Lara regarded him with disdain. “Don’t worry. I wouldn’t go with you to the end of the parking lot, let alone out of the country.”
The knot in Iestyn’s gut loosened. Like it made a difference whether she was three hundred or three thousand miles from here. Either way, he’d never see her again. “It wil have to be Rockhaven, then.”
“I don’t like it,” Soldier said. “It could be a trap. A trick, to get us to the school.”
“Don’t be paranoid,” Lara said.
Exasperation clawed Iestyn. He was trying to protect her, damn it. Trying to do the right thing. Why couldn’t she shut up and go along?
But he knew. She’d told him last night.
1 9 4
V i r g i n i a K a n t r a
He made an effort to soften his voice. “You’l be safe with them. Safer than with me.”
Her brows lifted. “Wil I?”
Wouldn’t she?
What did he know about them, after al ? They were flyers, drifters, outlaws. He had too much in common with them to trust them. They didn’t care about her the way he did. He was wil ing to fight for her. To die for her, if need be.
But not to stay.
Sooner or later, Lara would go back to her old life, and he would get on with his.
If she’d just go, leave now, it would save both of them time and heartache.
“Safer than on your own,” he amended.
Something flashed behind her eyes before they cooled.
“You’re not responsible for my safety. Or my choices.”
“I’m not waiting around with my thumb up my ass while you two make up your minds,” Fremont said.
Lara shot him another of those cool gray looks. “So, leave.
We’re not stopping you.”
He wagged a meaty finger at her. “Now, little girl, you can’t come with us if you won’t be nice.”
Her face turned sheet white. “I’m not your little girl,”
she said through her teeth. “And I’m sick of being nice.”
She looked at Iestyn, her chin lifted in chal enge. But it was her mouth that got him, soft and vulnerable. “Whatever I want, you said. What if I want to stay with you?”
His blood pounded. The question rippled through him like His blood pounded. The question rippled through him like the echo of a dream, resurrecting memories and images of last night. Lara, sliding into bed beside him. Lara, holding him close as he dreamed. Lara, rocking above him in the dark, her hair like glory and her eyes like stars.
F o r g o t t e n s e a 195
He met those eyes, and he was lost.
Maybe he’d been lost from the moment she’d found him.
Pretty Lara Rho with her composed face and snug skirt, striding down the sun-bleached dock and into his life.
He didn’t need her.
But damn him to Hel , he didn’t want her to go. He couldn’t lose her. Not now.
Maybe not ever.
The thought should have terrified him.
He bared his teeth in a grin. “Then I guess I’m stuck with you.”
*
*
*
Lara smiled back, relieved and triumphant. “As long as you realize it.”
Iestyn’s grin sharpened.
She felt a quick quiver of caution. What was she doing, dismissing the chance to return safely home? What would she do when this adventure was over, when Iestyn was gone?
But she silenced the whisper of doubt. She was not a victim or a child. She would figure it out. In the meantime, he wanted her with him.
At least for now.
Fremont shuffled his feet. “Guess you’l be leaving us, then.”
“Not yet,” Lara said.
Iestyn shot her a quick look. “You want to change your shirt?”
“No, I—”
“You need to hit the road now,” Fremont said. “We can’t leave until you’re gone.”
“Why?” Lara asked.
“Trackers,” Fremont said.
1 9 6
V i r g i n i a K a n t r a
Iestyn glanced at the roofline. “The birds?”
“Guardian spies,” Soldier said.
“We’ve only got your word for it that they’re not after us,”
Fremont said. “I want to watch them fol ow you out of here.”
“We need something from you first,” Lara said.
The youngest flyer, Max, gave her a tomcat grin. “Name it.”
Iestyn stiffened beside her. But she was too focused on his future to worry about his feelings right now. She turned to Soldier. “You wore a heth once, you said.”
The flyer eyed her warily. “So?”
“How did you remove it?”
He shook his head. “You don’t want to mess with that.
You could get hurt.”
Her gaze dropped to the puckered scar around his throat.
“That’s why I need you to tel me how to do it. I don’t want to cause him any pain.”
Soldier snorted. “It’s not him you should worry about.
You want to be careful, girl. He’s not like us. Once that heth’s off, there’s no tel ing what he’l do.”
“I’m not an animal. I don’t need a fucking col ar,” Iestyn said.
Soldier’s weary blue eyes met his. “That’s a matter of opinion.”
Iestyn’s muscles bunched. She squeezed his arm, wil ing him to keep quiet.
“Please,” she said to Soldier. “Tel us, and we’l go.”
He held her gaze a moment and then shrugged. “It’s your funeral. You can’t cut the cord without breaking the charm first.”
“Break it, how?”
“Any way you can. Shatter it. Melt it.”
“While it’s on my neck,” Iestyn said.
