Page 63 of Synnr's Ride

It all might have been evidence of a nice vacation, if it weren't for the sobbing woman on the floor.

"Han-na?" Zilly hiccupped her name and pulled her legs in tight, making herself even smaller. "He—it—what's going on?"

Satisfied no one was going to jump her, Hanna fully entered the cabin and crouched down next to Zilly. "Jori and I are here to help. Come on." She reached out to help her up.

Zilly ignored her hand, and tears fell further down her face. Her wings flashed, disappearing for a second and then coming back, as if she couldn't concentrate on maintaining them. "Why? Did Morn ask you to come? Where is he?"

Braznon's bowels. Did the girl not get it? Frustration warred with concern, and Hanna didn't know what to say. How could Zilly not know what was going on?

Then again, if Kark had burst in on her and demanded they leave without any more information, why would she?

Hanna was done with lying. "Kark's been mixed up in some bad stuff. You don't need to go down with him."

"What? How do you know that?" She wasn't looking at Hanna now, curled even further up and holding her hands tight to her chest.

This was going to destroy her. If Kark wasn't already dead, Hanna would kill him herself. Zilly didn't deserve this, no one did.

Distantly, Hanna heard the firing engines of some kind of vehicle. Had Jori managed to get a message out to HQ? That was fast.

And where was he?

Tendrils of unease unfurled in Hanna's belly. Something about this felt wrong. Jori should have been here by now. Even if he'd stripped Kark down to his underwear, it would have only taken a few minutes.

And how had HQ missed this place? They had the exact same information she and Jori had. It should have stood out as an obvious hidey-hole.

She and Jori had approached the entire mission as if Kark was acting alone. What if there was a bigger conspiracy?

That was a problem for later. Right now, she had to get Zilly somewhere safe. They could worry about massive Apsyn schemes when they were on safe territory.

"Why are you here, Hanna?" Zilly asked again, voice growing stronger. "Aren't you Apsyn?"

"I'm here to stop more people from getting hurt. We need to get you out of here." She offered Zilly her hand again.

The girl took it, but barely tried to stand. Hanna had to yank her up.

"Where's Morn?" she asked, eyes darting around.

"He's dead." No sense lying when she might see his body on the way out.

Hanna was prepared for hysterics. What she wasn't expecting was the way Zilly froze. "Dead?" Her usually expressive voice was flat.

"He killed himself rather than be captured." Should she offer condolences? She wasn't sure of the grief etiquette when the dead lover was also a traitor.

"Fanatics are always eager to die for the cause."

Hanna barely had time to process that sentence before Zilly's spark flashed in front of her and she fell unconscious to the ground.

21

Jori wokeup with his hands tied behind his back, shoulders wrenched into an agonizing position. The last thing he remembered was hearing a ship landing.

Hanna.

Her name was enough to jolt him to attention. He opened his eyes fully and scanned the room. It was tiny, little more than a closet, with only a small stream of light coming in through a poorly patched broken window high on the wall.

Hanna was slumped on the wall opposite him. Her chest rose and fell slowly, and that was a relief. She was alive. As long as that was true, they could get out of this.

If anything happened to her...

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