Page 17 of Only Cold Depths
“Nothing to say, Kyr?” Zane drawled again. “I didn’t reach out just to watch you brood in stony silence.”
Kyr.When Vesper called me that, it was a lovely endearment. Coming from Zane, it was a mocking curse.
“What do you want? Because I have far better things to do than listen to you crow at me.”
Zane sniffed. “Please. I haven’t evenbegunto crow at you yet.”
“That’s debatable.”
He waved away my snarky words. “Pish-posh. We both know when I’m crowing, and this is not it.” A sly smile split his lips. “Not yet, anyway.”
My eyes narrowed. “Why do you look so smug?”
Zane’s smile widened. “According to some people, namely you, Ialwayslook smug.”
“Smug and annoying. Has anyone ever mentioned you have a very punchable face?”
“Frequently,” he chirped. “And yet it’s usually the other person who ends up getting punched.”
“That’s not what happened during the summer solstice attack. Hard to miss the giant black hole in your jacket from where that Techwaver shot you point-blank with a hand cannon.”
Zane ran his hand down his jacket, right over theZstitched into the fabric. His face remained calm, but his left eye twitched as if he found the reminder he’d almost died as unpleasant as I found the fact he’d managed to survive. “Yes, well, that Techie is dead, and I’m not, so I got the better end of that deal.”
“Yes, well, from what I hear, the entire evening was an unmitigated disaster. Let me guess. Lady Halecia didn’t want you to cut down any of her prize pink-star honeysuckle bushes, and Lord Jorge didn’t implement any of your security suggestions, thus allowing the Techwavers’ attack to succeed.” I clucked my tongue in mock sympathy. “Such things wouldn’t have happened ifIwas still the head of the Arrows.”
Zane’s eye twitched again. “True, but you threw away your position the night you and Vesper escaped from Crownpoint.I’mthe head of the Arrows now, for better or worse.”
“Oh, it’s definitely for worse. I’m sure the Regals who attended the summer solstice ball would agree with me.” I snapped my fingers. “Oh, wait. Theyhavebeen agreeing with me. Loudly and repeatedly on the gossipcasts.”
Zane’s nostrils flared with anger, but he quickly smoothed out his features again. “Be that as it may, I’m calling to speak to my little sister. Where is Vesper?”
I stiffened. Of course he would callnow, when Vesper had been injured. Sometimes I thought bad timing was one of Zane’s special skills. “Vesper is sleeping.”
“Sleeping?” he snapped, his voice sharp with suspicion. “Funny how that seems like another word forwounded. What happened?”
“None of your business. And why would you care, anyway?”
Zane’s face remained calm, but something flickered in his pale eyes. The emotion was gone in an instant, but the fact that it had been there at all made me even more wary.
Callus Holloway had ordered Zane to find Vesper and me, and the other Arrow had tracked us to Tropics 33, where we had gone to help Asterin fight off a Techwave attack at her lunarium mine. Zane had helped Adria and Dargan Byrne subdue Vesper and deliver her to Crownpoint.
Of course, Zane hadn’t known Vesper was his sister back then, but even after I’d told him the truth, he had still watched while Holloway siphoned off my magic, and he’d chased after Vesper and me to try to keep us from escaping.
Oh, yes, Zane had done everything he was supposed to that night, but I couldn’t help but feel like he had also doneotherthings—like deliberately lowering his guard and letting me cut him with my stormsword while we’d been fighting in the throne room. The injury had severely hampered Zane, and it was one of the reasons he’d been unable to capture us.
Vesper didn’t think Zane was capable of such a selfless action, but I’d known Zane Zimmer our entire lives, and family meanteverythingto him. The Arrow might be a monster, the same as me, but he was a monster who would do anything to protect his father and grandmother. Would that same protectiveness extend to a sister he never knew existed until a few weeks ago? I didn’t know, but the answer would go a long way toward determining Vesper’s fate, along with my own.
“I care what shape Vesper is in because it’s my duty to return her to Corios,” Zane replied. “Along with you, dear reckless, rebellious Kyrion.”
Icy bits of anger swirled up in my chest like a blizzard roaring to life. “I’ve seen your press conferences vowing to bring Vesper and me before Callus Holloway so we can face Imperium justice.” I let out a derisive snort. “As if Holloway knows the slightest thing aboutjustice. He just wants to use Vesper and me as his battery.”
“Holloway is rather determined to doom you to the same gruesome fate as your parents, but that’s not my concern.”
I put my hands down on the table and leaned forward. “Whatisyour concern?”
“Are you really trying to intimidate me through a holoscreen?” Zane chuckled, rocked forward in his chair, and dropped his hands to his sides. “You couldn’t intimidate me in person, Kyrion. Don’t waste your time and energy trying to do it when you are millions of miles away.”
His eyes narrowed. “My concern is Vesper. How badly was she wounded? None of the Arrows has reported sighting you, so I’m assuming you tangled with some bounty hunters. Several, from the looks of it.”
