Page 87 of Hot Zone

Rustam didn’t answer. He let her wedge herself under his left arm and steer him aft, staggering under his weight until she sat him between the same amphoras of oil she’d slept near last night.

“Hang on,” she murmured. “We should slam into the Greeks soon.”

Rustam nodded wearily. As she began to stand up, a strange thing happened. All of a sudden, he threw his head up, nostrils flaring sharply. “Who’s in command of that vessel?” he demanded.

Surprised, she replied, “Hippoclides. Artemesia’s lover.”

“The Greek gen—of course.” Rustam swore under his breath in a tongue she’d never heard before, but there was no doubt it was cursing.

“What’s wrong?” she asked quickly.

“He’s one of us.”

Tessa frowned. “Come again?”

“He’s exactly like me.”

Her jaw dropped. “Are you serious?”

He scowled up at her. “I can feel his aura from here. If I didn’t know better, I’d say it was Kentar himself who has possessed Hippoclides’s body.”

“Who’s Kentar?”

“The Centaurian Primus. My supreme commander.”

“What in the world would he be doing here?”

“Coming to check up on me, most likely.”

“But I thought you crashed here by accident—”

The sentence was interrupted by the captain shouting, “Brace for impact!”

If the ships had looked small to Tessa before, the massive crash as they collided moments later belied the impression. The entire deck heaved and shuddered beneath her, and the sound of cracking, buckling wood was horrendous. Their vessel lurched backward, recoiling from the impact. Coils of hemp line, barrels, spare oars and men rolled over the deck in utter chaos. But then a triumphant shout went up overhead. Tessa looked skyward and saw a sailor tied to the mast shaking his fist gleefully at the Greeks.

She risked a glance forward. Directly in front of them, the Greek ship’s prow was split open like a log neatly driven apart by a wedge. A wedge…Ohmigosh, the figurehead!

Tessa jumped up, racing forward to check on the statue’s condition. What if her spear had broken off in the impact?

The lady was intact, her bronze spear tip gleaming dully. Thank God! Tessa looked over at the Greek ship and was shocked to see someone staring back at her fixedly. Hippoclides. If he could’ve stared a hole through her, he would have. As the Greek ship began to list to starboard beneath his feet, he glared at her. Only at her.

Oh, yes. He knew exactly who—and what—she was. Hatred and a promise of death glittered in his preternaturally intense gaze. He was every bit as forceful as Rustam. However, having had no little experience standing up to her personal Centaurian alpha male, she stared back at Hippoclides, her chin high and her gaze defiant.

That’s right, buster. I’m a star navigator, too. Get over it.She let her violet aura flow from within, let it build around her in a whirling display of raw power.

His eyes went wide and he actually staggered back a step in shock.

Or maybe it was just the rapidly sinking ship throwing him off balance. He turned then…and disappeared.

Did he just teleport out? Or maybe he got lost in the chaos of panicked sailors as the deck beneath him slid into the sea.

A voice spoke quietly from behind her. “Everything okay?”

Rustam. What was he doing on his feet again? “You ought to be resting.”

“You powered up and were angry.”

She answered his unspoken question. “Hippoclides was staring at me. I thought I would give him something to think about.”

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