Page 161 of The First Spark
But they would come back.
Zane fumbled for his comm. He had to warn Mira.
“Sir, we’re receiving a message from Etov!”
Nadar flicked a webbed hand, and Empress Hannover’s silken voice crackled through the speakers. “This message is to Lotus One. The phoenix has risen, and its wings flap for you. Delay as long as you can.” She paused, then murmured, “Amaia’te.”
Zane’s brows shot up. That word was one of the few things he remembered about Dad—a grinning man with brown hair sitting by his bed at night, murmuring,“Amaia’te.”In the old Dalian language Sauvena, it meantI love you.
“What was that about?” Nadar asked.
“The phoenix is the Emperor’s crest.” Ryker’s face was gray and drawn. “Etov’s fleets are coming.”
Zane’s eyes widened. Etov was coming.Helpwas coming.
Slowly, he registered the cold seeping into his bones, the vicious chattering of his teeth, the white plumes of air gusting from his mouth. They must’ve diverted the energy from the heating units to the shields, but the cold didn’t matter. He wouldn’t have to duel. Kalie would be safe. If their forces could hold on, Etov would save them.
“Delay…” Nadar stared at the carnage surrounding their destroyer. “Do they really think they can make it in time?”
Shuffling footsteps drew Zane’s gaze to Mira. He started to ask if she’d heard—then his heart slammed to a halt.
She slunk towards him alone, her head low, fiddling with her ring…
“Mira.” A gust of air blew through his chattering teeth, but it wasn’t the chill of the bridge that froze the blood in his veins. “Where’s Kalie?”
Taking a deep breath, Mira raised her head. “She’s gone.”
Gone.The word rocked through Zane like a death sentence, stealing the breath from his lungs, freezing his pulse, crushing his heart. Reality shattered around him, splintering the looming metal walls of the bridge and the sound of the alarms, leaving him and Mira alone as he stared into her guilty brown eyes. Kalie never would’ve been able to escape Mira. Not if Mira had tried to stop her. But she was gone—Mira had let her go.
“What do you mean, she’s gone?” Ryker cried.
“Her best friend is down there,” Mira said quietly, without taking her eyes off Zane. “The person she loves most in the world. If I was her, I would do the same thing. So I let her leave.”
Let her leave—Mira had killed her, that was what she’d done. He stopped thinking, stopped feeling anything but the red-hot rage clouding his vision as he lunged for her. He might’ve grabbed her shoulders, he might’ve thrown a punch, he might’ve tried to tackle her. But when a vicious impact jolted up his spine, he was sprawled on the catwalk, ten, fifteen feet away.
Fury warped Mira’s face as she glared down at him. “If you ever try that again, I’ll knock your teeth out,” she spat, but it was not her voice; it was something deeper, primal, and the rage that burned in her eyes looked hotenough to roast him.
Zane shivered.
The anger twisting Mira’s features subsided, but deep creases pressed down on her brows.
Breathing deeply, Zane shoved himself to his feet and wrenched his gaze away from her. “Call the hangar bay! Don’t let any ships leave!”
Even before a tech said she’d already left, he knew it was pointless. Mira wouldn’t have come back until Kalie was out of reach.
“I’ll go after her.” Ryker checked his pulser’s charge and slid it into his holster. “My fleet is closest to the surface. If I can make it down in time, I’ll pull Kal out of there. If not… I’ll challenge. I haven’t fenced in cycles, and I’m rusty, but I had proper training. It’s only right that I… for her…”
It would be so easy to say nothing, to save his own skin and let Ryker go. But he’d prepared for this, Ryker was already wounded, and Kalie’s life was on the line. “I’ve been training with Theron Hannover. I’m ready for this, I’ll go.”
“Hannover was afraid you’d say that. She told me not to let?—”
“I don’t give a damn what she said!” Spit flew from Zane’s mouth, but he was past the point of caring. “Get me a plane, Nadar. I’m going.”
“That’s suicide! Half the cannons around Olympia are operational!”
“They’ll kill you,” Mira seethed. “A few fencing championships is nothing, Zane. Whether they shoot you down or gut you in a duel, you’ll be dead, and I?—”
A thunderous impact slammed into the ship, throwing Zane into the floor. He rolled into the blow, but his elbow took the brunt of the impact, and he swore as he pushed himself up. A tech screamed that their central thruster was gone, but it was the sight before the viewport that drained the blood from Zane’s face. The onyx warplanes had looped back around. A flurry of red lasers bombarded the weakened forcefield.
