Page 55 of Hunting the Warlord's Daughter

He stowed it in his belt. “Turn around. Hands up.” He kept his triple aimed at her head.

She went still. “Bolivarr?” She turned, very slowly, her hands up. Her eyes rounded, the blood draining from her face. “Bolivarr! By the fates—it’s you. How?”

Her short hair. Her husky voice. The woman from his flashback. His aim wobbled.

“You don’t recognize me. Fates. What did they do to you? It’s me. Kaz. Kazara. Your brother is Aral. Don’t you remember? You left on a mission to find out if the goddess treasure was real. You sent us information on the Sacred Key. You asked us to keep her safe until you got back. Then you disappeared.” Moisture filmed her dark eyes. “We thought you were dead.”

Another kick of agony. His skull felt ready to implode. He clenched his jaw. So this had been his mission. To learn of the goddess treasure. No wonder he was obsessed with it. “It’s my thought suppression. Something triggered it. Selective amnesia. Most of the past is a blank.”

Her voice grew huskier. “I’d rather have you with amnesia than to not have you at all.” She held her hands over her head, but he sensed she wanted to hug him. “Your brother is with the Sacred Key—Wren. They’re headed to the sanctum now. I heard your shuttle coming. I’m sorry, but I’ve got to warn them. Come with me. A truce, eh? You don’t have to believe me. But maybe seeing the Sacred Key will bring everything back.”

Procedure dictated that he notify his team of what he’d found. He was supposed to take this woman into custody, not run off with her. But she knew him—and his gut told him he knew her.“Keepers were the original guardians of the first goddesses. Chosen and trusted through the centuries to protect the keys.”

Or you were turned into a weapon to destroy them.

No. This woman from his past had just confirmed his mission was to ensure the safety of the Sacred Key. His duty was to protect her, even from his own government.You are a Keeper.Aye, he’d never been so sure of anything about his past.

He shoved his triple in his holster, and she lowered her hands. “Show me the way.”

She consulted a wrist tracker then broke into a run.

He was in excellent shape, but Kaz pushed him to his limits. A flicker of a memory speared his thoughts, of them as children running through the countryside. More and more flashbacks were occurring, pressure in his skull building. He wiped sweat from his eyes. “They’re going to come after me. My team. I’ll need to check in soon.”

“Is that where you’ve been these past four years, on that Triad ship?” Kaz asked.

“Only since the reunification. Before that, I was with a Drakken crew. I owe them my life. They rescued me on. Palace called Junnapekk Station.”

“It doesn’t sound familiar. You never said anything to Aral and I.”

“It remains a mystery then. Why I was there. What happened to me.”

Ahead was a grouping of old towers.

“Thisis what you were working so hard to achieve.” She waved her hand. “Finding Ara Ana. Making sure the Sacred Key was protected and reached the sanctum safely. We’re here only because of you, Bo.”

The pressure in his head squeezed harder, a giant vise. It felt as if his skull was about to fracture.

“But I don’t know where to go from here,” Kaz said. “I was hoping you might. If not, we’ll have to look around.”

“Tracks,” he said. He followed them to the smallest of the spires. A passage underground was clearly visible, a wide dark opening in the dirt. “Only two came? I see three sets of footprints. Two older, one more recent.”

Kaz’s eyes narrowed, her jaw going hard. “Not your people?”

“No.”

“Then we’ve been followed.”

Keeper…. Key… He needed to act—now.

Defend… Protect…Agony lanced his brain, and he staggered, catching himself on the side of the tower. Under his palm was a circular indentation. He jerked his gaze up—and saw another. Five of them, five marks! “The obelisk.” He traced it with a shaky hand. The pressure in his head reached a crescendo, and he dropped to one knee. The pressure released, shattering his bio-hardware’s hold on him.

And then he was free. Free!

He pushed upright with Kaz’s help. Found his balance. Then he squeezed her shoulder. “Fates, Kazara.” He hardly knew what to say. “It’s good to see you again.”

“You’re still the master of understatement, I see.” She wrapped him in a swift, emotional hug.

“I know the way to the sanctum. It’s seared in my memory.” Now that he could access it again.Defend… Protect…Three sets of tracks when there were supposed to be two. “Hurry.”

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