CHAPTER THIRTY

VESPER

"H ello, Mother," I drawled, my voice as cold as the air wafting through the cavern.

Nerezza strode forward and stopped beside Esmina, who looked back and forth between us. I had surprised the precog by figuring out she was working for my mother, but it hadn't been too difficult. Nerezza craved power more than anything else, and getting her hands on the Techwave cannon was one way to improve her own position.

"I figured it was you."

Nerezza arched an eyebrow. "How?"

I gestured at Esmina and Pollux. "Because you always send other people to do your dirty work."

Nerezza held her arms out wide. "I'm right here in the thick of things, doing my own dirty work."

"Sure," I replied. " After the actual hard, bloody work is done, like letting the mercenaries attack the Collier estate instead of doing it yourself."

Esmina and Pollux looked at each other. My mother ignored the mercenaries, so she didn't see the acknowledgment flicker across their faces.

"I've been wondering where you slithered off to after the Regal midnight ball. I just didn't think you'd wind up on Sygnustern."

A smile split Nerezza's mouth. "What can I say? I have friends across the galaxy."

"I think you mean marks instead of friends. You told me all about your social engineering talent, remember?"

"Social engineering?" Pollux asked.

"Oh, yes. My mother is quite proud of her little magic trick. How she can figure out exactly how to manipulate someone to get what she wants."

I looked at Esmina. "It's just another form of our seer magic, and my mother is a master at it. Even you, with all your precognition, didn't realize what she was truly doing, did you? How she was subtly moving you around like a pawn to further her own goals." I clucked my tongue in mock sympathy just as she had earlier. "Now who's the weak link?"

Esmina's face remained smooth, but her eyes glittered with anger. I didn't know what Nerezza had promised her, but she'd fallen for at least some of my mother's lies, just as so many other people had.

I turned my attention back to Nerezza. "After you fled from the Imperium, I'm guessing you went straight to General Ocnus. You pretty much had to, after I outed you as being a Techwave spy."

Nerezza's lips pressed into a thin, angry line. That was her only visible reaction, but I didn't need Kyrion's telempathy to realize how much she hated me for ruining her position in Regal society.

My own mother hated me.

The knowledge stabbed deep into my chest, and for a moment, I couldn't breathe. Even now, after all the horrible things Nerezza had done, a sliver of my heart still hoped she might have a shred of concern for me, that I might be the one person she cared about, in her own diabolical way.

But my mother had never cared about me, and she never would, and I might as well have wished for a Frozon moon to plummet out of the sky and drop into my lap. I drew in a breath, steadying myself. The hurt didn't fade from my heart, but I could bear it now.

"I bet General Ocnus didn't like you spying on him for Callus Holloway, but I'm guessing you used your social engineering ability to talk your way out of trouble."

Nerezza's eyes crinkled with amusement. "People tend to listen to me."

"I'm guessing General Ocnus didn't listen so much as he commanded."

Nerezza's amusement vanished, and the dark, petty part of my heart thrummed with satisfaction at wiping the smug smirk off her face. "What do you think Ocnus commanded me to do?"

"Find me, capture me, and force me to fix the Techwave cannon." I hefted the weapon in my arms, and Pollux and the other mercenaries tensed. "This cannon. Without it, General Ocnus can't kill enough Arrows and soldiers to topple the Imperium."

I lowered the weapon, and Pollux and the mercenaries relaxed. Idiots. They should have killed me and pried the cannon out of my cold, dead hands the second I'd arrived, not let me stroll into their lair. But Esmina, Pollux, and Nerezza thought they'd already won, and they wanted to taunt me with their victory.

"How did you know it was me?" Nerezza asked, circling back to her original question. "That I hired the mercenaries?"

"I didn't know—at first. But Esmina and Pollux weren't interested in turning me over to Holloway to collect the bounty. Then they broke into the House Collier mineral exchange. At first, I thought they just wanted to hurt the Colliers, but then I realized the mercenaries had stolen a variety of gemstones, as if they needed them for something specific. Like, say, figuring out how to fix a broken weapon. That's when I started thinking about the Techwave cannon."

Once again, I hefted the cannon in my arms, causing the mercs to flinch, but that was okay. The more they focused on me, the easier it would be for Asterin and Zane to slip into the cavern.

"But I didn't figure out you had hired Esmina and Pollux until one of the mercenaries tried to kill Wendell at the Collier estate. None of the mercs knew about my connection to Wendell, so there was no reason to target him. Unless someone had told Esmina and Pollux that Wendell was my father, and the only other person who knew that information was you. But I'm guessing you had your own reasons for wanting him dead."

"I never cared about sweet, foolish Wendell, and he was always just a means to an end," Nerezza said. "But since he was stupid enough to follow you to Sygnustern, I thought it would be amusing to kill him, especially since the Black Scarabs I sent to the summer solstice ball failed to do the job. Even Beatrice Zimmer would mourn the loss of her precious son."

"You still want revenge on Beatrice? You certainly know how to hold a grudge, Mother."

Nerezza jerked forward, her hands clenching into fists. "That bitch ruined everything! If not for her, I would have taken my rightful place in the Imperium long ago. I would have been the head of House Zimmer instead of having to waste my time climbing the Regal ladder. Beatrice cost me years , and she's going to pay for that."

Hate twisted her face, and rage boiled up off her like heat bursting out of an exploding sun. But just as quickly, the emotion dropped off Nerezza like rain rolling down a window, and she was calm once more. "But you're right about one thing, girl."

I flinched. Nerezza had never bothered to give me a real name, and she had always called me girl when I was young. I hated that blasted word almost as much as I despised her.

"I did engineer all of this," Nerezza continued, throwing her arms out wide, her voice swelling with pride. "It took longer and cost far more men and credits than I expected, but I have you and Kyrion exactly where I want you."

I looked over at Kyrion, who stared back at me. His expression was calm, and the belief shining in his eyes took my breath away. Even now, when we were surrounded by enemies, he still trusted me to save us both.

I faced Nerezza again. "Do your friends know about your master plan?"

Once again, Esmina and Pollux glanced at each other, then at Nerezza.

"And what is my master plan?" Nerezza drawled, a clear challenge in her voice.

"You're going to cut out all the middlemen."

She blinked, but that was her only reaction. Just like Esmina, my mother hadn't expected me to figure out her plot.

"You were never going to turn the Techwave cannon over to General Ocnus. You were always going to keep it for yourself." I waved the weapon around the cavern. "You've already hired an army of mercenaries. With them and the cannon, you can kill Ocnus and take control of the Techwave."

"Not just the Techwave," Nerezza said. "Callus Holloway was foolish enough to put a bounty on my head. He's going to pay for that, along with the rest of the Imperium."

My seer magic surged to life, and an image of Nerezza appeared, flickering in the air. The other Nerezza was wearing a glittering crown and sitting on a massive throne, looking every inch like the Regal queen she was so determined to be. No, not just a Regal queen but the empress of the whole blasted galaxy—and the weapon in my hands could help make that vision a reality.

"Enough," Esmina cut in, her voice brimming with impatience. "It won't be long before the Hammers find the surprise Pollux and I left at the geotagged location. We need to be in position to attack the Collier estate before then."

Pollux stepped forward. "Hand over the weapon, or I'll crush your hands with my hammers."

Nerezza smiled. "Yes, Vesper, do be a dear and hand over the weapon you so thoughtfully fixed for me."

Esmina and Pollux heard Nerezza's me as clearly as I had. The two mercenaries glanced at each other, engaging in some telepathic conversation I couldn't hear. But now that they knew the full scope of Nerezza's plan and how she tended to betray the people she was working for and with, they would turn on Nerezza as soon as possible, no matter how many credits she was paying for their supposed loyalty.

I was counting on it.

"Hand over the weapon," Pollux demanded again. "Right bloody now ."

I stepped forward and held the cannon out to him—

"Stop!" Esmina barked out.

I froze. All the mercenaries aimed their weapons at me again, and Kyrion tensed inside his stone prison along the wall.

"What's wrong?" Pollux asked.

Esmina tilted her head to the side, the gold flecks in her gaze glowing with her seer magic. "It's a trap. Vesper's rigged the weapon in some way."

Nerezza looked at me, and magic flickered in her eyes as well, making them burn like blue torches. "She's right. My darling daughter is up to something."

Once again, I flinched. Daughter . I couldn't ever remember Nerezza calling me that, and my mother couldn't even be bothered to say the name I'd chosen for myself. White-hot fury shot through me, but I throttled the emotion.

"Fire it," Esmina ordered.

Pollux glanced at her. "What?"

Esmina kept staring at me. "Fire the cannon, Vesper. Or Kyrion dies."

Half of the mercenaries swung around, aiming their blasters at Kyrion. His eyes narrowed, and he glowered at first one enemy, then another.

I pointed the cannon at Esmina, who laughed. "Please. As much as you would love to shoot me, we both know you won't risk your precious Kyrion's life."

A couple of mercs stepped forward and took a little better aim at Kyrion, who growled in response. His entire body strained, but he couldn't break free of the bricks that encased him.

Kyrion stared at me again, then deliberately looked down and flexed the fingers on his left wrist, as though trying to tell me something.

I reached out with my magic and studied the stone around him, trying to find any weakness I could exploit. A faint silver light flared about ten feet away from Kyrion, near the bottom of the wall. My eyes narrowed. There. That might be something.

It had to be something. I only had one shot to make this work—literally—or Kyrion and I were dead.

"I could always shoot Nerezza." I swung the cannon in her direction. This time, I had the satisfaction of making her flinch.

"Don't be so dramatic, girl," Nerezza retorted.

She was so busy sneering at me that she didn't see the hopeful look that Esmina and Pollux exchanged. They wouldn't care if I shot Nerezza. I was tempted—so very tempted —but I released the trigger. Killing Nerezza wouldn't help Kyrion and me escape.

"Fine," I muttered. "What do you want me to shoot to prove the cannon works?"

Esmina waved her hand. "Whatever you like. We're far enough underground that no one is going to hear or feel the blast, if that was your hope. No one is coming to rescue you, Vesper."

I ignored her insult and turned around in a slow circle, as if pondering what to shoot. The mercenaries eyed me with obvious wariness, but I had a far more important target in mind. I finally stopped and aimed the cannon at the spot in the wall my magic had highlighted earlier.

"Fire it," Esmina commanded. "Right now. Or my men will drop you where you stand."

The time for talking and stalling was over. Now I just had to trust that Asterin and Zane were in position, so I took a little better aim and squeezed the trigger.

Boom!

A blast of green fire shot out from the cannon, zipped across the cavern, and slammed into the wall. Huge chunks of stone blasted apart, and dust billowed up into the air in a thick, hazy cloud. But even more curious—and alarming—was the fact that the green energy blast pulsed around the massive crater it had created, as though it was a fire feeding on more and more of the surrounding wall.

My gaze locked onto the tiny cracks that were slowly but surely creeping through the stone in all directions, including over to where Kyrion was still trapped. Bull's-eye.

"By the stars." Pollux breathed out the words in an awed voice. "That cannon does exactly what you claimed."

"I told you how powerful it is," Nerezza replied.

Pollux moved forward and held out his hand, an eager look on his face. Reluctantly, I passed the cannon over to him. The mercenary stepped away from me and ran his hands over the weapon.

"Lightweight, compact, easy to aim and carry." He let out a low whistle of appreciation. "It's an impressive weapon."

"Nerezza was right. Even weak links are good for something on occasion." Esmina sneered at me.

Once again, I bristled at her words. All my old doubts surfaced, whispering in my ears, but I ignored their idle chatter.

Nerezza snapped her fingers. Several of the mercs scurried forward, forming a loose circle around me.

"I gave you what you wanted," I protested, even though I had been expecting the betrayal.

"Yes, you did, but we both know I was never going to release you or Kyrion. But the problem is you are both far too valuable to kill, which means I need to find another use for you." Nerezza smiled. "Luckily for me, an opportunity has already presented itself."

Horror swept through my body. Maybe it was my seer magic, but I knew exactly what she was going to say.

"You were right at the midnight ball, Vesper. I do enjoy playing both sides against each other to get what I want." Nerezza's smile widened. "And Callus Holloway's thirty-million bounty for you and Kyrion will go a long way toward funding production of my new hand cannons. Why, turning you both over might even convince Callus that I've seen the error of my ways and wish to return to the Imperium."

My stomach roiled with nausea. Even though I'd been expecting Nerezza to once again use me to my fullest, foulest potential instead of killing me outright, I couldn't stop an arrow of hurt from shooting through my heart. Just when I thought my mother couldn't get any crueler, she sank to a bitter new low and showed her true cold depths.

"Holloway's bounty would be a nice bonus, but he's not stupid enough to trust you again," I replied. "And the bounty doesn't matter anyway, because you're never going to get the chance to collect it."

I jerked my chin to the side, and Nerezza looked over at Pollux, who was pointing the hand cannon at her.

Esmina stepped up beside the other mercenary. "All your talk about bounties is quite interesting, Nerezza. I wonder how much Callus Holloway would pay for you and Vesper and Kyrion."

Fury stained Nerezza's cheeks a bright red, and her hands clenched into fists, her knuckles standing out against her skin. "We had a deal!"

Esmina shrugged. "Deals change. You should know that better than anyone."

Once again, all the fury abruptly sluiced off Nerezza. Her fists loosened, and a knowing smile spread across her face. "You're right. I do know that deals change, better than anyone."

She puckered her lips and let out a loud whistle. All the Serpens Corp mercenaries spun around and aimed their weapons at Esmina and Pollux.

"Bloody traitors!" Pollux growled, pointing his cannon at the closest man.

"I'm not the only one with a bounty on my head," Nerezza said. "When you and Esmina told me how much you wanted to destroy House Collier, I did a little digging. The Erzton Houses have a sizable reward for your capture, dead or alive—and dead is just fine with me."

Pollux let out another angry growl. Esmina eased a little closer to him, although she kept her icy gaze on Nerezza. The other mercs kept their weapons trained on Pollux and Esmina, but many of the men shifted on their feet or swiped the sweat from their foreheads. A tense silence dropped over the cavern.

I glanced to the right. Kyrion was still bricked to the wall, but the energy blast from the cannon was slowly but surely eating away at the stone, and more and more cracks were creeping in his direction like spiders scuttling along and dragging black webs through the rock wall.

My gaze met Kyrion's, and I deliberately looked over at the cracks spreading in his direction. He gave me the tiniest nod in return. We might not be able to send telepathic thoughts through the bond right now, but we could still communicate. Even more important, I trusted him, and he trusted me, and the same could not be said for anyone else in the cavern.

"Fuck this, and fuck you, traitors!" Pollux snarled, stepped forward, and pulled the trigger on the Techwave cannon . . .

Click.

Nothing happened. No sparks of energy, no blast of power, no incinerating green fire.

Pollux growled and pulled the trigger again. And then again . . . and again . . .

Click. Click-click. Click.

Nerezza's smile widened. "Looks like you were right about Vesper tampering with the cannon. I was certainly expecting it."

Once again, my stomach roiled with nausea. Maybe I truly was the weak link, at least when it came to being a seer, because both Esmina and Nerezza had seen right through most of my lies. Or maybe they were just better at double-crossing people than I was.

Nerezza waved her hand, and the mercenaries crept a little closer to Pollux and Esmina.

Pollux kept pulling the trigger, still trying to get the cannon to fire. Suddenly, he stopped, a puzzled look on his face. "Why is it getting . . . hot?"

Esmina's eyes widened. "Drop it! Drop it now!"

She lunged forward, slapped the weapon out of Pollux's hands, and kicked it away. Then she whirled around and hunkered down on the cavern floor. Pollux followed her lead, the way he always did, but Nerezza and the other mercs hesitated, not understanding what was happening.

The cannon spun to a stop at Nerezza's feet. A red light flashed on the side, and a shrill warning whistle cut through the air, screaming like a brewmaker about to boil over.

Nerezza also whirled away from the cannon. She shoved a mercenary between her and the weapon, then darted behind a large stalagmite.

All the mercs were focused on the cannon, so I sprinted toward the wall where Kyrion was still trapped.

"Vesper!" he yelled. "Vesper, get down—"

BOOM!

The cannon exploded, drowning out his words, along with everything else.

I couldn't give the Techwave cannon to Esmina, Pollux, and Nerezza, but I couldn't not give it to them either, not if I wanted to save Kyrion. So with Wendell's help, I'd done the next best thing: I'd booby-trapped it.

I'd coded the cannon to my DNA so only I could fire it. Anyone else who pulled the trigger would get no response and activate the explosives Wendell and I had packed into the solar magazine. Pollux had pulled the trigger far more times than I'd expected, causing the explosives to heat up faster than I'd intended, but the end result was still the same.

Vesper 1, mercenaries 0.

I hadn't wanted to blow Kyrion or myself up with our enemies, so the explosion wasn't nearly as large as I would have liked, but the shock wave still threw me forward five feet. I slammed into the wall beside Kyrion and bounced off, landing on my hands and knees. The rough stone scraped my palms, but that was a minor sting compared with the intense ringing that filled my ears as though I was standing in front of a drummer who was beating his instrument for all it was worth.

"Vesper? Vesper!"

Dimly, I became aware of Kyrion shouting, although his voice sounded muffled and far away.

"Vesper? Vesper!"

Kyrion's voice sounded again, a little louder and clearer. I shook the rest of the ringing out of my ears and scrambled back up onto my feet.

The exploding cannon had created a large crater in the cavern floor, and smoke was still boiling up into the air. The mercs who'd been the closest to the blast were dead, their mangled bodies lying in burned, crumpled heaps, while the injured men were screaming, shouting, and trying to crawl away from the epicenter. I didn't see Esmina, Pollux, and Nerezza.

My balance was off, but I staggered over to Kyrion. The spiderweb cracks had finally spread over to his left side, and he snarled and jerked his arm forward. The plasticuff around his left wrist snapped. He reached up and yanked on the cuff around his neck, but he couldn't pull it free of the stone, and I couldn't cut the plastic without cutting him.

I grabbed my stormsword off my belt and hammered away at the wall beside his neck. "Hang on!"

I swung the weapon with all my might, but I just wasn't strong enough to chip away the stone as fast and as much as I needed to. Shouts and yells sprang up behind me, and I knew that I only had seconds to free Kyrion before the mercs targeted us again—

Kyrion's eyes widened. "Vesper! Behind you!"

I whirled around. A mercenary was stumbling in my direction, his blaster aimed at my chest. I stepped in front of Kyrion and snapped up my stormsword, even though I knew I would be too slow to deflect the bolt back at the mercenary—

Pew! Pew! Pew!

Blaster fire punched into the merc's back, and he screamed and toppled to the ground. I tensed and lifted my sword higher, looking for the source of the shot.

Across the cavern, Zane lifted his blaster to his forehead, saluting me with it. Then he lowered the blaster, and his eyes narrowed in concentration as he aimed the weapon in our direction.

Duck! Zane's voice sounded in my mind.

I scrambled out of the way.

Pew!

Zane's bolt punched into the rock right beside Kyrion's neck.

Pew! Pew! Pew!

Zane shot the rock next to Kyrion's right hand, then both of his ankles, as though he was a sharpshooter showing off his skills for a cheering crowd. Kyrion let out a loud, fierce roar and surged forward, tearing his neck and right hand out of the cracked stone and loosened plasticuffs. Kyrion roared again, and a wave of telekinesis surged off him, smashing the bricks across his chest and legs flinging them away.

I yanked Kyrion's stormsword off my belt and tossed it over to him, then sprinted in his direction. Kyrion easily caught the blade and raced toward me.

We met in the middle. Kyrion grabbed me around the waist and yanked me toward him. I stood up on my tiptoes and kissed him. The second my lips touched his, the bond roared back to life in my mind, stronger than ever, and the sticky cobweb of him pulsed with energy, emotion, and awareness.

The kiss lasted only an instant, but it jolted and jumpstarted everything inside me, as though I was a machine that had just gotten a brand-new solar battery. I drew back and stared into Kyrion's eyes, which were blazing like dark blue stars. He grinned at me, then spun away, his stormsword glowing with the same fierce light as his eyes. I grinned and spun the other way, lashing out with my own weapon.

Pew! Pew! Pew!

Pew! Pew! Pew!

More mercenaries scrambled to their feet, and blaster fire zipped through the cavern. So many people were firing so many weapons it was hard to tell who was targeting whom.

Through the swarm of bodies, I spotted Pollux swinging his two hammers and crushing the arms, legs, and skulls of any mercs who were stupid enough to engage him. Esmina was a few feet away, moving back and forth as though she was dancing through the mercs. Every time an enemy shot at the seer, she whirled away at exactly the right moment so that the bolt punched into the chest of another merc instead of wounding her.

"Vesper! Behind you!" Kyrion yelled again.

He rushed forward, putting himself between me and a mercenary, even as I turned to deal with the threat—

Pew!

The merc fired his blaster, and Kyrion barely raised his sword in time to deflect the bolt at another merc, who screamed and fell to the ground. I ran over to help Kyrion, but a merc took a swing at me, making me scuttle back.

The fight only got worse from there.

Every time I tried to reach Kyrion, an enemy got in my way, and every time he tried to reach me, Kyrion opened himself up to more blaster fire. A merc managed to punch me in the stomach before I swiped my sword across his chest, while another one tripped me and sent me staggering into a stalagmite jutting up from the cavern floor.

Not only did the pain of my own wounds pound through my body, but the echoes of all the hard blows Kyrion was taking also rippled through the bond, and I felt as though I was getting attacked and hit from multiple sides at once. A frustrated growl tumbled from my lips, but the sound was lost in the screams, shrieks, and continued blaster fire.

It was the same problem we'd had when we fought the Hammers in the antiques emporium a few days ago. Kyrion was trying to protect me at the expense of protecting himself, and I wasn't trusting my own skills enough to be as decisive as needed. Only this time, we were surrounded by enemies who wanted to kill us, and if we didn't figure this out, we would both die.

Kyrion glanced at me, worry creasing his face, and the sticky cobweb of him pulsed with the same stomach-churning emotion. He could feel it too. We were once again out of sync, and I had no idea how to fix it—

Wait. Maybe that was the problem. Maybe my trying to fix things the way I always did and Kyrion trying to protect me the way he always did was the problem. Maybe we were both holding on too tight when what we should be doing was just . . . letting go .

I'd once told Kyrion a truebond was about trust. I just hadn't realized that trusting in myself was part of the process.

I wasn't the awesome fighter Kyrion was. Oh, I could hold my own against most people, but I would never cut through enemies like they were made of plastipaper the way he did. And for the first time, I realized that was okay. I wasn't a broken brewmaker or a faulty cannon or something else that needed to be fixed. Not being on Kyrion's level as a warrior didn't make me a weak link, as Esmina had claimed.

It just made me, well, me .

I looked at Kyrion, opening myself up to him through the bond, letting him feel the newfound confidence I had in myself, and him too, and especially the two of us together.

Even when we were apart.

Kyrion stared at me, and an answering pulse rippled through the bond. Cool, calm acceptance flooded my body, along with a rush of softer, warmer emotions that brought tears to my eyes.

Kyrion and I stared at each other a heartbeat longer, then whirled around in opposite directions, focusing on the enemies in front of us instead of the bond at our backs.

My world narrowed to ducking blaster fire and cutting down one mercenary after another. Instead of trying to reach Kyrion, I held my ground, protecting my own little patch of space, even as I searched for more enemies to fight. A shadow moved out of the corner of my eye, and I whirled in that direction.

A merc was running toward me, a shock baton clutched in his hand, white-hot electricity crackling on the end—

Pew! Pew! Pew!

Three blaster bolts punched into the merc's back, and he tumbled to the ground. My head snapped up, and I spotted Asterin on the second-story balcony, coolly spinning around and shooting another merc who was charging at Zane down on this level.

Pew!

Asterin dropped that merc as well. Zane gave her a showy little bow, then rushed forward to fight another enemy. Asterin rolled her eyes and did the same thing on the second level.

I kept hacking and slashing my way through one enemy after another. I didn't see Nerezza anywhere, but Esmina and Pollux were still in the thick of the fight. I sliced my sword across the chest of another mercenary and headed in their direction.

"Now, Pollux!" Esmina yelled, sidestepping another round of blaster fire. "Now!"

With a loud, bellowing roar, Pollux leaped into the air, using his telekinesis to propel himself at least twenty feet off the ground, close enough that his blond hair brushed the bottoms of some stalactites jutting down from the ceiling.

Just as quickly, Pollux started to drop, and psion power erupted in his hammers, the lunarium heads blazing a bright neon green. The hammers whistled downward in vicious arcs toward the crater created by the cannon explosion, and I realized what he was going to do.

"Brace! Brace! Brace!" I screamed, but my warning came too late.

BOOM!

Pollux slammed his hammers into the ground. Thick, wide cracks zipped through the stone, and a concussive shock wave ripped through the cavern. The force was much, much stronger than the explosion caused by my booby-trapped cannon, and it knocked me off my feet.

For several seconds, the world spun around in crazy loops, as though I was on a blitzer that was spiraling through the air, and I lost my balance. My hands and knees smacked into the ground, and my brain rattled around inside my skull at the hard, vicious impact.

The entire cavern bucked and heaved, and enormous chunks of stone broke off from the ceiling and crashed down onto this level, crushing several mercenaries. I had to roll to the side to keep from getting impaled by a falling stalactite, but Esmina kept up her graceful dance, smoothly moving from left to right, as though she was skating on ice instead of careening across solid stone.

Pollux let out another roar and slammed his hammers into the ground again.

BOOM!

The previous cracks he'd created zipped outward and then merged into one enormous chasm that widened and deepened with every passing second and each bit of ground it chewed up. One merc after another dropped into the growing, gaping chasm, all flailing and screaming as they fell to their deaths.

Pollux roared and hit the ground a third time with his hammers.

For an instant, everything slowed down, as though I was watching a video one frame at a time. I could see the magic moving through Pollux's body and down into the hammers and then the lunarium weapons amplifying his power ten, a hundred, a thousand times over and turning it into something truly devastating—

BOOM!

Pollux's blow ripped through the cavern, stronger and louder than the others. No one was fighting anyone anymore, and all I could do was hunker down on my hands and knees and try not to get tossed into the chasm by the rapidly splitting ground . . .

Sometime later, the quaking and shaking finally stopped.

A cold wind whistled into the cavern, bringing with it a misty kiss of the waterfall spray and clearing out the thick, billowing clouds of dust. Tears streamed down my face, and my chest spasmed with coughs, but I tightened my grip on my stormsword and slowly climbed to my feet. Moans and groans rang out through the cavern, but they were soft sounds compared with the roaring in my ears.

I crept forward and peered down.

Pollux had used his hammers to punch all the way through the cavern floor, revealing a honeycomb of chambers underneath. Despite its sturdy appearance, this whole place was made of pockets of air, and Pollux had cracked it all open like it was as fragile as an eggshell.

Even now, the psionic echoes of his power scraped across my skin like someone was rubbing my face in a bed of broken glass. I shuddered in revulsion. No one should have that much power. In his own way, Pollux was even more dangerous than Esmina. She was a laser, narrow and focused, but Pollux was, well, a hammer, a broad, blunt instrument with only one purpose: destruction.

Pollux climbed to his feet, clutching his weapons. The lunarium hammers were still burning with that bright, intense, eerie green light, and another shudder rippled down my spine. A blow like that should have depleted even the strongest psion's magic, but Pollux was as powerful as ever, thanks to his stolen truebond.

Kyrion and Zane also got to their feet. They had both managed to hang on to their stormswords, but they were swaying back and forth, trying to shake off the shock of Pollux's blows. Me too. I felt as though I'd developed a sudden, severe case of vertigo, and everything was just a little off-balance.

"Excellent," a voice purred. "Pollux caused even more damage than I expected."

I turned around. Esmina was standing several feet away, and she stalked toward me. One of the mercenaries reached up and tried to grab her ankle. She didn't even look down as she sidestepped him, then drew her foot back and kicked him in the head. Esmina put some of her magic into the blow, just as Pollux had done, and the merc's skull caved in with a sickening crunch .

I whirled around and stepped forward, but instead of solid stone, my boot sliced through empty air, and I had to windmill my arms to propel myself backward. Pollux had broken the floor wide open, and a thirty-foot chasm now separated the two halves of the chamber.

My head snapped up. Kyrion and Zane were on one side of the chasm, along with Asterin, Pollux, and several mercenaries, and I was on the other side with Esmina, who was wading through and killing the remaining mercenaries, drawing closer to me all the while.

I was trapped—and on my own.