I gaped at him as a strange surge of rage coursed through me. “She tried togenie his weenie?”
“I know not of that phrase. But Zyair had never lain with a woman. The blood and energy of someone like him is especially sought after by Nirzks. Fortunate for Zyair, we got him the shaftz out of there before things got—ugly. Or uglier.”
I didn’t have an explanation for the anger that churned in me. But in that instant, I hated Brentoq.
“He isn’t a virgin anymore,” I snarled.
“No.” Xandros grimaced. “She will be especially unhappy.”
“Did you really kill her harem?” My voice didn’t sound at all like mine.
“What I did not dispatch, Rhodes did.” He sounded rather grimly smug as he set me on my feet and folded his huge hand around mine. We hurried down the hall. Yani met us there, her orange gaze assessing.
“We think Brentoq has Zyair,” I explained, and her eyes widened.
She didn’t question how we knew. Instead, she asked, “What about Rhodes?”
I shook my head, but Xandros rumbled, “If Rhodes got away, we need to guide him here.”
Yani simply nodded and followed us to the airlock off the storage bay. I avoided looking at Kurt in the cage, and I noticed Xandros did as well.
“What is going on?” Kurt demanded. “You can’t leave me like this forever!”
We ignored him and entered the airlock. Yani dug into the closet, fished out a flashlight, and handed it to me.
“It’s waterproof. You might be able to signal him.” Her orange stare fixated on me. “You two be careful,” she added as the door cycled closed.
“Do you swim?” Xandros asked.
I hooked the flashlight onto my belt. “Yes. You?”
“Enough.” He punched buttons on the airlock, and the external pressure equalizers opened.
Swamp water rushed in. As it rapidly rose to my knees, I wrinkled my nose. “Does the serum also enhance my sense of smell?”
Xandros exhaled hard. “Unfortunately, yes.”
I did my best to ignore it as the muck rose over my waist. My belovedStardrifter’sairlock would stink for months to come.
“Ready?” he asked, squeezing my hand.
I nodded, and he opened the doors.
The resulting swirl of water would have pounded me against the back wall, but Xandros powered out the door, pulling me with him. He braced his feet against the ship’s hull and pushed off toward the surface.
We broke it, and spluttered. The wind whipped the water into waves as we swam to the closest tree—its root buttresses were the most solid land around.
We clambered up. Xandros removed his dripping cloak and embraced his dragon with considerable relief.
Squeezing the water from my hat, I moved close to the enormous trunk to give him enough room. When he swung his head toward me, I grabbed a spike and scrambled up onto him.
He was airborne in an instant, soaring into the driving rain. I pulled my damp hat down over my ears and held the hood of my cloak tight around my throat. But even though the wind was warm, I shivered.
My gut was tied in a knot that wasn’t likely to loosen anytime soon.Brentoq had Zyair.I had no real reason to be so absolutely certain.
But I was.
Piloting via the navcube was a very different thing from flying blind into the teeth of the storm, but I was sure Xandros was taking us back along the route we’d just traveled with theStardrifter. Carefully, staying high amid the clouds and dropping to peer through the rain.
