Katya heard the disgusted edge in that comment and it made her heart lighten. "I did good, didn't I?" Her smile faltered. "How's Tiara?"
"She opened book on how far you'd get before I caught up to you."
"Oh?"
"Yeah, and she placed the bet for the longest distance."
"And Tag?"
"Let's just say he's not your new best friend."
She winced and went to ask about the boy before realizing that might get him into trouble.
Dev chuckled. "The kid is fine - and we've learned to be extra careful with his shields."
"He's strong," she said, apprehensive about what that might mean. "If the Council finds out the Forgotten have that level of psychic ability . . ."
"Let me worry about that." He pressed a kiss to her temple, allowing her to turn so they faced each other. "Tell me everything you can about this pull you feel to go north. Do you have any other information?"
"No. But I know I heard something. There . . . in the black room."
Rage reignited, dark with the need to draw blood. He had to consciously focus to form speech past the vicious power of it. "Why would they have spoken of anything sensitive in your hearing?"
"They made a mistake," she said, her voice halting as if she was reconstructing fragments of memory. "Ming broke me, but even broken, I had ears, I had eyes. He treated me like I was an insect he'd crushed under his boot, not worth bothering about."
The rage in him was a wild thing, animalistic in its anger. . . its anguish. "What," he forced himself to ask, "did you hear?"
Katya looked up at the sound of Dev's voice, that raw blade. His anger was a lash in the air, a whip of fire. But somehow instead of inciting fear, it made her feel stronger. "Lots of things."
Dev watched her with those amazing eyes, and she knew, she knew he would kill for her. It shook her, the knowledge of how deeply they'd bonded with each other. What if -
"No," Dev said. "Don't think about anything but this task. We'll figure out the rest later."
She nodded, her movements jerky.
"I don't have all the pieces yet, but I know I have to go. I have to see."
His hand against her cheek. Warm. Protective. "You have no idea what you're searching for?"
"Something bad." She turned into his touch. "When I think of it, I get this oily sickness in my gut." Evil, she thought. It was something evil waiting for her, a thing her mind refused to show her, but whose malevolent shadow overlay every other thought.
EARTHTWO COMMAND LOG: SUNSHINE STATION
17 September 2080: Productivity has dropped fifty-seven percent in the past three days as staff members complain of increasingly severe headaches.
It may be advisable to consider a recall of all personnel until the area has been thoroughly tested for biological and/or chemical contaminants. Please advise.
Chapter 34
Dev pressed a kiss to her forehead, the unexpectedly affectionate gesture making her eyes burn. "We'd better start as soon as possible."
She knew the three days he'd given her would cost him, but he was going to take the hit - for her. "Dev . . . I could be leading you into a trap." In spite of how far she'd come, her mind remained a savage maze, full of holes and deception.
Dev rubbed a thumb over her cheek. "Still don't get it, do you, Katya? I take care of what's mine."
"I don't want you to get hurt," she began, but the set of his jaw told her she was wasting her breath. "Were you born stubborn?"
"My mother used to say I was half mule."