“Yes, Mistress Pereira.”
The footsteps scattered. The front door shut again.
It was a small house. Only moments had passed before the woman entered the tiny kitchen and Iko saw the fluttering sleeves of a red thaumaturge coat. She came to stand in the center of the closet-size kitchen, so close Iko could have touched her. But she didn’t look down or bother to open any of the cupboards.
From her crouched position, Iko stared up at the woman’s profile. Her gray hair was cut in a bob, and though she was one of the older thaumaturges Iko had seen, she was still beautiful, with sharp cheekbones and full lips. Her hands were tucked into her sleeves.
She stood still for a long moment, her brow drawn. Iko suspected she was searching for more traces of bioelectricity, and it became clear she was not about to notice Iko beside her.
Iko held still, glad she didn’t have to stifle her breathing—good stars above, when she’d been trapped in the spaceship closet with Cinder and the others, the noise of their combined breaths had been earsplitting.
But then her fan kicked in again.
The woman glanced down and started.
Iko raised a hand in greeting. “Hello.”
The thaumaturge studied her for a long, long moment, before she stammered, “A shell?”
“Close.” Iko snatched a dish towel off the counter and lunged for the woman. A yelp escaped before Iko pressed the towel against her face, stifling the scream. The thaumaturge thrashed, but Iko held her firm against the wall, biting back her instinctive apology as she watched the woman’s face pale, her eyes widen in panic.
“Just pass out,” Iko said, trying to sound comforting, “and I’ll let you go.”
“Hey!”
She snapped her head around as a royal guard spotted them through the kitchen window. He ran for the back door and swung it open and …
Holy stars almighty.
She’d always thought Kai was the most attractive human specimen she’d ever seen, but this man was devastingly beautiful, with tan skin and roguish wavy hair, and he was …
He was …
Pointing a gun at her.
Iko yanked the thaumaturge in front of her at the same moment he pulled the trigger. The bullet hit the woman somewhere in her torso and she collapsed, already weak from Iko’s suffocation.
Iko dropped the woman and hurled herself over the body, grappling for the guard’s gun. He swung her around, knocking her back into the counter. The impact reverberated through Iko’s limbs. The guard yanked the gun away and swung his opposite fist toward Iko’s face. Her head snapped back and she stumbled two, three steps, before colliding with the stove. The guard cursed, shaking out his hand.
Iko was just thinking that she should have installed some martial arts programming when a second gunshot jolted through her audio receptors. She flinched and clamped her hands over her ears, dialing down the volume even though it was too late.
When her thoughts cleared, she saw the guard staring at her with an open mouth and saucer-wide eyes, his hands still gripping the gun. “What … what are you?”
She looked down. There was a hole in her chest, revealing sparking wires and frayed synthetic skin tissue. She groaned. “I just had that replaced!”
“You’re…” The guard took a step back. “I’d heard of Earthen machines that could … that were … but you…” His face contorted, and Iko had spent enough time analyzing facial muscles to recognize this expression as complete, unbridled disgust.
Indignation flared inside her, probably seeping out through the new hole in her chest. “It’s not polite to stare, you know!”
A form appeared in the door leading to the main room. Another guard, and this one Iko recognized as one from Levana’s personal entourage. He had been part of the team that had accosted them on the rooftop in New Beijing. “What happened?” he barked, taking in the fallen thaumaturge and the pretty guard’s lowered weapon and Iko.
Recognition flitted through his eyes and he grinned. “Nice find, Kinney. I guess this trip wasn’t as pointless as I thought.” He stepped over the thaumaturge’s body.
Iko raised her fists, trying to recall all those fighting pointers Wolf had given Cinder.
“Where’s the cyborg?” asked the guard.
Iko snarled at him. “Bite me.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Tempt me.”
“Sir Solis,” said the other guard, Kinney, “she’s not … it isn’t human.”
“Clearly,” he drawled, glancing at the bullet hole in her chest cavity. “I guess we’ll have to get creative with how we extract information from her. I mean, it.”
He swung for her. Iko ducked and swung back, but he trapped her easily. Before her processor could catch up, he had her hands locked behind her back. Iko struggled, trying to stomp on the arch of his foot, but he evaded every attempt. He was laughing as he bound her hands and spun her back to face him.
“All that Earthen technology,” he said, pulling aside the fabric of her shirt to pick at the destroyed skin fibers, “yet you’re somehow still completely worthless.”
Hot anger turned her vision red. “I’ll show you worthless!”
Before she could show him anything, though, a banshee’s scream filled the kitchen and a kitchen knife slashed toward Jerrico’s shoulder. He gasped and dodged. The blade cut through his sleeve, leaving a bright red gash. Iko stumbled back.
Jerrico spun around and slammed the attacker against the wall, holding her throat in one hand while the other wrestled for her wrist, securing her knife hand.
Winter didn’t let go of the knife or her wild-eyed loathing. She brought her knee up, right between his legs. Jerrico grunted and pulled her away from the wall, just to slam her back again. This time, Winter wheezed, the air pushed out of her lungs.
“Kinney, watch the android,” Jerrico said through his teeth.
Iko swiveled her attention from Princess Winter to the too-handsome-to-be-such-a-jerk guard, but Kinney no longer cared about her. His face was horrified as Jerrico held the princess by her throat. “That’s Princess Winter! Unhand her!”
A humorless laugh erupted from Jerrico. “I know who it is, idiot. Just like I know she’s supposed to be dead.”
“I heard she was dead too, but clearly she’s not. Release her.”
Rolling his eyes, Jerrico turned and dragged Winter off the wall. “No, she’s supposed to be dead. The queen ordered her to be killed, but it seems like someone didn’t have the stomach for it.” Winter slumped forward but he dragged her back up, holding her against his chest. “What a lucky catch. I’ve been waiting to have you alone for years, but that annoying Sir Clay was always hanging around like a vulture on dead meat.” Jerrico dragged his thumb along Winter’s jaw. “Doesn’t look like he’s here now, does it, Princess?”
Winter’s lashes fluttered. Her eyes were dazed as she looked at Kinney. “You…”
“Hey.” Jerrico forced her chin around to face him. “You’re my prize, Princess. So what reward do you think I’ll get for bringing your dead body to the queen? I don’t think she’ll care what state it’s in, and as an added bonus, I can prove that your boyfriend is a traitor after all.”