think about how much faster the temperature would affect Dev.
“I’m sorry,” Violette mouthed. He nodded once.
She turned to walk beside her crew. Gil dropped back. She knew he trained the gun on her back. She’d seen the look on his face. He thought she’d betrayed him. Perhaps she had. When she didn’t let him kill Dev, when she took Dev to her bed and put Gil into a medically induced coma so she wouldn’t have to deal with him, when she didn’t fight harder to tell her crew what had happened to her, all those times she’d betrayed him.
As a Corge, Isaac’s motivations were easy to comprehend. She lost his trust the moment she refused to kill Josselyn. It was that straightforward. His kind understood things in very simple terms.
Jo would be loyal to the ship, no matter who was in charge of it. Racing Banana was his baby. And Ghost, well, who knew what Ghost was thinking.
Violette didn’t dare look at Josselyn. She hoped the woman knew what she was doing. Not that Violette had any better ideas. Playing to greed was an almost foolproof way of buying a little more time.
“What did you do to the others?” Violette asked, trying to sound unconcerned.
“Jackson and Rick won’t be joining us,” Isaac answered.
Josselyn made a faint noise. Violette tried to alter her course by small degrees to bring Gil into her peripheral. He stayed just out of her sight.
“The treasury is this way,” Josselyn said. “The deal still stands, right? I show you, you don’t harm my brothers?”
“Shut your black hole,” Violette ordered. “No more delays.”
Her aggressive display was probably too little too late. Gil and Isaac wouldn’t trust her unless they saw her pull the trigger on her sister.
Josselyn led them into a square room. The thick iron door lock had scorch marks on the metal where someone had forced it open. Musty bolts of material and wooden devices were pressed up against a wall.
“What is this?” Isaac demanded.
Violette hoped Josselyn had a better plan or, at least, a way of distracting the men long enough for her to get the upper hand. Leading them into a useless room was only going to get everyone shot.
Violette tried not to think of Dev freezing in the dining hall. They didn’t have time to waste. She scanned the room, assessing the situation.
Josselyn reached for a bolt. Gil stiffened in warning. She held up her hand and then slowly began moving again. “The treasure is here.”
Josselyn moved the bolt of material. It activated a mechanism behind the walls. The sound of turning metal creaked and vibrated against the stone. The floor began to slide beneath Gil’s feet. His wing twitched, and he automatically tried to fly. However the bound appendage caused his flight pattern to dip sharply to one side, and he stumbled.
Josselyn produced a knife from behind the bolt and threw it at Gil. The aim was straight, but the sudden dip in Gil’s body caused the throw to miss. Violette lunged for Isaac’s gun hand. She grabbed his wrist and shifted his weight to heave him toward the ground. The move worked fine practicing with her father’s soldiers. Unfortunately, it didn’t account for the Corge horn, and she felt the sharp edge of the chipped point snag her snowsuit. Momentum forced it to pierce her skin, cutting her open as he fell.
Violette didn’t have time to think about her injury. Josselyn scrambled to get Isaac’s gun as it slid across the floor. Gil righted himself, taking aim at Josselyn’s back. Violette wasn’t sure how it happened, but the next thing she knew she was leaping through the air. Gil fired. The blast struck the top of her shoulder as she pushed Josselyn out of the way. The impact changed her course, sending her flying backward into a wooden frame.
Josselyn screamed, charging Gil. She shoved him into the hole that had opened in the floor. Violette tried to stand. She bled from her shoulder and her side. She crawled for the discarded weapon and lifted it toward Isaac. He still lay on the ground, not moving.
“Violette.” Josselyn breathed hard. “You saved me.”
Her sister sounded shocked. In truth, Violette was a little shocked herself. She pushed up from the floor.
Josselyn looked down into the pit. “They told me, but…”
“What is it?” Violette glanced down into the rectangular chamber beneath the room. Steep stone steps led down the side. Bodies had been stacked on the floor, and now only the old bones remained.