5
Darius
A Scythe fighterappeared out of nowhere and dived toward Lily.
Queen Raya’s fighters were small, fast, and nearly impossible to evade from the ground. I screamed a warning as the fighter fired on Lily’s position.
“Lily! Watch out!”
My heart seized in my chest, the pain like pinchers tearing the organ in half. No air. I had no air. My vision blurred. Just like last time.
“Lily!” I willed myself up the cliff wall, using boosters to half crawl, half fly up the side to reach her. Nothing else mattered. Nothing.
Lily held on to the rock with one arm and swung her entire Titan body wide as the Scythe fighter’s blasters reached the rocks and exploded, sending debris raining down on my head.
A large rock hit me. I slipped. Lost my grip. Fell.
Caught hold.
I looked up. I was still too far away.
“Lily!”
“Darius, cool your jets. I’m fine.” Her voice came through clipped and a bit loud. “What is your problem? This isn’t half as hard as most of the missions in the training simulation. Leave me alone and go do your job.”
Leave me alone? Go do your job?
Fuck. Now she sounded exactly like my big brother, Tycho, had before…
No. I wouldn’t think about that. Nothing was going to happen to Lily. I was here. I would protect her, even from herself.
Firing my boosters on full, I let go of the cliff wall and flew up and over the cannon Lily had been climbing toward. Turning my boosters off to conserve fuel, I landed with a heavy thud on the ground just behind the turret.
The cannon rotated, the open-end square on my chest.
The cannon’s energy built, the slight hum in the air alerting me to the imminent strike.
“Darius! What the hell are you doing?”
“Saving you.”
Lily appeared on the opposite side of the cannon, her Titan body crawling up and over the edge of the slight ledge. I scowled despite the fact that she couldn’t see my face.
“Get out of here. I’m about to destroy this thing, and the blast will burn through your armor.”
“And your armor?” she asked.
“I’m not worried about me.”
“You’re an idiot.”
“You’re still here.”
“I had this under control. What are you doing?”
“Go! Get out of here! Now!” I leaped up, firing my boosters, the cannon’s targeting system following my every move, the length of the cannon rising as I did.
“Darius, you bloody idiot. You’re not doing this.”