“Red, is the package in place?”
I nearly dropped the stupid walkie-talkie trying to get it out of my pocket. “Almost there. Give me a little more time,” I plead.
“Red? Red?”
They can’t hear me. I put it back and continue my agonizing climb, terrified that I’d explode right off the stupid ladder.
I wish I’d slept with Tovian while I had the chance.
He’s my last thought as I pour all my strength into reaching the top.
“Red, we’re giving you a twenty-second countdown. Get away from the explosives, wherever they are.”
If I don’t get this stupid pack into place, fast, I’m going to get blown to bits by my own people.
I cannot let that go down as my legacy.
With strength drawn from the depths of my soul, I swing the divided pack over the top rung of the ladder and half-jump, half-fall as the world exploded above me. I let go, falling, crashing, barely registering the pain. Pain bursts across the back of my head, turning the whole world black.
Chapter 7
Raina.
Someone shouts my name from very far away. Lorcan? I fight my way toward consciousness. There’s an arm around my torso, beneath my shoulders, tugging me backward through the water. My head throbs. Air enters my lungs. Not enough of it.
But overhead, there’s a broken bridge.
We did it.
I’m alive.
I can’t hear, and I probably have a concussion, but thanks to whoever owns this…arm…
“Tovian?” I croak.
He busses a kiss on the crown of my head and keeps swimming. It hurts to grin but that doesn’t stop me.
Machine guns, however, do.
“Hold your breath,” Tovian shouts, though it sounds like a whisper. We dive beneath the water, kicking, haphazardly swimming in tandem. I’m a good swimmer—good enough to have competed in the Olympics once. I quickly outpace him. The murky water stings my eyes. Tovian grabs my foot and points to an islet of rushes. I nod. We’ll be eaten alive by biting flies but we can hide in the tall rushes until the danger passes.
He goes first, checking for danger before waving me forward. Panting, covered in mud, I crawl into the grasses. Each fistful of reeds I grab tears at my raw palms. I cough into the mud until Tovian hauls me onto the islet beside him. I lay there, staring blankly at the clear blue sky.
Alive.
In all kinds of pain, but alive—thanks to him. I sit bolt upright.
“Tovian? What are you doing here?”
He inches closer, careful not to disturb the reeds too much and give away our position. I take in his appearance. The thin T-shirt he’s clearly stolen off one of the pirates lovingly outlines the shape of his pectorals and hugs his biceps.
When his gaze meets mine, gone is the mirthful man I met that day in the Boscage. Ages ago. I blink at the hardness I find there.
“Looking for you.” Unsmiling, he says, “Princess Raina.”
I gulp, tasting dirt.
#
