Page 29 of Only Cold Depths
“No matter what happens, if you see a chance to escape, take it,” he said.
“No,” I growled. “I’m not leaving you. I willneverleave you.”
Warmth sparked in Kyrion’s eyes. The same heat rippled through the bond, but it was quickly followed by a wave of stubbornness. He opened his mouth to argue—
Soft footsteps rasped against the gray stone floor, and a woman rounded a curio cabinet, strode forward, and stopped in front of us on the opposite side of the circular center space.
The woman was our age, late thirties, with light brown skin and long black hair sleeked up into a ponytail. Bright green shadow and liner rimmed her hazel eyes, while pale gold gloss covered her lips. She was wearing an emerald-green tactical jacket over a matching shirt and cargo pants, along with thick black work boots. A delicate gold pendant shaped like a cursiveCwith two hammers crossed in front of it dangled from a thin gold chain around her neck.
But the most eye-catching thing about the woman was the weapon in her right hand. The long gold hilt was topped with a large piece of lunarium that had a familiar shape—a flat hammer head on one side and a sharp, wicked-looking spike on the other. The war hammer was similar to those Pollux had used during the junkyard fight.
My stomach twisted with worry. Was this woman another corporate mercenary?
“She’s a Hammer,” Kyrion muttered. “I recognize her face from Holloway’s files.”
The woman hoisted her war hammer up onto her shoulder. Sparks flickered and shimmered deep inside the lunarium, and the weapon started glowing a soft, pale green. Not just a Hammer but also a psion.
Footsteps sounded behind us, and Kyrion and I both spun to the side. Several more people appeared, all clutching war hammers and wearing the same green uniform as the woman. The Hammers formed a loose circle, then stopped and studied us with hostile expressions. My heart sank into the choppy sea of worry churning in my stomach.
We were surrounded.
PART TWO
REUNIONS
CHAPTER EIGHT
KYRION
Itightenedmygripon my stormsword and studied one Hammer after another, trying to find any weaknesses among them.
The men and women all clutched their weapons with easy familiarity, and many of them also had blasters and shock batons holstered to their belts. The lunarium heads on their war hammers all glowed with pale, colorful lights, indicating that each warrior had some sort of psion power. I was willing to bet many of them also had speed, strength, and other enhancements that would make them even more deadly.
In addition to the woman who had first approached us, I recognized several of the warriors’ faces from Holloway’s files. The Hammers eyed me in return, their hard, calculating gazes flicking from my face to my sword. I hadn’t drawn the weapon—yet. I didn’t want to kill these people, but I would do it to protect Vesper.
“Bond of two,” Vesper called out. “Tried and true.”
Asterin had told us to say the code phrase to any Hammers we met on Sygnustern. Supposedly, the phrase would guarantee us safety on any Erzton-controlled planet, but the Hammers didn’t bat an eye at Vesper’s words, and none of them lowered their weapons.
“Bond of two, tried and true,” Vesper repeated, her voice louder and sharper. Her hand crept over to her stormsword, and worry rippled along the velvety ribbon of her in my mind.
Several more seconds ticked by in cold, contemplative silence, and I used the tense lull to strategize. I would attack the man to my left. His war hammer wasn’t glowing nearly as brightly as those of the other warriors, which meant he was weaker in his psion power. If I could cut him down, Vesper could sprint down an empty aisle while I kept the rest of the warriors from chasing after her.
The woman who had first confronted us stepped forward. “I am Siya, head of the House Collier Hammers.” She stabbed her weapon at us. “And you are trespassing.”
Vesper lifted her chin and gave the other woman a cool look. “We were invited here by Lady Asterin Armas. She’s part of House Collier too, is she not?”
Siya’s lips puckered into a sour expression, and red-hot anger surged off her and tweaked my telempathy. She was not fond of Asterin, which was a problem for us.
“Not only are you trespassing,” Siya continued, “but you also gave false names and a phony ship registration to the guards at the spaceport. No one is allowed to land in House Collier territory with fake credentials.”
A low, mocking laugh tumbled out of Siya’s mouth. “As if our scanners wouldn’t recognize Lady Vesper Quill and Lord Kyrion Caldaren, the two most wanted people in the Archipelago Galaxy. We might not be obsessed with the Regal gossipcasts, but how stupid do you think we are?”
Siya’s gaze flicked over to me, and even more anger sparked in her hazel eyes. She liked me even less than she liked Asterin. Fantastic.
I searched my memory, wondering if I had ever come across Siya before, but I would have remembered meeting her. Unlike the Arrows, many of whom loved to share their exploits on the gossipcasts, the Hammers kept a much lower profile. Even Holloway’s spies didn’t know much about the Hammers, their members, or their inner workings. But then again, the only thing anyone really needed to know was not to fuck with them.
Siya stabbed her war hammer at us again. “Surrender your weapons, so you can be taken into custody and returned to the Imperium where you belong.”
