"Kill the god," a fifty-something, dark-skinned keeper said, one of a rare number of women among them. There was no feminine softness on her face, nothing but a hawk-eyed cruelty. She was the one who spoke earlier.Kill her."And bring the rogue to me if she’s so eager to kill me."
"But—" a male keeper began, blonde and doughy-faced but exceptionally free with the shocks he handed out as punishments for thetiniestinfractions.
I remembered every time he shocked me.
Blood roared in my ears, my blood pumping scalding lava through my veins. I meant what I said—every one of these people were dead. I'd kill them all. They'd trained me in murder; I knew exactly how to do it.
The cruel keeper shot a look at the man who'd protested, easily silencing him. "She should meet our special project." Light flashed in her eyes, a smirk curling her plush mouth.
"I thought that was a last resort—"
A rush of staticky sound swallowed the rest of his complaint, and I covered my ears on instinct at the sound of a plane taking off, or a missile firing. Wind crashed into Void when he spun to face the sound.
The storm weapon Sang fought earlier stood behind us, bleeding from his ears and nose, with a dozen slashes across his body from Sang's whip. Magic revolved around his body like a tornado, opaque white and deep, thunderous blue.
I crushed my hands further over my ears when the storm's roar grew, and then the weapon's brown hands shot forward, the expression on his face one of deep, lethal rage.
"No," I choked out when the tornado charged at Void and I, growing in size and destructive force with every metre, but the noise swallowed my voice. Raindrops splattered my face, the air shaking as the tornado neared, and I wrenched on Void's grey hand,begginghim to move, to get out of the path of that deadly wind.
His fingers curled over me, caging me, protecting me.
"I can't lose you. Void,please."
But he was held in place by the searing ropes, his whole body clenched as if to endure the pain, and he didn't retreat even an inch when the tornado slammed into him. It hit so hard, I heard bones break and my body jerked even within the protective circle of Void's hand.
The impact pushed Void back a step, and then another, and then—I felt the second his balance shifted, his enormous weight tipping towards the ground.
"Move!" a voice boomed. "Get out of the way!"
My heart stopped.
I grabbed Void's finger and wrapped my whole self around it, as if I could stop his fall. The rough growl he let out as he crashed helplessly towards the ground twisted into my heart like an arrow. And when he shifted his weight so he struck the floor on his back with me cradled to his chest, a cry broke up my throat and I fell harder, deeper in love with this monster.
The collision rattled my whole body. I froze there in Void's hand, stunned for a long, long moment.
But the squeaks of footsteps on the floor and the barking of commands had me shaking myself back to clarity. My hands had returned to their usual colour, my magic startled out of me, but I took advantage of it to press against Void's limp hand.
"Void? Talk to me. Groan, grunt—anything."
When he stayed silent, I whimpered, "Please."
Panic blurred everything for a second, time moving sluggishly, but I registered the hollow rise and fall of his hand—his chest. He was breathing. Unconscious, but breathing.
But he hit the ground so hard, and he could have any number of injuries. What if he damaged his brain when he landed?
A louder, gruffer command from the keepers made me startle back to the present, to the danger inching closer all around me and my unconscious mate, and I sucked down a sharp breath.Okay. Time to be Badass Hala, not Scared Hala.
It took all my strength to push aside one of Void’s fingers and peer out.
"Back off," I snarled at a weapon who dared to come closer than the others. They were all skittish, unsure if Void was really unconscious or pretending. I pulled myself out of his slack hand and slid down his side in a rush before nerves could stop me.
"Isaid," I repeated, my voice sinking into that cold, deep tone from earlier, "back off!"
I flicked my wrists, easily drawing a pool of churning magic, ready to melt every one of these bastards to goop and eyeballs. They deserved it. I'd have been sympathetic towards the weapons an hour earlier, but they hurt my Void, and I didn't even know where my two other mates were. Now, it was fucking war, and I didn't have even a scrap of sympathy for them.
Saliva gathered in my mouth; I tasted the sharp bite of acid and smiled, something cruel and strange twisting my smile. Six days out of the week, I didn't like to hurt people. But that one day…
I was going to enjoy this.