Page 5 of Only Rogue Actions
The two women froze and stared at each other.As children, they had been best friends until Asterin’s father, Urston, was killed in a mining accident, along with Siya’s uncle, Irzin.As a result, House Armas had been embroiled in wrongful-death lawsuits and gone bankrupt, so Verona, Asterin’s mother, had started working for Siya’s father, Aldrich, to help pay down her late husband’s massive debts.Verona and Aldrich had eventually fallen in love, formed a truebond, and gotten married.
Asterin and Siya had been at odds ever since, and Vesper and I had only added to the stepsisters’ conflict.
Two weeks ago, corporate mercenaries Esmina Reston and Pollux Lamont had attacked the Collier estate and kidnapped me to force Vesper to fix a design flaw in a powerful new hand cannon produced by the Techwave.Vesper had brought the weapon to Stardrop Falls, an abandoned mining museum with extensive caverns and an underground waterfall.
Vesper had willingly walked into the Serpens Corp mercenaries’ trap, which had been orchestrated by Nerezza Blackwell.Eventually, Vesper and I had killed Esmina and Pollux, with Zane and Asterin’s help.Nerezza had fled, of course, the way she always did when the fighting started and bodies started dropping.
Nerezza’s spaceship had exploded shortly after takeoff, thanks to the bombs Esmina and Pollux had planted on board.No one had seen or heard from Nerezza since, but I was willing to bet the disgraced Regal lady was still alive and plotting against us once again.
Siya stared at Asterin a moment longer, then cleared her throat.“I’m going to check with Jeffrey that the maze has been reset with the truebond training program.”
Asterin frowned.“Didn’t you already do that?”
Siya spun around on her heel and strode away like she hadn’t heard the question.
Asterin watched her stepsister and former friend go with a neutral expression, although sharp needles of hurt wafted off her and stabbed my telempathy.I regretted causing more strife between Asterin and her family, but I would be dead if not for Vesper defying Lord Aldrich and all the other rogue actions she had taken to rescue me.
Vesper’s soft sigh sounded in my mind.Do you feel as bad as I do about this new rift between Asterin and Siya?
Yes, but they’ll figure it out.Just like we did with our truebond.
Vesper gave me a warm smile, although it quickly melted away.She looked at Asterin, and the velvety ribbon of her in my mind hummed, as though she was trying to think of a way to fix our friends’ relationship the same way she would repair a malfunctioning appliance in her research-and-development lab at Quill Corp.
I wished her luck, although I knew better than anyone else that some things just couldn’t be fixed, especially all the harsh words and hard feelings that zipped back and forth between family members, damaging everyone in equal, brutal measure.
CHAPTER TWO
VESPER
Kyrion,Asterin,andIstayed in the locker room, waiting for Siya to return.
Kyrion raked a hand though his midnight-black hair, although the longish wavy locks fell right back into place.The overhead lights cast shadows on his pale skin and brought out his high cheekbones and sharp nose, along with the worried line that had taken up residence over his dark, ink-blue eyes.
Kyrion clasped his hands behind his back and started pacing, and the sticky cobweb of him in my mind bristled with nervous anticipation.Or maybe that was my own emotion sloshing around in my stomach.Sometimes it was hard to tell whether I was experiencing my own feelings, Kyrion’s feelings, or a mixture of the two.
When Aldrich and Verona had first suggested we come to the training facility a few days ago, I had been excited for the challenge.But now that I had seen how massive the maze was ...well, doubt had eclipsed my eagerness like a sun crossing in front of a moon.
Two weeks ago, when Kyrion and I defeated Esmina Reston and Pollux Lamont, we had finally stabilized and solidified our truebond.Eliminating the mercenaries had been a big relief, but the battle had also forced us to confront some of our deepest fears.I’d been worried I wasn’t a skilled enough warrior to be bonded to Kyrion, while he’d been concerned he wasn’t strong enough to protect me from our many enemies.
Kyrion and I were both still afraid of those things, but we could handle our fears much better than before.In a weird way, I was grateful to Esmina and Pollux for teaching us some important lessons about being equal partners and how Kyrion and I could rely on ourselves and our individual abilities, as well as each other and the truebond between us.
That mutual understanding and trust had sunk into our bond and made it even more powerful.Most of the time, I could use Kyrion’s telekinesis and telepathy when and how I wanted, while he was learning to interpret my seer magic, which often appeared as silver flares of light around people or objects that were going to be useful or important in some future way.I still couldn’t form a psionic blade, a weapon made of pure mental energy, on a regular basis like Kyrion, but I was getting better at summoning and wielding my seer magic, along with Kyrion’s abilities.And we were both getting stronger, able to pull on more and more power without tiring ourselves or exhausting each other’s abilities.
But the House Battis maze was quite literally the biggest challenge we had faced, and I was worried all the progress we’d made wasn’t enough to help us navigate through the twists and turns, along with the obstacles hidden inside.
As a child, I always had to bethe best—the best, most devoted student, who got the best and highest grades, who built the best and most elaborate projects for my science classes.I’d thought if only I was good, smart, and strong enough, I could eventually earn Nerezza’s love.Of course, my duplicitous mother had no love to give, but I’d never been able to shake off that inner drive, dedication, and determination.Now I wanted—needed—to be the best warrior and truebonded partner possible for Kyrion’s sake, so he wouldn’t be either physically or psionically hurt by my actions.
Plus, Ihatedlosing.I loved Kyrion with every atom of my being, but that didn’t mean I wouldn’t try my best to beat him in our friendly competition to see who could find the other and reach the center of the maze first.
My hand drifted down to the empty slot on my belt where my stormsword would normally be.Even though I had only been training with the weapon for a few months, it already felt like a part of me, and I missed its slight, comforting weight.
I studied the thumbprint scanner on the locker where Siya had stored our weapons.Quill Corp, my company, manufactured something similar, and my mind whirred, comparing those schematics to this device.It wouldn’t be too hard to pry off the plastic cover, yank the wires free, and hot-wire the scanner to open the locker.
Asterin stepped in front of me, blocking my view of the scanner.She shook her right index finger back and forth.“Nuh-uh.None of that.No plotting how you can finesse the locker open and grab a weapon.That’s an order from my mother.”
I huffed out an annoyed breath.“Fine.Although if Verona wanted me to follow her orders, then she should have come with us and explained exactly how we’re supposed to navigate the maze using just our truebond.”
Asterin shrugged.“Verona and Aldrich had some business at another House.They’ll meet us back at the estate later tonight.But they gave Siya and me strict instructions about your training, including not letting you and Kyrion take any weapons into the maze, especially not your stormswords.”
