Page 104 of Only Cold Depths
“This hasn’t been easy for me either,” he said. “Realizing what Beatrice did to you. Trying to come to terms with the fact that she kept you a secret from my father and me for all these years. Remembering my own shitty behavior when you first came to Corios. I’ve been angry and regretful aboutallof it, including my own actions. More than you know.”
I let out a bitter laugh. “Yes, being cast aside like a piece of trash by my grandmother and then repeatedly mocked by my brother has greatlyvexedme as well.”
Zane sighed again, the sound a little louder and deeper. “Beatrice’s machinations aside, the simple truth is this: I can’tun-knowthat I have a sister. Like it or not, the two of us are connected. Our father already loves you as much as he does me. Wendell has since the moment he learned about you.”
For once, he was being completely serious, which was shocking in and of itself. Even worse, his words made that annoying spark of hope flare up in my chest, but I forced myself to ignore it.
I threw my hands up into the air. “See? That’s the problem. You and me and Wendell never had achoicein any of this. Beatrice and Nerezza made their own choices and took away ours in the process. Well, I have a choice now, and I’m going after Kyrion—alone.”
Zane stepped a little closer, a dangerous light flaring in his eyes. “You either take me with you, or I’m going to make enough noise to get every guard on this estate to come running. Siya, Rigel, and the rest of the Hammers will stuff you right back into your suite, and you’llneverget to Kyrion.”
Even more anger pulsed through me, along with a tiny bit of grudging admiration. Zane might pretend to be an arrogant idiot, but he was also clever and ruthless.
“You would actually blackmail me into taking you along?”
“Absolutely.” He grinned. “Now, what do you say, sis? Shall we play the part of the cavalry and ride to dear Kyrion’s rescue?”
My hands balled into fists. Zane was absolutelyinfuriating, but I was going to need all the help I could get against Esmina, Pollux, and their mercenaries. Zane was a strong psion and an Arrow with years of battle experience, and he just might mean the difference between my saving Kyrion and both of us dying.
“Fine,” I growled. “But if you do anything to endanger Kyrion or me, or if this is all part of some elaborate trap to drag us back to Corios, then I will kill you myself.”
Zane lifted his hand and snapped off a cheeky salute. “Whatever you say, sis. Now, let’s go rescue your beloved Kyrion.” He paused. “Before I change my mind and leave the broody bastard to rot.”
I rolled my eyes again and headed toward the small garden. Zane fell into step beside me.
For the first time in my life, I had backup in the form of my brother. I still wasn’t sure how I felt about that, but I would figure it out later—after we rescued Kyrion.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
KYRION
Foralongtime,I knew nothing but darkness. Then I was dimly aware of voices muttering and hands hauling me from one location to another and then, strangely enough, propping me upright . . .
I woke with a start. My eyes snapped open, revealing a large, jeweled, sapphsidian eye staring right back at me. I jerked to the side, but my mind cleared, and I realized where I was: lying on the floor of Vesper’s mindscape.
I slowly sat up. Pain erupted in my jaw, my head spun around, and it took me several seconds to shove all that hot, throbbing discomfort to a distant corner of my mind and wall it off behind a psionic shield. Slowly, the pain died down to a more manageable level, and the familiar eyes, flowers, and doors snapped into focus.
Why had I woken in here? In the past, I had only been able to enter Vesper’s mindscape when she was in trouble and reaching out for me. A rueful grunt escaped my lips. Perhaps the truebond had pulled me in here because it knewIwas the one in trouble this time.
I grabbed hold of a black vine and pulled myself to my feet. The blue-moon peony on the vine bobbed up and down, as if it was a Regal lady bowing to me. I released the vine and turned around in a slow circle, but the room was just as I remembered from all the other times I’d been here. I still didn’t know why I was here, but perhaps I could get a message to Vesper.
I went over to a large door with an upside-down sapphsidian eye embedded in the dark gray stone. I’d gone through this door before, when Vesper had almost suffocated to death on theDream World. Back then, the door had been standing wide open, but right now, it was closed. I ran my fingers all over the door, exploring the eye, along with the crescent moons and stars carved into the stone, but I didn’t find any triggering mechanism, and the door remained firmly shut.
I drew back and glared at the upside-down eye, which twinkled with a knowing light, as if it could sense my frustration and was openly mocking me.
“Bloody seer power,” I muttered.
The eye just twinkled again, a little more brightly than before, as though laughing at my cursing its existence.
I spun away from the unblinking eye. Perhaps I could open a different door and send a message to Vesper that way, although asking her not to try to find me was pointless, since I would have ignored any such message from her. No, Vesper was going to try to rescue me, and I needed to give her as much information about our enemies as possible.
I prowled around the room, hoping to get a glimpse of Esmina and Pollux or at least discover a clue about where they were holding me through the other doors, many of which were open. Memories played in several spaces, including Nerezza Blackwell calling Vesper auseless child. I grimaced. I’d seen that memory before, and I had no idea how Vesper endured such a vile thing constantly playing in her mindscape like a hologram that refused to be shut off.
I moved past the memory of Nerezza and studied the images flickering in the other open doors. Vesper taking part in the Techwave battle on Magma 7 . . . Vesper fighting Julieta Delano in the weapons lab at Quill Corp . . . Vesper and me kissing in the training room on theDream World. . .
A smile curved my lips. I liked being in Vesper’s memories, especially the happier ones, although the knowledge wasn’t helpful right now.
Since none of the open doors held any clues, I tried the closed doors, but none of them budged. Either Vesper needed to be here to open the doors, or I just didn’t have the necessary power right now, given that I was still unconscious from Esmina’s chemicals and Pollux’s punches.
