Page 56 of Only Cold Depths
“Did you follow me and Kyrion here?” I demanded.
Asterin looked back and forth between me and the mercenaries, clearly confused about what was happening.
Esmina let out an amused laugh. “I have no need to follow you and Kyrion anywhere. I told you before, Vesper, I knoweverythingyou’re going to do before you even do it. Even without my psion power, I still would have known you were coming here. Truebonded couplesalwayscome to Sygnustern for refuge.” She shook her head. “What a bloody joke.”
Bitterness colored her last few words. My magic surged up, and suddenly, I was seeing another image of Esmina. This younger version looked to be in her early twenties and was a bedraggled mess, with long, dirty hair, a grimy face, and torn, tattered clothes, as though she had tumbled down a cliff.
I blinked, and the image vanished, although questions crowded into my mind.
“Oh, yes,” Esmina said in snide voice. “I was once just like you, Vesper. Trapped in a truebond.”
I blinked again. Had she just seen whatIhad seen? But how was that possible? Was Esmina using her seer magic to tap into my own power?
“Why are you stealing from my family?” Asterin asked.
Esmina clucked her tongue. “They’re not reallyyourfamily, are they, Asterin? You’re just a poor relation when it comes to House Collier. A castoff from your own once-great House now dependent on others’ generosity.”
An angry flush stained Asterin’s cheeks. “Who are you? What do you want?”
“You don’t recognize me? If you did, then you would knowexactlywhat I want.”
Confusion creased Asterin’s face. She had no idea what Esmina was talking about. Well, that made two of us.
“I suppose your ignorance is to be expected, since you’ve always been much more concerned with other things.” Esmina tilted her head to the side, and the gold flecks in her eyes glimmered again. “Like finding out what really happened to your father. Poor little lost girl, trying to restore her dead daddy’s honor.”
A muscle twitched in Asterin’s jaw, but she didn’t respond to the other woman’s taunt.
Esmina smirked at Asterin a moment longer, then crooked her finger at me. “Come along quietly, Vesper, and I’ll let your friend live.”
Pollux aimed his hand cannon at Asterin. His finger curled around the trigger, and his dark eyes gleamed with anticipation.
“Okay!” I said, sliding my stormsword into its slot on my belt. “Okay! I’ll come with you, but you let Asterin go first.”
“No!” Asterin said. “I’m not leaving you, Vesper.”
“You don’t have a choice. Besides, they’re not going to kill me. They’ve gone to too much trouble to capture me. Go.”
Asterin wavered, torn between staying with me and escaping to find help—
“Fuck!” Esmina snarled. “We need to leave. Now!”
She whirled around and sprinted toward the part of the shipping yard that butted up against the street. Pollux immediately spun around and followed her, but the rest of the mercenaries hesitated, clearly confused about why their bosses were fleeing when they had captured Asterin and me.
An engine roared, and a transport zoomed into view, dropped down, and hovered over the shipping yard. The door on the side slid back, and a series of ropes unspooled out of the dark depths. Several figures stepped out of the transport and slid down the ropes, firing blasters as they zoomed toward the ground.
Pew! Pew! Pew!
Kyrion fired his blaster over and over, as did Siya, Rigel, and the other Hammers. By the time their feet touched the ground, several of the mercenaries were dead, and the remaining men were running for cover.
“Hammers!” Siya yelled, exchanging her blaster for the war hammer on her belt. “Attack! Attack! Attack!”
The Hammers rushed forward, taking the fight to the mercenaries. Kyrion cut down a couple of enemies with his stormsword, then hurried over to me, wrapped his arm around my waist, and yanked me close. The sticky cobweb of him in my mind bristled with worry, although the sharp, spiky edges quickly smoothed out into cool relief. I curled my fingers into his jacket, soaking up the warmth and strength of his physical body, along with his nearness through the bond.
“Vesper! Are you okay?” Kyrion asked, his concerned gaze locking with mine. “I heard you call out, and I came as fast as I could.”
More of his relief surged through the bond, along with softer emotions that made a knot of answering feelings clog my throat. I basked in the sensations a moment, then released his jacket.
“Esmina and Pollux are here. We have to find them!” I said, heading in the direction the other two psions had gone.
