Chapter 16

Min-Ji

The silence that hung in the woods was unnerving. I thought I would hear it if Corin found a Rakworm and fought with it, and I tried hard not to picture what that might look like: a giant, hungry snake with a maw big enough to swallow even Corin versus my silvery-blue Naga. I already thought the Naga were really big, but the Rakworm were supposed to be bigger.

I didn't hear the sounds of the usual woodland critters of this planet; it was that quiet. All I could pick up was the sound of the wind as it ruffled the purple and gray leaves of the trees. When Reid made an awful grunting noise, it sounded as loud as a gunshot to my nerves. I nearly jumped out of my skin before I managed to get my pounding heart under control.

It was instinct to reach out to the sick man with a hand to try to calm him. I pressed my fingers to his shoulder and spoke soothingly. "Hey, it's okay. You're going to get better. We'll take care of you." It didn't look like he heard me; his head twisted against the furs, and his jaw grew tight. So tight that I started to worry he might break his teeth—I could hear a grinding noise.

Worry filled me. First for Corin and his confrontation with a beast that seemed bigger and bigger in my mind the more I thought about it, and second for Reid, who was trembling and twisting, his entire body growing tight. I feared he was about to have a heart attack, and I couldn't help him. Nobody could help him except those Shamans, but we were still a few hours out. Help wasn't going to come to us.

I reached for Corin's backpack and located the healing device, but it was too big for my hand, and there were no buttons. I knew that Cosima had used one and had described how it had shrunk around her hand to fit, but it didn't do that. If there was some secret switch I had to flick, I couldn't find it.

As suddenly as Reid had started to twist and turn, moving like he was under immense strain, it eased up. He blinked open his eyes, and I was staring into a pair of bloodshot, brown orbs. He blinked furiously, then went slack against the furs. "Min-Ji?" he murmured as he tilted his head to look around. "Where the fuck are we?"

He sounded completely lucid, and he looked out of his eyes in a way that made me think he was rapidly assessing his situation—from the way he'd been restrained against the furs tied to the weird pole sled thing, to the unfamiliar woods he was in. "Not in the caves beneath Ahoshaga," I said carefully. I didn't like how loud our voices seemed in the unnatural quiet that filled the woods. "You got really sick. We're taking you to see a Shaman, or maybe several."

"We?" Reid asked. "How bad is it?" Yeah, he was definitely more himself again. That was the Reid I knew, always frank and blunt, but usually kind. Now wasn't any different. He took one look at the healing device I was still holding and nodded. "Corin, huh? Are you okay?" I felt heat steal up my cheeks at the question. Did everyone at Haven know about my crush on him?

"Reid, I just told you that you're sick. And that's what you ask me?" I deflected with a headshake. "I'm fine. Corin's checking on some Rakworms, but he should be back soon. We'll be at the Sacred Training Grounds in no time at all." At least, that's what I hoped. Corin was taking a long time, and I still hadn't heard anything that sounded like fighting. It was hard not to picture him in trouble when I'd made the Rakworm out to be a really big, creepy monster in my mind.

"Nothing I can do about that, can I?" Reid said, sounding shockingly casual about his health, his possible impending demise. Maybe I hadn't been clear enough to him, but he was a smart man. He wouldn't assume we were going somewhere special for a case of the flu. No, the way he shrugged a shoulder and didn't even comment about how he was tied down told me he knew it was serious, but he didn't care.

"Corin's got a tender heart," Reid said next, confirming my suspicions. "Promise me you'll take good care of him. He deserves a mate like the others. Once he stops running away, he'll see you. He'll need you." On the heels of that statement, he started to cough, a sound I hadn't heard him make before. Flecks of blood flew from his mouth, but he didn't seem to notice, his eyes focusing on something far away.

I hurried to dab it from his lips; that wasn't good, that wasn't good at all. Where was Corin? I turned to look around, searching for the telltale glitter of his silver scales, a hint of blue among the lavender leaves. A fist suddenly closed around my wrist, tight as a vise and growing tighter. Reid had slipped his hand from beneath the furs at his hip and managed to grab me, but it wasn't the lucid, coherent man I was dealing with now.

Something dark and feverish glittered in his brown eyes, and his mouth pulled into an angry snarl. "You're UAR," he growled, squeezing my wrist so tightly that it felt like the bones might snap beneath the stress. "What did you do? Why did you do this?" he demanded. He was delirious, the fever and the pain clouding his mind, even his understanding of where he was. But he recognized me; he knew who I was—that much was obvious.

"You can't be trusted. I have to warn the others," Reid continued, and he coughed again. His fist released my arm, slipping limply away as his strength abandoned him. He was back in the past, in the days right after we'd crashed on Serant. And then his words placed him even further back in time, back to before he'd been court-martialed and fake executed. "The spies are everywhere. We must kill them. Trust no one… Trust no one."

He slipped into a slumber after that, his eyes flicking beneath his eyelids as he dreamed of the past. I didn't move, remaining at his side on my knees, and that's how Corin found me.

***

Corin

"You can't come with me," I muttered to Triff, but the little bot rushed after me anyway. It seemed like neither of my companions knew how to obey a direct order anymore. I hadn't fooled myself into thinking that Min-Ji ever would. That's what I loved about her anyway. But Triff? The bot struggled on the grass, but at least it was no longer wet, and he wasn't at risk of sinking into a bog.

"I'm off to hunt a Rakworm, you idiot," I said to the bot, but I knew he was just going to beep merrily and ignore what I said. "What if it eats you?" On second thought, if the Rakworm tried, Triff would probably come out victorious. He'd be hard to digest. "Shouldn't you watch my mate? Guard her? That's what the Sleara do. Can't you do that?" Buzz and Kiwi, the little pet dragons, followed their females everywhere. If Triff could do that, things would be easier…

When the bot stubbornly kept up with me, I gave in and snatched him up so I could pick up the pace. I'd heard the beast to our left, its low hiss drawing my attention. It was a sound too low for Min-Ji's ears to pick up, but she might have felt it as a chill up her spine. I only wanted to check that the Rakworm wasn't hunting us, to make sure we were safe. I had no intention of fighting the giant snake unless I had to.

I spotted its black scales when I reached a vantage point and managed to look down into the nearest bog. The worm had felled a Vakarsa, a great six-legged herd animal that made for excellent fur and food. That explained the unnatural silence: the fight had spooked all the nearby animals. Once it had fed, it wouldn't be hungry for weeks; this beast was no threat.

"Let's get back," I said to Triff, and the cleaning bot beeped his agreement. As the biggest predator in the area, the Rakworm didn't even respond to our noise. Only a dragon might be a danger to it, and those hardly ever left their desert.

Something was different when I returned to the hill where I'd left my mate and Reid. She had her back to me as I approached, but her shoulders were shaking. Then I heard a soft sniffle, followed by a shuddering sigh; she was crying. Abandoning all caution, I dropped Triff from my tail and hurried to her side. "What happened? What's going on? Are you hurt?"

I ignored the indignant squeak the bot made and picked my mate up to inspect her, frantically searching for any sign of injury. Her wrist bore an angry red band, with several indentations indicating fingers had gripped her. I raised her limb with a hiss. "Who did this?" The answer was obvious, but it didn't make any sense; Reid would never harm a female.

She shook her head as if she didn't want to answer, and I growled, turning my gaze to the passed-out male. He was sleeping peacefully, his chest rising and falling, his heartbeat steady, and it seemed even his temperature had improved. I didn't want to give myself false hope, but it seemed he was getting better. And then I noticed the blood on his lips.

Turning to Min-Ji, I determined that her tears weren't for her sore wrist but for Reid. She thought he was dying, and she might not be wrong. I twisted my tail around her, hugging her tight as I located my healing device and pulled it onto my fingers. "He grabbed you. Did he break the bone? Let me see, sweetheart. Let me take care of you."

She did not answer me, but her fragile bone hadn't snapped. There were some hairline fractures and a lot of bruising, all of which the device could heal if I focused. "What are we going to do? We have to hurry!" she wailed. "We can't lose our friend."

"We're not going to," I said firmly, cupping her chin and lifting her face to mine. Her eyes were red-rimmed and watery, and I lifted the healing device to her face, easing the sting there. "He will survive." She tried to smile—like she often smiled through whatever turmoil she was feeling—but it wasn't working this time. When she leaned in and pressed her head to my chest, I felt a surge of power arc through me. She made me feel powerful when she trusted me like that, when she wanted my comfort.

I held her tight, rocking her gently while I ran the healing device over her back, just to make sure I hadn't missed anything. She was fine, but it didn't feel like she was fine when she was crying tears against my scales. I turned the device to Reid, hoping I could give her better news, but I didn't hold out much hope.

My handheld healing device couldn't make a noise like most relics did when something was wrong. It was a device that seemed to work entirely by instinct and intuition, simply knowing things, and this time I knew that something was off in a way I'd never encountered before. Reid's vitals were good, better than before. His organs were no longer under such tremendous stress that they were on the verge of failing. And it wasn't blood on his lips.

I didn't want to let go of my mate, so I tossed the healing device aside and touched a finger to the male's mouth to draw some of the red specks onto my scales. When I raised the smear to my face, I knew, even before I flicked out my tongue to better draw in the scent. "This is metal decay. What did you call it? Rust?"

"Rust?" Min-Ji sniffled through her tears, utterly confused. When I nodded, she flung her arm around my neck to steady herself and leaned close to peer at the flecks that dotted my fingertip and claw. "Oh my God, you're right! How can this be rust?" Her fingers dug into my scales near my shoulder, pinching a tiny bit, and I relished the feeling. It meant she was snapping out of her sadness.

"Blood looks very similar," I said cautiously, though I knew I was right. "But Artek and I both agreed on our assessment. He has some kind of tiny metal specks inside his body—two kinds, one foreign and one that was already there—and they are battling and multiplying. That's what's been killing him, but right now, I think one side has won, and it's giving his body a reprieve." It was still not right. All my instincts told me he was dying, but it wasn't happening as fast as before, and that was good. It meant that instead of having to push ourselves to reach the Shamans tonight, we could make camp and continue the rest of the way tomorrow.

"That sounds like…" Min-Ji hesitated. "I can't believe Kalani was right about this. Reid must have nanobots in his system, and that's what's been making him stronger and faster. That gas introduced another set of them, I bet! And because he was the only one who already had nanobots, it's messed him up." She got more and more excited as she talked, and I found myself smiling at her. The glow was back in her cheeks. She knew about this stuff more than Artek and I did in some ways, and I was relieved to discover that Reid's situation was starting to make sense. We would save him.

I leaned down and pressed my mouth to hers, lingering long and slow against her softness. I wanted to stay here with her for as long as we could. She was right about so many things, but mostly, she was right that it was time to face our future head-on. I wasn't the same person I'd been the last time I'd dealt with the Thunder Rock Queen. She wasn't the same either, and I wasn't alone.

"Corin," Min-Ji sighed when I dug my claws into her silky, black hair and held her tighter. "Corin, please…" I knew what she was asking, what she was saying with that single word. Please have me, please love me, please don't turn me away. It was an answering chorus to the words that sang in my heart.

With a sigh, I gave in.