Daivad hadn’t had time to say goodbye before Jac was dragging Nyxabella out of sight. He had seen one last panicked look on her face, and then she was gone. A thousand worries rushed through his mind, each screaming louder than the last in an attempt to be heard, and for a moment Daivad couldn’t move.
But he could never stay still for long. Daivad grabbed Maxea on instinct as she galloped by and swung onto her back.
Daivad wasn’t concerned about escaping the guard. Unless they had some monster-fast horses that could move through forested hills the way that Wolves could, even when injured, there was no way they would catch up. And, aside from Z, Daivad doubted they had any Inhumans to put on their trail.
With that immediate threat out of the way, he reached for the next most pressing concern. The kid.
She was running around in a hostile city with a monster in her bag, whether she knew that yet or not. If Nyxabella was right, Pait had foregone her one chance to avoid the prison camps. If she stayed in that city, alone, she would be caught. It was only a matter of time.
And then, he realized with a jolt, not only was she bound for the prison camps, they might question her before they shipped her off. They might ask her how she had escaped. And she might turn in Nyxabella. Might even mention that Nyxabella had mentioned him. And even she couldn’t talk her way out of an association with him.
Daivad didn’t think he’d leaned back, or signaled for Maxea to slow down, but she must have sensed his desire to turn around because he suddenly realized she was in a trot. Drauge, forever two steps behind Max and one to the left, copied her, and Ben asked,
If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.
“What is it?”
“The kid,” Daivad said. “They’ll catch her. And Nyxabella named me to her. She knows they’re helping us.”
Ben’s serious face somehow became more serious as the realization sunk in. His dark eyes darted from side to side, thinking. After a moment, he looked back up at Daivad. “We can’t.”
“No,” Daivad agreed. “We can’t.”
“Daivad.”
“It’s not about going alone,” Daivad argued preemptively. “I would have you at my side if I could.”
“You’re wearing ten times the damage I am!”
“Someone’s got to give them a trail to follow,” Daivad said. “And someone’s got to track the kid down. Before the guard does.”
“Going back inside those walls—I can’t even name it Reckless, because that doesn’t do it justice.”
“It is. So it’s the last place they’ll be looking for me.”
Ben started shaking his head and didn’t stop. To himself, he mumbled something like, “...As mad as she is…”
“I’ll be half a day behind you,” Daivad said, not sure where the little bubble of pride in his chest had come from.
“Wait!”
He expected Ben to argue, but instead he just fumbled with the purse tied to his waistband for a moment before producing a small, jangling object from within and tossing it at Daivad. For a moment, Daivad wondered where the hell Ben had gotten a key from, but then he read the 15 etched on the wooden keychain.
“If you need somewhere to hide out,” Ben explained. It was the key to the room in the inn they’d paid for. “And take my cloak, too. Yours is screaming.”
Daivad shed his ruined cloak and traded with Ben, and when Maxea wheeled around and took off, Ben was still shaking his head and mumbling to himself.