“Hell.” Hesperus bowed his head with a shake. When he lifted it once more, his eyes were narrow, his mouth pinched. “Of course that was you. Even though you were dead, I knew it had to be you. Dammit all, Caledonia Styx.”

“And you have others?” she pressed. “Show me.”

She knew she was asking him for everything he had to offer. Maybe a few months ago she would have demanded less. She would have created room in her world for a man who wanted nothing more than to keep his small corner of it safe. But the only way to change things was to make demands.

“Hesperus,” she repeated. “Show me. Or I take what I know with me.”

The man frowned. His eyes skated over her companions, lingering on Oran a little longer than the others. He ran a hand down his mouth and finally said, “Only you. Your crew stays here.”

She heard Pisces draw a slicing breath, felt Amina bristle, knew that the other four clenched fists and jaws and resisted the urge to speak over their captain. She understood their hesitation, she felt it herself. But she had just changed the game, and she needed to play by these new rules. There was no more room for hesitation.

“Lead the way, then, Hesperus Shreeves.”

Chapter Forty

CHAPTER FORTY

The sun was sinking fast when Hesperus and Caledonia roared out of the clearing on two four-wheeled rovers. They dove beneath the trees, traveling down a path that led more deeply into the mountains at a rushing pace. Cold wind bit at their cheeks and knuckles so harshly it was as if the air was laced with thin sheets of ice.

Caledonia had assured Pisces that Hesperus was trustworthy, but as they careened through the darkening wood, she doubted herself. She was still tired and weak from hunger, in no shape to fight a grown man. Even now her fingers struggled to keep their grip, and strength leached from her thighs until she thought she might slip from the back of this foreign vehicle.

Just as she thought she could no longer hold herself on the back of this machine, Hesperus turned sharply and drove toward the mouth of a cave, where they parked the rovers side by side.

An ominous silence surrounded them. It was hard to gauge just how far they’d traveled, but they were well out of earshot. If she called for her crew, screamed for them, there was no chance they’d hear her.

Caledonia’s machine ticked once while the battery discharged, and her ears filled with a sudden, disorienting absence of wind. She swung one leg over the seat and wasn’t entirely sure her feet were on the ground when she saw Hesperus pull something swordlike from the back of his rover.