Ture helped Zarya to her feet. She took one step before her legs buckled. Faster than Ture could blink, Maris scooped her up into his arms. “Don’t worry, sweetie. I’ve got you.”
Ture hissed as he saw the targeting laser appear on Maris’s uniform. Without thought, he jumped in front of it. But no one fired.
Instead, a man dressed in a black Sentella uniform stood in the doorway as if frozen in place.
“Zarya?” he breathed. His tone that of a prayer.
Maris nodded.
“Darling?” Zarya said, her voice breaking as she reached for him.
Ture couldn’t move as he stared in total disbelief. God love her, she’d been right to put her faith in her king. In spite of his family name and birthright, Darling Cruel was everything she’d said and then some.
Stunned to the deepest level, he watched as Maris handed her off to Darling who held her as if she was the most precious thing in the entire universe.
Gods, to have one person hold him like that . . . .
“I knew you’d come for me,” she sobbed, laying her hand against Darling’s helmet that kept his identity completely hidden from his enemies. “I knew it.”
Ture caught himself against the wall as the room spun. For a moment, he thought he’d go down. But by some other miracle, he stayed on his feet. “She never once lost faith in you, Majesty.”
All of a sudden, Maris was next to him, helping him to catch his balance. He pulled Ture’s arm around his shoulders and held him close.
Still, Ture couldn’t believe they were here. “I told her it wasn’t feasible. That you’d never find us, but she was right. She said you’d promised her that you would bust hell itself open to get to her. And that you never lied.” Ture tried to take a step, but it was useless. His battered body was through.
Ture fully expected to hit the floor.
He didn’t. Instead, Maris swept him up in his arms and held him.
Maris tightened his grip to keep him safe. “Don’t worry. We’ll get you to help.”
It was inconceivable. Ture frowned at the blood on his hand that hadn’t come from him or Zarya. “You need a medic as much as I do.”
Even though he had him fully cradled, Maris shrugged. “It’s not as bad as it looks.”
Yeah, right. At six foot one, Ture was anything but small. And while he was lean, he was all muscle and not light of weight.
Yet Maris carried him past Darling and Zarya as if he weighed nothing at all.
Just as they reached the door, a shot went past them.
Zarya had used Darling’s blaster to drive back another League soldier.
Maris fell back into the room, spun with Ture in his arms and then set Ture down on the floor. “They’re coming fast and furious,” he warned the others.
With an obvious reluctance, Darling placed Zarya on the ground beside Ture. “Let them bring it with all they have. You ready, Mari?”
Maris answered with laughter in his tone. “You know I hate fighting. But I think a little payback for my damaged battlesuit might actually make me feel better for once.”
“I know it’ll do great things for me.” Darling pulled a fully charged blaster off his holster and exchanged it for the one Zarya had shot. “Stay behind us.”
Maris handed one of his blasters to Ture. “Do you know how to shoot?”
Ture scowled at the foreign feel of the weapon in his hand. Ironically, his father had tried to teach him for years and he’d always sucked terribly. He offered a lopsided grin at Maris. “Not straight... in more ways than one. But if I aim at their feet I can hopefully wound them until one of you finishes them off. And that way if I really miss, I won’t kill an ally. You’ll just limp a little.”
Maris laughed. “Thanks for the consideration. I’m Maris Sulle, by the way, and I should probably warn you that it didn’t go well for the last guy who accidentally wounded me.”
With Maris’s air of bad ass machismo, Ture could just imagine. And he was doubly glad he wasn’t the one who’d shot him. “I’m Zarya’s friend, Ture Xans.”
“Nice meeting you.”
Well at least Maris had manners. Even in the middle of battle.
Darling tapped his link. “Hauk? Are you still evacing the civs?”
“Yeah. Are you pinned?”
“No. We’re coming out of the last cell. I just didn’t want you to shoot us by mistake. I know how caught up you get in a fight.”
Hauk hissed. “Why are you bitching about that again? I only shot you once and it was an accident caused by your premature explosion problem. Had you not startled me while I was changing our charges, it wouldn’t have happened.”
“Anyway,” Darling said, ignoring the outburst. “There are four of us. Don’t fire.”
Darling turned back to them. “Can you two walk at all?”
“Are you kidding?” Zarya asked. “Right now I could fly.”
Nodding, Ture agreed. “To get out of hell, I’d skip to the beat of the worst song ever recorded. Even if it means dragging my entrails behind me.”
Darling snorted. “We’ll go slow and if your entrails happen to start dragging, please let us know.” Then, he and Maris headed for the door.