Page 106 of Only Cold Depths
I swallowed a growl. The bricks over my arms, chest, and legs were heavy and solid, and I was too weak to break through them, so I stopped struggling and studied my surroundings.
I was anchored to a wall in an enormous underground cavern. The wall curved to the left and the right, but the chamber in front of me was wide open. Thick stalagmites jutted up from the uneven ground, while even larger, thicker stalactites dropped down from the ceiling.
Soft white lights embedded in the ground, wall, and ceiling brought out the dark purple stones that glinted here and there among the dull gray rock. Permaglass stairs and walkways connected one level of the cavern to another, looking like icicle ramps that had frozen underground. The cavern was cool, bordering on chilly, and my breath frosted faintly in the air.
On the far side of the chamber, a permaglass bridge ran past an enormous waterfall that tumbled down the surrounding rocks. Several lights were trained on that area, and more purple stones glimmered along the waterfall’s frothing edges, giving it a dark, amethyst tint.
In some ways, the area reminded me of the lunarium mine Vesper and I had toured on Tropics 33. But this space seemed abandoned, and a thick layer of dust coated everything, including the permaglass walkways, which were streaked with grime.
“What is this place?” I asked.
Footsteps clacked on the stone, and Esmina stepped into view beside Pollux. “It’s the place where people come to die, Kyrion.”
She gestured to the side. Just beyond a permaglass barrier, the cavern floor abruptly dropped away, plummeting into a steep chasm lined with razor-sharp rocks at the bottom.
“I would tell you to watch your step, but you can’t go anywhere, can you?” Esmina let out a merry laugh that echoed around the cavern, bounced off the rocks, and slapped me across the face.
“Why are you doing this? What do you want with me?”
“I don’t want anything fromyou, Kyrion. I simply realized I was going about things the wrong way. It happens from time to time, even when you’re a precog and can see exactly how everyone is going to act and react.”
Pollux playfully poked her in the shoulder. “You owe me a hundred credits. Itoldyou grabbing the Arrow and using him as leverage was the smartest play.”
Esmina grumbled under her breath, but she pulled a tablet out of her pocket and hit a few buttons. An answering chime rang out from Pollux’s tablet, and he tipped an imaginary hat to her.
A sick feeling flooded my stomach. “You kidnapped me to get Vesper to come here—”
Esmina waggled a finger, cutting me off. “Please. Save your breath, Kyrion. I already knowexactlywhat you’re going to say—that my plan won’t work, that your precious Vesper will find some way to outsmart me, and blah, blah, blah, blah. Do you know what the problem with truebonded couples truly is?”
She answered her own question. “One of themalwayshas a driving, undeniable compulsion to save the other, even if such a foolish, reckless action will just doom them both.”
“Is that what Micah had? An undeniable compulsion to save you? Because that didn’t work out so well for him.”
Esmina retained her relaxed posture, but a muscle ticked in her jaw, betraying her anger. “Leland said Lord Aldrich and Lady Verona had been sharing stories about me. Well, let me tell you something that’snotin the House Collier files.”
She leaned forward, her eyes as cold and empty as green glass. “Micah was a fool for me, just like Vesper is a fool for you, Kyrion. And Vesper is going to die for you, just like Micah died for me.”
Esmina stared at me a moment longer, then drew back and strolled away. Pollux slapped me across the face yet again, then followed her. The two of them rounded a corner and disappeared, although Esmina’s words kept echoing in my ears.
She was right. I was nothing but bait, and Vesper was going to walk straight into the mercenaries’ trap.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
VESPER
TheHammerswerebusygetting ready to go after Esmina and Pollux, while the House Collier guards and servants were still assessing the damage and cleaning up the mess from the mercenaries’ attack. Everyone was distracted, and it was surprisingly easy for Zane and me to sneak into the transport garage. I hot-wired a hoverbike, which he insisted on driving. My big brother had some deep-seated control issues.
Gossipcasters had already gathered at the end of the drawbridge, so Zane steered the hoverbike into the woods and skirted around the cameras. No one saw us, and we went down the mountain and made it back to the city without any problems.
Zane maneuvered the bike into an alley, then stopped. “Now what? Do you know where you’re really supposed to meet Esmina? Because she’s obviously not going to be at the geotagged location she gave to the Colliers.”
I might have been forced to let Zane come with me, but this was the moment when things got serious, and I had to decide whether to trust my brother—or not.
But once again, I didn’t have a choice. Not when Kyrion’s life was in danger. And maybe it was weird, but part of mewantedto trust Zane. I wanted to believe in someone and be proven right for once in my life, instead of Nerezza always proving me wrong.
“You’re right. The meeting location Esmina sent the Colliers is a distraction, a way to get rid of the Hammers, so she can get what she really wants.” I gestured at the weapon slung across Zane’s back. “Esmina has been after the Techwave cannon all along, so I’m going to give it to her.”
Zane’s eyebrows shot up. “Earlier in Aldrich’s library, you said you didn’t know how to fix the cannon.”
