Page 27 of Condemned

“Old wreckage?”

“New. Maybe satellite wreckage? I think he may be a bot? Maybe.” She thought that through and firmed her voice. “Don’t you ever harm him or... or else.”

“I thought bots were extinct? And so small? As long as it isn’t dangerous, we won’t hurt it.”

“Okay. I guess I thought they were too.”

“So all you said earlier was true. That’s sad. You need some fixing done on you, girl.”

“What? I do not!” Her eyes sprang open. What did he mean?

Zo’s grip on her firmed, his muscles digging into her softer body. “Shhh.”

“You can’t change my past,” she grumbled.

“It’s not your past I want to change, it’s your future.”

Alarmed, she decided Zo wanting to fix her only cemented her views. The mauleons were as arrogant as anyone she knew. She was fine as she was.

On the other side of the stream, the forest swam in a blur, and she saw the three warriors emerge from the trees—Captain Takk, Kondio, and Timin. Her stomach tightened. One of them was enough. All of them together was scary. She didn’t trust them. Why would she? She thought herself tough, but this was beyond what she could handle.

What if they only wanted to bed her then dispose of her?

Four of them. If they took her all at once they would surely kill her. Zo had promised otherwise but she’d learned not to trust words. Uncle for one had taught her that, over and over.

She no longer trusted people’s truths. She trusted their lies.

“Stay with me,” Zo mumbled. “They can wait.”

Of course. She tried to relax and mostly failed. Zo... seemed nice.

More alert, she blinked, and thought she saw something else to their left—a man-shaped figure that was gone in the same second she firmed it in her vision.

Nothing?

* * *

In the forest, J’kaithe assassin lay on her belly watching the mauleon troop wade through the stream and settle on the grass near where the mating couple lay. They stripped off their clothes and weapons then waded back into the water, shouting insults at each other.

She could’ve killed the girl, Avalon, but her orders were as yet unclear. She would track them and watch, and wait. Someone high up seemed to want her dead. She didn’t care why, it wasn’t a task.

She simply killed, efficiently, quietly, when told to. There was no one better than her, except for the almost mythical Arx. He liked to toy with his victims.