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Not blanting likely.Determined, I stood, rolled my shoulders back and spoke to everyone at the table. “I’ll do it.”
The satisfied smirk on Devile’s face hit me like a punch to the gut. Pleasing him was the last Sola-blasted thing I wanted, but I knew the spineless cretin would never lower himself to take part in a mission. I could do whatever the hellfire I pleased once the darts were in my hands. Though I hated the resignation on Sisip’s and D’irk’s faces. Even Yurst frowned, thrown by Devile’s threat to return home with the fungus.
Devile stretched his neck back and forth while he licked his lips. “Then it’s settled. Tuga will arrive here at seven suns tomorrow with the poison. Now, if you’ll show me to my rooms, I wish to stay here while the battle ensues.”
I forced my hands to my sides to avoid pummeling my fist into his sniveling nose.
Yurst poked at one of the brittle holes in the volcano’s wall and frowned as it crumbled. “Wouldn’t you rather stay poolside in my lovely guest suite?”
Devile’s eyes burned holes through mine with their laser-like intensity. “I hear the volcano cavern has an exotic fruit that bursts with unrivaled flavor as it meets your tongue.” He licked his top lip again. “I wish to savor this rare gift for myself.”
Over my dead body. I forced my fingers to loosen at my sides. No one would be tasting that rare gift but me.
“Oh, silly”—Yurst flung his arm in front of him as if shooing a bug—“that’s easy. We’ll just bring some back with us.”
“Oh, I plan on bringing it home.” Devile’s eyes sparked with a sinister twinkle. “But it may take some time.” He took a moment to direct his attention to Yurst. “So, you must return to your dwelling. The townsfolk need your strong leadership there.”
Yurst bounced on his toes, pleased by Devile’s praise no matter how false it rang to the rest of us in the room.
I ground my teeth. Ginger was in danger, no matter what I chose. In Devile’s reach or the hellsna’s. And where would I be when she needed protection? My tongue stung, and a coppery hint of blood lingered in my mouth. In the beast’s foul lair.
Tuga and I needed to get the job done fast. While Sisip arranged an escort for Yurst to return to Yurstille and for an enforcer to clear a room for Devile, I racked my brain for solutions.
Hill, Saluda, Efred and D’unter made a formidable wall, dressed in the custom armor Ginger had made them, as they greeted me outside the conference room. With a fire in their eyes, they looked ready to conquer any challenge the Reiner System might throw at them. As we strode from the conference room, every head in command central turned toward us, wanting to know the details.
“Devile will only release the darts if I follow his plan.” Their eager smiles turned to scowls as I continued, “Tuga and I will enter the hibernaculum tomorrow.”
“No way, Protector,” Saluda and Efred snapped in unison, smoke drifting from their nostrils.
“That’s a ridiculous strategy.” Hill kicked at the loose floor, which crumbled in layers around him.
“It’s out of my control,” I spat. Frustration bubbled under my skin. They were right. Devile was sending us on a suicide mission. Then I softened my words at the concern in their eyes. “If it were my choice, you’d all be on my team.” I signaled them in closer. “Don’t worry. I’m just playing the game.”
I spotted Ginger as Efred stormed toward Sisip. The gesture warmed my heart, but he’d have no more luck with Sisip than she’d had with Devile. Ginger leaned against the railing, pointing toward a marker on the map projection, chatting to Shaheel. I bent down to reach Hill’s ear. “Devile has his eyes on Ginger. In my absence, don’t let her out of your sight.”
Someone shouted my name and Ginger turned, finding me at once. Her swishing hips mesmerized me while she advanced, but her hands clenched once she’d reached my side. “I hate being the weak human girl who needs protection.”
She wasn’t supposed to hear that. How could she doubt her strength? She’d traveled to an unknown planet, ill, leaving her career behind. Survived hellsna and snow slides. And now the male who had swept my life away with one stroke of his hand had shown his interest. “If you are weak, I am the crumbling sand beneath your feet.”
Hill looked me square in the eye. “No harm will come to her under our watch.”
Ginger’s fists loosened, but her hair swung around her neck the way it did when she dug in her heels. I crouched low, my healing leg complaining, as if hunting the black jungle cat onYagras. Voice a whisper, I shuttled my fingers over her calf and looked up to meet her narrowed eyes. “Please. Devile banished me with no proof. No one doubts your strength. Let them protect you when I can’t.”
Eyes shining, she swallowed hard. “All right. For you.”
That had visibly taken a toll on her pride. I wrapped my arms around her to take away the sting. “This pleases me very much.”
Ginger grabbed my hand and pulled me upright. “Don’t do anything stupid tomorrow, ’kay?” She jumped up and brushed a kiss over my chin, then she walked over to Saluda and elbowed the young Drack in the ribs with a too-bright smile on her lips. “So you think you’re tougher than me, huh?”
Hill and his team would keep her safe in my stead. I trusted them. Geo and Makir would help, too. While I was at it, I would enlist Sisip, D’irk and every single enforcer in this volcano. Devile wouldn’t get within an inch of Ginger. But my heart continued to race.
The itch built under my skin, my head throbbed, and the only thing that calmed me was under threat. I needed air, and I needed Ginger. Now.
Ginger yelped when I scooped her up against my chest and charged out of Starry Volcano as if it were erupting. With Ginger’s arms clasped around my neck and her knees gripping my sides, I climbed high up the volcano’s side to a flat rock, jutting out like our own private balcony.
I nestled Ginger between my legs, and then we sat there, admiring the view. My anger over the tedious meeting dissipated as a cool breeze washed over my skin.
The wreckage of the wastelands spread out below. Skeletal buildings dotted with gold lunal flowers—pretty, despite their vines’ tangled snares—brought life to the once barren landscape. Spears of blue graneth grass grew in clumps, camouflaging the treacherous ground.
