Sunniva fumbled at her bracelet, prizing the opal loose with her fingers.
“What are you doing to him?” The man pushed himself to his feet, looking between Sunniva and Marcus, who was now sliding slowly down the side of the crawler.
The opal slithered out of its mount and almost out of her fingers. She grabbed it just in time. A pinprick of black bloomed at its heart, and she felt the shock of it through her skin.
Sunniva tried to remember what Giels had done before he’d given it to her and put her thumb down on it firmly.
Blue, she thought, picturing the high clear skies her dragon had yearned for while they waited in the aerie, piercingly intense. Sleep.
She felt the command settle gently over the opal’s painful fury. The color slowly shifted.
Marcus folded up gently, landing on his side on the rocky ground. The man took
a few steps to reach him and knelt down, putting his palm flat on Marcus’ chest.
Sunniva felt like collapsing herself. Her arm throbbed despite the work the mesh had already done to repair it, and her head ached. She must have hit it on something.
The man glared at her. “You didn’t kill him.” The words were an accusation. He was Marcus’ age, but a slimmer build, with a narrow, intelligent-looking face. He was breathing heavily, as if the short walk had exhausted him.
“I wasn’t trying to.” She held the opal tightly in her hand, the edges cutting into her palm. How long could she keep it out like this? A few minutes, Giels had said. “He’s been ordered to attack humans. He was going to kill himself trying not to hurt you.”
An accusation in return.
“I’m expected to believe you wanted me alive?” The man looked as if he wanted to continue to trade blame, then he glanced back down at Marcus, and his face softened. “You idiot. I told you not to sacrifice yourself for me the last time.”
Sunniva made a wild leap.
“Is your name Rafe?”
He looked completely taken aback. “How-“
“Marcus said you used to play here.”
Rafe studied her carefully, his gaze taking in her dragonmesh and the blaster burn before returning to her face. “I can’t wait to hear his explanation.”
Sunniva would have liked some more explanations herself. “I can’t keep him like this for long.”
“I’d rather you didn’t keep him at all.” Rafe frowned. “His pulse is slowing.”
Not much time left, then.
“I know you don’t trust me,” Sunniva said. “Can you come here tomorrow morning, to talk?”
Rafe lifted his hand off Marcus’ jacket. “Will you continue to speak for him?”
The secondary matrix. If it worked.
“I hope he’ll be able to speak for himself.” She could tell he wasn’t convinced. She could hardly blame him. Either he wouldn’t come, or he’d attack to save Marcus.
You need to trust him, her dragon said. And tell him I want to race him again.
Sunniva was about to object that that would hardly convince him when it gave her an idea. She sent a command to her mesh, instructing it to detach around the shoulder of her uninjured side, then shook the piece free and held it out to him. A priceless gift.
“Here. It’s yours. A guarantee.” He could study it or sell it, whatever he wanted; if he took it to the aerie and said Sunniva had given it to him it would delight Giels as conclusive proof of her unsuitability.
Marcus’s chest was barely moving with each breath. “Please, go.”
Rafe’s jaw dropped a fraction. He reached out and took the mesh carefully, draping the glittering net over one arm. He glanced back at Marcus one last time.