Between Burning Worlds (System Divine #2) - Jessica Brody Page 0,58

prison uniform.

She continued to climb until she could just make out the first few pinpricks of stars in the sky above her head. Almost there. With each hasty pull of the rope, she felt Marcellus’s ring digging into her finger. Once again, the touch of the cool metal seemed to bring her strength. Courage. Luck. And, as she continued to scrabble upward toward the roof of the Trésor tower, she also couldn’t help but feel hope. That maybe, just maybe, Marcellus’s stolen ring might actually find its way back to him.

- CHAPTER 16 - CHATINE

IT WAS THE STRANGEST SHIP Chatine had ever seen. With its stubby wings, discolored paneling, and glowing bulbous cockpit, it looked like a giant fly perched hungrily over a plate of food.

This was no sleek Ministère ship shimmering in the starlight.

This was something else.

And it was about to take off.

Lights along the underbelly glowed, and Chatine squinted through the darkness to see several figures darting around an open hatch on the side of the ship. Three of them looked like prisoners—dressed in Bastille blue with long hair—while the others wore all black, their faces concealed beneath dark hats. They were carrying what appeared to be a stretcher up the loading ramp toward the open hatch.

“Come on!” Roche cried, already on the run. “We have to get on that ship!”

Chatine raced after him. Her heart was pounding. But not from the running. Chatine couldn’t shake the sensation that something was very wrong. Apart from the hovering ship, this rooftop was empty. Too empty. She thought back to Marcellus’s message, sent to her through the droid. He had told her to leave the Trésor tower. He had said her life was in danger.

But why?

They were halfway across the roof when the air started to shift. The wind picked up and shimmering moon dust swirled violently around them, like a sudden storm come to life. The breath caught in Chatine’s throat. She remembered that storm. She remembered that wind. The way it whipped and battered her like an invisible assailant.

She looked up at Roche just in time to see him disappear into a cloud of amber-colored dust.

“Ro—” she tried to cry out to him, but the word was swallowed up by a sound that Chatine swore she would remember for the rest of her life.

BOOOOOMMM!

The ground shook. Her vision exploded in a tempest of blazing light. All around her, the world was on fire. She glanced up into the dark Bastille sky just in time to see them soaring amid the stars. Ships she knew all too well. Wielding a destructive power that would forever haunt her memories.

Combatteurs.

And suddenly, everything about Marcellus’s warning message made sense. The Ministère was here. They knew about the breakout. And they were retaliating.

“ROCHE!” she screamed again, barreling forward, tripping over her own desperate feet. The ringing in her ears was so loud, she could barely hear her own voice shouting, “FASTER!”

But a second explosion drowned out the word.

BOOOOOMMM!

The explosif hit the far side of the tower, and up ahead, Chatine saw the lights from the strange ship shudder and flicker.

Oh Sols, no. Please don’t let it be hit.

The third explosif came not a second later. The ground shook and Chatine was thrown forward. She heard a long guttural scream, and every molecule of air in her body felt like it was being sucked out of her.

Roche?!

She searched the surrounding area, but she couldn’t see him anywhere. The smoke and dust were too thick. Her eyes burned. She tried to push herself back to her feet, but that’s when she heard the scream again. It was coming from her. A pain so fierce and hot was ripping through her leg with the force of a thousand paralyzeur pulses.

“Chatine!” Roche’s voice broke through the smoke and the ringing in her ears. Suddenly he was there, next to her, helping her back to her feet. The shirt of his uniform was ripped almost clean off. His face was covered in ash. But he was alive.

The ground, however, was crumbling beneath them.

Roche grabbed Chatine by the hand and they surged forward. Chatine’s left leg screamed in agony, but she didn’t dare look down for fear of what she might find there. With every thundering step of their feet, the rooftop seemed to dissolve further into nothing.

Coughing and fighting to see through the nearly impenetrable wall of smoke and debris, Chatine could just make out the black-clad figures loading the stretcher into the open door of the ship.

“Cargo