Page 57 of Kingdom of Tomorrow
And I got to accompany him. Me. Wow. Excitement quickened my heartbeat. “Are you planning to bring back a soil sample, too, and if so, may I log a formal request to smell it?”
His husky chuckle thrilled me in ways it shouldn’t. The images on the glass changed rapidly, gliding from the bedroom to a hallway to an elevator. Cyrus was on the move. “Be honest. You wish you’d accepted the job as my assistant.”
Here and now? “Not even a little.” I walked with him. “An assistant wouldn’t be linked up for a special plant-and-soil mission, in the running for top lady.” Surely a special assignment meant extra points.
Another chuckle sent waves of pleasure through my veins. “Where’s your concern for my welfare?”
“Concern is fear’s ugly cousin, sir. As someone surprisingly brilliant has taught me, I resist fear; I don’t encourage it. Let’s do this!”
He snickered. “When you go all in, you go all in. I like it.”
The elevator doors opened, and we—he—entered a heavily guarded arena. Recalling my own mission, I took in as many details as possible. Searching, searching for something, anything, that might demolish Ember’s suppositions. But everything I saw just looked like more of the same.
Barons, the rank above knights, and viscounts, the rank above barons, approached Cyrus, seeking instructions. He barked out orders, staying on the go.
“We’ll be in a vehicle as long as possible,” he explained, entering an empty room with built-in cannons protruding from small wall cubbies. Another door loomed ahead. There, he paused with his hand on the knob. “This is the entry to a garage, where a team is waiting for us.”He engaged his lens, covering his eyes and therefore my own. “Do you remember the sensations caused by RVM?”
“I do.” And I still wasn’t a fan.
“My lens will activate when I step beyond this final checkpoint, correcting everything. You’ll experience what I experience.”
“Thank you for the warning.”
“Ready?”
A seed of worry sprouted. While I was tucked safely inside, he would be out there, risking his life. “Be safe.”
“Always.” Amusement returned to his tone. “Take notes.”
“I’m drafting my report as we speak,” I quipped.
He snorted. “Forget the paper. I intend to give you an oral exam.”
My cheeks blazed at the sudden, unexpected, and completely inappropriate thought that followed his words. He hadnotmeant to sound so sexual. The man was on a mission, and it wasn’t to get into my pants. So. Moving on. “I’ll ace it, guaranteed.”
“I suspect you’re right.” His low, husky tone kept the illusion of carnality alive, but I ignored it. Then he was pushing into the garage.
As predicted, my world instantly flipped upside down. The abrupt switch played havoc with my equilibrium, and I teetered. The bars prevented a fall. Then the lens did its job, and the floor became the floor again, rather than the ceiling. I wasn’t the biggest fan of feeling as if I peered into a virtual reality, or the promised ache in my temples, but it hardly mattered. We were berry hunting!
Cyrus stalked into a wide-open space brimming with all manner of armored vehicles. I could almost smell the scent of fuel. Six viscounts worked together, loading boxes into a truck bed rimmed by metal bars and pritis clusters. Nothing out of the ordinary here either.
Noticing Cyrus, one of the men stopped and saluted. “High Prince Dolion. It’s an honor to join you in the field again, sir.” The others performed the same actions the moment they spotted their superior.
“Thank you for the escort.” He withdrew his swords from their sheaths, climbed into the back of the truck, and sat with his spinepressed against the cab. Meanwhile, I performed the same motions, even that of sitting. Thankfully, a seat unfolded from the pole, holding me steady. “I have a trainee with me. I’ll be speaking to her throughout the expedition.”
“Yes, sir.”
The truck shook as four soldiers joined us and two more settled in up front. Was Cyrus nervous at all? As the vehicle jostled forward, an exit in the garage opened, revealing a road illuminated by pritis. No feeders approached until we cleared the compound.
Any outside light vanished—there one second, gone the next. The only illumination came from the vehicle and armor worn by the soldiers, providing shadowy glimpses of crazed eyes. Wild snarls competed with the sound of the revving engine.
I tilted as the truck executed a turn, abandoning the paved road to speed along dirt and gravel. We dodged any battlegrounds, swerving as necessary to avoid the knights and barons who engaged with feeder hordes. The two groups clashed with such violence in a field illuminated by pritis light, I longed to look away.
“No questions for me?” Cyrus asked.
A moment passed before I realized he spoke to me. “Tons.” But few involved the mission. “I’m trying to absorb everything without distracting you.”
“We’re five minutes out,” the driver called.
