Page 48 of Red Ruin

What I see in Vhex is a Sentinel just as unstable as the one unsubtly sniffing my hair. Another borderline berserker with enough firepower to melt our defenses if I can’t tuck him into my pocket before he flames out.

I wrap my arms around Remy’s tight ribs and pin the pole of my glaive to his spine. “More shadow-walking, less vampire talking.”

His shadows wilt.

Very puppy dog for a vampire.

I relent and give them an encouraging stroke. I’m the one who’ll have to pay the price if he backslides.

“Hold on.” Reenergized, Remy pulls me closer.

His shadows cocoon us. In a flash of darkness, we blink outside, then re-appear high above the base in crisp, mountain air.

I smooth Remy’s silks along the way, stopping new tangles from making him any crazier. Far below us, Sentinel crews are repairing the wall in the early morning sun.

I glare. “You didn’t fix the arrays?”

“Away we go.” Remy crushes me to his body, shamelessly gripping my ass as he walks us through the shadows.

Kevan only took me flying in emergencies. He’d drag me above his army of stanky re-animated corpses.

Shadow travel is much more fun.

I’m not letting myself sniff the vampire.

But if I did?

I bet Remy smells like night-blooming jasmine.

After an icy rush that leaves my heart pounding, we pop back into sunlight above a shattered mountain.

Overturned trees poke out of the rubble of rock. I’d guess there was a landslide, but all the scattered greenery is charred.

I flinch as hellfire geysers from a pit below.

A familiar pulse hits me like a fist, and my body crisps with the echo of Vhex’s burn.

I grip Remy’s collar. “What did you do to him?”

His brow furrows.

“I don’t…remember,” he says slowly. The flicker of seriousness hints at the kind of commander that Major Azrid must’ve been before he lost himself to the shadows.

I let go of his throat.

I’ll bring the old Remington back.

I’ll be the Guide who drags both Sentinels out of their suffering. If they haven’t found better matches by then, they can stand at my side when the emperor hands me my medal.

I’ll deserve it if I can pull off that kind of miracle.

“Can you take us down to him?” I ask anxiously, peering into the smoking pit.

Remy’s eyes slip out of focus. “There’s a battle in the depths.”

“How strong is the enemy?” The ragged pulse of Vhex’s power blocks my Guide-senses from feeling anything beyond his mental screams.

“Multiple enemies. A and S-class.” Remy tilts his head. “Possibly stronger.”

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