Heart of Iron (Heart of Iron #1)(89)

And he wanted to win a Wicked Luck game against this dashing boy. And he wanted to know why he had left his home, what his favorite color was, what food he liked best—what flavor.

Robb wanted to know him as intimately as a sailor knew the stars.

But there was so much space between them, filled with all the things Robb had never said, and all the secrets Jax kept. They were victims of an empire built on iron and blood.

But for a moment, the space looked no bigger than the distance between their hands.

He reached out and intertwined their fingers.

“This isn’t me forgiving you,” the Solani chided.

Robb squeezed his hand tightly, and they left the room together.





Di


In the dim lights of the lab, Di watched Ana’s golden-brown eyes flicker across his face. Once, he thought she could recognize him in any body, in any form, in any corner of the universe—

But she did not recognize him at all.

“Promise?” she echoed, voice trembling, and sank away. Horror swept over her face like a thunderstorm. “How do you know about that? What are you?” Her voice was rising, rising, like a tide.

What are you, she had asked. What.

A thing. Not who.

His chest tightened uncomfortably, but he fisted his hands, nails digging into his palms, to concentrate on that hurt more.

“What do you want from me?”

“Ana,” he said thickly, “I do not want anything—”

She grabbed a book from the counter and threw it at him. He dodged, but another slammed him in the forehead.

“Goddess,” he cursed—from both the pain and her wickedly good aim.

“I don’t know how you know me or know about that—that promise,” she raged, “but I swear to the Goddess, if I find out you’re working for Rasovant—”

“No—”

“Or the Valerios,” she added, “I’ll gut you spleen to throat, I’ll—”

A high-pitched squeal cut her off a moment before E0S shot into the room like a bullet and hid underneath Di’s coat.

“Not the time,” he told it, his voice cracking, until he remembered that E0S was prone to getting into trouble. The bot tugged at his coat. “What is wrong?”

Messiers, the bot relayed, feeding a brief video through their link. The patrol was not yet to the North Tower, but the HIVE knew they were there. He could hear the signal, screeching and raw, and how—the longer he listened—it began to sound like a song.

“You have to trust me, Ana,” he said urgently.

Ana reached for another book to throw.

“Messiers are coming and we cannot be caught here. I will leave you alone if you just trust me this once. I will go away—forever.” The words hurt, but he would honor them, because his next tore a hole through his center. “I promise you on iron and stars.”

An unbreakable vow.

He held out his hand.

She hesitated a moment longer. She could hear the footsteps now.

“If you are found here,” he tried to reason with her, “then Rasovant will know what you know. The HIVE already does.”

And the HIVE was the malware. It controlled the Messiers, the newsfeeds, the docks on the moonbay, and it could infiltrate any ship in kingdom space that didn’t predate the Dossier.

And that was very, very bad news.

Hesitantly, she took his hand, and he pulled her out of the lab and down the scorched hallway. He walked briskly, not sure where he was heading, but his feet seemed to know all the same. Like they knew the scent of sage on his uniform, and how the Eros globe in Rasovant’s study squeaked.

It was something so inherent, he was worried what it meant, now that he had seen the lab.

E0S followed them, beeping again.

They left the North Tower, stepping over the prone Metals he had disposed of earlier. Ana gaped down at their ruined chests—and he could see the horror in her eyes, afraid that he would do the same to her.

Messiers came from the hallway to the left, their footfalls like the heartbeat of a great monster.

Like him—a monster.

Ana’s grip tightened in his.

E0S beeped again and swirled ahead of them, knocking against a closed door near the East Tower. Di took it as a sign and slipped inside. It was a parlor of sorts, where large portraits of ancient Armorovs hung on the walls and delicate vases stood on podiums. Two fainting couches sat against the windows facing the moon garden, a tea set on the coffee table. The room was immaculate, but it looked like it had not been used in years.

Close, he ordered, and the door clanged shut, the lock switching red.

Ana quickly let go of his hand, jumping at the automated door. “Who did that?”

“I did,” he replied, and put a finger to his lips.

E0S hid underneath his uniform jacket again.

The march of Messiers grew louder until they were right outside the door—right, left, right, left—as a sharp, grating signal filled the air. He winced against it, recognizing the HIVE.

The Messiers passed by.

For a moment he did not want them to, because then he would have to keep his promise.

Because she sees you as a monster, he thought as the sound of the Messiers faded. Ana backed away from him, her eyes red-rimmed with tears. He did not want to hurt her like this. He would tell Siege to rescue her. Siege could. Perhaps that was the better plan after all, guns blazing.