Heart of Iron (Heart of Iron #1)(25)

The sound of E0S distracted Robb for the split second Jax needed.

He lunged for the lightsword—

And underestimated the Ironblood.

Robb jumped away, spinning it behind his back to his other hand, and sliced at him. The sword flashed through the air like a bolt of lightning. Jax cursed—nothing around to block the blade—and raised his arm. Jax saw Robb’s lips parting in surprise a moment before the blade slammed into Jax’s forearm.

The lightsword bounced off like steel on stone. Sparks lit the air between them.

Robb stumbled back, perplexed. “What the—”

“Congratulations—now I’m mad,” Jax said, pushing up his shirt sleeves. He always liked this reveal, vain as it was. Around his wrists were thick, dark bands of what looked like obsidian, reaching all the way to his elbows. He might have inherited his good looks from his mother, but his father had given him the war cuffs. An heirloom.

Robb stared at the cuffs.

Jax thumped his finger against one. “Tempered black glass, terribly sturdy, and oh so very uncivilized—”

“Shut up!” Robb swung again.

Jax raised his wrist. Deflected the attack. He couldn’t keep this up forever—and judging by the thin sheen of sweat on Robb’s pale face, the Ironblood couldn’t either. Jax was actually amazed he hadn’t passed out already, or pulled a stitch.

The Ironblood was either very determined or very, very stupid.

“How are you a Valerio, anyway?” Jax asked, hoping to distract the Ironblood—or at least get him angry enough to make a mistake. All Jax needed was one. “I bet your mother is ashamed.”

“She’ll never be happy!” Robb swirled his sword around in his grip and put his weight into it this time.

The lightsword clashed with the black glass, sparks hissing between them. Robb leaned in, much stronger than he looked, but Jax did, too. One slip and the lightsword would graze past his cuffs and slice off his arm. He wouldn’t look too dashing without an arm, he didn’t think. His elbow ached.

“If you leave in that skysailer, Siege will hunt you down,” Jax said, struggling in their stalemate. The lightsword was so close, he could feel the heat against his skin. “And when she catches you? No one will save you.”

“I don’t need saving.” Robb’s hot breath fell against his lips. Their faces were so close Jax could see the fire burning in the Ironblood’s sky-colored eyes, and his skin prickled.

“We all need to be saved, Lord Valerio.” Jax bent closer, an electric, warping energy between them. “You just have to choose who you want saving you.”

In a single motion, he looped his leg around Robb’s and jerked his feet out from under him. The Ironblood fell onto his back with a yelp. The lightsword skittered away underneath a crate and flickered out.

“Am I interrupting?” asked a voice.

Both boys glanced toward the entrance.

D09 stood in the doorway, holding E0S hostage under his arm, downturned so the little bot couldn’t see anything and tattle back to the captain. So D09 had managed to override the lock on the cockpit. Of course he had. D09 was a computer, after all.

Behind Jax, he could hear the Ironblood struggling to his feet again. You should’ve stayed down, little lord.

Jax told D09, “Give me a moment?”

Then he turned to the Ironblood and coldcocked him right in that smug, perfect jaw of his, sending him back to the ground. The Ironblood didn’t get back up.

“All right,” Jax said, and tugged at his worn leather gloves. “Take him to the captain. I’m done.”

As the Metal came over and grabbed Robb by the arm, Jax turned away to fix the mess of wires in the skysailer.





Robb


Robb awoke with a sudden pain in his side. Sharp. Throbbing. He sucked in a hiss, jerking to sit up, only to realize that he was already sitting upright in a chair. He really needed to stop waking up like this. Could it be, just once, from a really nice dream?

He shifted to alleviate some of the pain, becoming distinctly aware of the burning sensation in his wrist too.

The tracking chip.

He quickly pressed his wrist against his thigh so no one would notice the telltale glow of the activated chip. A signal on its own wavelength, manufactured so that no other radar could pick it up. Jax thought Lady Valerio didn’t care about her second son—but he was mistaken. She cared too much about her legacy to lose him.

Goddess’s spark, not yet. Not yet.

He blinked the blurriness out of his eyes.

The room was dark, rust colored, with a holographic map of the kingdom rotating on the corner of the desk, throwing stars onto the walls. Siege’s hair lit up the room like an inferno. He squinted at the brightness, the ringing in his ears loud enough to make his head feel thick.

“He had this in his pocket, Captain,” the Metal said, extending the iron ore. It didn’t rust in Metal hands. Well, obviously it didn’t—but it was still peculiar. By the Goddess’s scriptures, whoever the crown didn’t rust for was destined for the Iron Throne.

Oh, the kingdom would combust into rage if a Metal claimed that right.

The captain’s eyebrows shot up as she took the ore. “An iron ore? Where’d you get this, son?”

His jaw hurt to move, and he tasted blood in his mouth from where Jax had knocked him good. “How long was I out?”