Page 38 of Vex
A destination she could reach if she kept moving.
Hope flared, warm and desperate. She wasn't going to die on this ledge. Not when Vex was still in danger, not when the mission hung in the balance. Maera might have thought she was disposing of a problem, but she'd underestimated exactly how hard Luisa was to kill.
She began trudging through snow, following what might have been an animal path. Each step was a battle against wind that tried to knock her sideways, against snow that filled her tracks almost as fast as she could make them. Her thoughts grew sluggish as cold crept deeper into her bones, making it harder to focus on the distant lights. The silk of her dress had frozen stiff in places, cracking when she moved and letting wind find new places to torment her skin.
Her fingers had gone completely numb, making it impossible to gather the dress properly. The fabric caught on every branch and rock, tearing in places that let even more cold reach her skin. But she kept moving, driven by stubborn will and the knowledge that stopping meant dying.
She wasn't going to make it much longer.
The realization crept through her mind with the same inexorable certainty as cold seeping into her bones. Her body was already shutting down non-essential functions, drawing blood away from her extremities to protect vital organs. Soon, she'd start getting clumsy, making mistakes that would send her tumbling off the mountain path. It wouldn’t be long after that.
Oh, please, Vex, I'm out here. She didn't have the energy to speak it.
The words formed in her mind like a prayer, too desperate to hold back. She tried to picture his face, the way his eyes had looked when he'd touched her, when he'd whispered her name like something precious.
Would he even notice she was gone? Or would he assume she'd taken the transport he'd arranged and disappeared into whatever new life waited for her?
How would he know? And why would he care?
He'd made his feelings clear back in their suite. She was a liar, a thief, someone he couldn't trust. The passionate man who'd claimed her body with world-shattering intensity had looked at her with cold dismissal when he'd learned the truth about her past.
Why would he waste time looking for someone who'd already betrayed him?
But even as the logical part of her mind accepted that reality, her heart rebelled. What they'd shared had been real, regardless of the secrets she'd kept.
He was in danger, too. Zymon had caught her. He'd know Vex was up to something. And if Zymon knew, Maera would soon.
The thought cut through her self-pity like a blade. While she'd been wallowing in cold and feeling sorry for herself, Vex was walking into a trap he didn't know existed. Maera had all the pieces now, everything she needed to destroy whatever cover story they'd built.
And Vex, with his arrogant assumption that he could handle anything, would never see it coming.
They were going to kill him.
How did you kill a dragon?
The question terrified her more than her own impending death. Dragons were supposed to be nearly indestructible. But Maera's operation was sophisticated, well-funded. If anyone had access to weapons that could take down a dragon lord, it would be someone like her. And Vex, sitting in that casino thinking he was in control, would be completely vulnerable.
She had to warn him. Had to find some way to get word to him before Maera made her move. The data she'd stolen from the server room wouldn't matter if Vex was dead, and all her sacrifice would be meaningless.
Vex, she thought again. Desperately.
She closed her eyes against stinging snow and tried to remember the moment when they'd flown to the casino together. The strange sensation she'd felt when his dragon had communicated with her, that brief connection that had felt like touching something vast and utterly alien.
Could dragons hear thoughts? Somehow?
The idea was ridiculous, desperate, probably just hypothermia starting to affect her judgment. But she had nothing else left to try.
Vex.
20
Vex slammed into the suite like a meteor.
The ornate double doors slammed against the walls with enough force to crack the marble, sound echoed through the empty space. His chest heaved as he swept his gaze across the room, every sense straining for any trace of Luisa's presence.
It was empty. No Luisa. No attendant.
The silence pressed against his eardrums, unnatural and wrong. Her scent lingered faintly, but it was old, growing fainter by the moment. The suite's perfect climate control couldn't mask the absence of her warmth.
