?"

He shrugged, but it was a guilty, uncomfortable motion.

"You didn't have to do that, Kyr," I protested. " I got caught and injured by the bounty hunters, so I should be the one suffering the pain and consequences, not you ."

His face softened, and he gently brushed my hair back over my shoulder, his fingers skimming along my collarbone and making me shiver again.

"I wanted to do it," Kyrion countered in a low, fierce voice. "I will always protect you , Vesper, no matter what the cost is to me ."

My heart soared at his words, even as guilt stabbed into my chest like a sharp needle pinning a flapping butterfly to a display board. If only I'd been smarter, faster, and stronger, then neither one of us would be hurting.

"Besides, I've had far worse injuries as an Arrow. I know how to erect psionic shields to numb the pain until I can get medical treatment." The corner of Kyrion's mouth quirked up into a rueful expression. "Although I'm not nearly as good at creating shields as Zane is. He could take a mortal wound and keep fighting, at least until his power gave out and his psionic shield finally cracked."

My heart lurched at the mention of my brother, but I shoved Zane out of my mind. Instead, I looked out over the bounty hunters. Smoke wafted up off their burned bodies, and the acrid stench of blaster fire lingered in the air like a cloud of death.

"Don't feel sorry for them," Kyrion growled. "The bounty hunters brought this on themselves. They didn't have to chase after you."

"You're right. I know you're right. It's just . . ."

"What?"

I blew out a breath. "I hate that people are dying because Holloway put that bounty on us."

"I hate it too," Kyrion replied in a soft voice. "But it was either them or you, and I will choose you every single time."

Once again, my heart soared, but before I could tell him I felt the same way, sirens blared in the distance. We both flinched at the high-pitched screeches.

Kyrion cursed. "Someone must have heard the explosion and blaster fire and alerted the authorities. We need to find another way out of here."

He moved past Rina's blitzer and ran toward the back of the junkyard. I limped over to my shopping bag, dropped to my knees, and scooped the wayward fruits and vegetables back into the cloth. We still needed fresh food, and I wasn't about to leave a single mango behind.

My fingers brushed up against the ice-blue box with the butterfly pin. I considered leaving the cursed thing behind, but I couldn't risk the purchase being traced back to me, so I shoved it into the bag as well.

I glanced around, making sure I hadn't missed anything, and my gaze landed on Rina's body. Her mouth was frozen in a pain-filled grimace, and her sightless eyes glared at me in accusation. Blood was still trickling out of the ugly wound in her chest, and the drops had already formed a dull, rusty pool underneath her body.

"Vesper!" Kyrion called out. "Back here!"

I slung the shopping bag onto my left shoulder and got to my feet. The abrupt motion made the pain of my burned right arm flare up again, like a stream of scalding lava oozing through the cool cocoon Kyrion had built around my mind. An instant later, more of Kyrion's power surged through the bond, rebuilding the cocoon and numbing the hot, jagged edges of my injury.

Tears of anger and frustration pricked my eyes, but I blinked them away and trudged toward the back of the junkyard. I just hoped Kyrion couldn't sense all my emotions through the bond and that he didn't realize how much of a failure I was at being his partner.

Kyrion had adapted to our new situation with ease, and he wielded his psion power as strongly and effortlessly as he had before. Me? I couldn't even make it through a simple trip to a marketplace without getting cornered by bounty hunters, and my seer magic had been useless against Rina and her men.

This battle was just an example of a larger problem. Every time I thought I finally had a handle on my magic—and my combined power with Kyrion—it either didn't do what I wanted or didn't work at all.

You're the weak link, destined to be broken. Esmina's mocking voice zipped through my mind. This time, I didn't feel the pain of her telepathically speaking to me, but I couldn't ignore the uncomfortable truth of her words.

A truebonded pair was only as strong as its weaker member, and if I didn't figure out how to wield my magic soon, then I was going to wind up dead—and kill Kyrion as well.