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"That depends on who is being executed," she replied. "I don't want to see it if it's me."
"I can't think why it would be you," Slade said.
I eyed him warily. Was he flirting with her? I wouldn't blame him if he was, but I had enough competition with Dex and Knox without Slade muscling in. If anything he did could be described as ‘muscling in.’ He was more slender and wiry than Dex. I could beat them both in a wrestling match, but they'd be evenly matched in a foot race.
"Me either," Viva said. "I try to avoid doing things which might get me thrown to hungry reptiles."
"That's a good way to be," Slade agreed. "Me too."
"If you're done," I said to them both, "we should keep going."
"You're not going to tell me what's up with the soil, are you?" Viva asked.
"When there's something to tell, you’ll know," I assured her. "I don't want to make a fuss in case it turns out to be nothing." The possibility it was something bad was greater than zero, but it was something she wasn't ready to deal with. Not yet.
One threat at a time, please Hades,I silently asked.
She scowled at me, but didn't say any more. She knew she wouldn't get anything else out of me. I regretted that. I suspected she thought I was keeping secrets from her for no good reason. That wasn't my intention at all. Not really. I just needed to protect her for as long as I could. When this was over, I would explain everything. I would make her understand. Until then I kept my thoughts to myself and hoped it didn't permanently damage any chance I had with her.
If it did, then so be it. I would cut out my own heart and serve it to her on a silver platter if it kept her safe.
With any luck, it wouldn't come to that. Not to mention the logistics of trying to hand her a platter after I removed my own heart. I was skilled, but not like that.
The further east we went, the more grass and bushes we saw. Trees weren't thick, but they were more plentiful. They all seemed healthy enough too. That increased my suspicion that it wasn't a lack of rain or bad soil. I would have preferred it to be either of those things.
"Um, Bain," Viva said after an hour or so of steady walking.
"We'll rest soon—" I started to say. I realised she'd stopped with her face turned toward the sky. She raised an arm slowly to point.
"It looks like we're about to get some company," she said.
I followed her finger, but it wasn't hard to see what she was pointing at.
Four shapes, little more than specks, flew just above the pink horizon.
"Shit," I said under my breath. "More dragons."
Four of the Hades cursed creatures, and us with not enough cover to hide under.
Not nearly enough.
15
Viva
"Shit."Bain's curse, even softly spoken, didn't fill me with confidence.
"You guys should shift," I said frantically. "You'll be able to outrun them." I could keep them busy for a few minutes while the wolves fled. Better one of us end up as lunch than all of us.
"I'm not leaving without you," Bain said firmly.
"What the shit?" Slade exclaimed.
I assumed he was talking about Bain's sentimentality, but his eyes weren't on us. They were fixed on the approaching dragons.
"What?" My heart raced. Sweat broke out on my palms. The feeling of impending doom increased. What did he see that I didn’t? His glasses looked ordinary to me, but this was the Vault. He might have built in binoculars for all I knew. That would certainly be handy. I wouldn't mind a pair myself if that was the case.
I looked back toward the dragons and squinted. Then I saw what he saw.
