Hive Queen by Sinclair, Grayson (ereader iphone .TXT) 📗

moving as soon as I get a bath. I don’t even want to think about how nasty I am right now.” I got up from the couch and turned to head up the stairs when Raven’s hand closed around my wrist. “What?”

She frowned. “We’re not going to talk about the kiss?”

I huffed and scratched my chin. “What do you want me to say, Raven? I’m already in love with someone, and even if I like you, it doesn’t change that.”

“But you do like me.”

I sighed. “Yes, I like you, happy?”

She beamed at me. “For now.”

I climbed the stairs and quickly drew a bath. As I hopped in, I sat back and let what just happened sink in.

That’s not going to end well for me, I just know it. I’d hated what she was when we met, didn’t want anything to do with her, but she was a lot like Eris. Not so much in their personalities, but she didn’t give me any choice but to like her.

Especially now. After what Eris did, it’s only fair I’m allowed to do the same. I shook my head. Don’t be ridiculous, I couldn’t. I can’t. Eris had a good reason for what she did, I just knew it. I couldn’t let that and whatever feelings I had for Raven influence my thoughts.

I knew Eris wouldn’t care one bit about sharing, but that was something I didn’t know if I could do.

It was every man’s fantasy, but I was loyal to my partner, and even kissing Raven was a betrayal to Eris.

But she betrayed me first. I blew out a very long breath. Worry about your love life after we get out of the city that would see us dead.

I cleaned myself thoroughly and finally got rid of the beard. It had grown out and was filthy. Never liked it to begin with. I only kept it because Eris liked it.

When I was clean, I changed into a fresh set of clothes and raced to the bedroom to grab my knife from under the bed. I glanced at the black metal for a brief second as a wave of regret came over me before I stowed it away and went back downstairs.

Raven was waiting by the door, and as soon as I came down, she walked out. Let’s get going. Raven glanced around the dead street before transforming. With a cloud of feathers, she became the giant black raven and lowered to let me on.

“We need to hurry; it’s going to be hard to fly straight up with you weighing me down.”

“Right.”

I hopped on she took off in a single smooth motion. In a handful of seconds, we were soaring high above the sleeping city. I wasn’t worried about anyone seeing us. There weren’t many people out at this hour, and we were high enough up that we blended well into the shadows cast by the earth and rocks.

We flew past the giant cluster of mana crystals embedded in the ceiling; our reflections multiplied with the pulsating light. It was gorgeous, and my skin prickled with the condensed and stored up mana that leaked out ever so gently.

“It’s even prettier up close,” I said, staring as we passed by.

My remark didn’t earn me a comment from Raven. Either she didn’t hear me, or she was busy concentrating on flying. The closest vent came upon us quickly, and I let the chitin flow over me as we approached. The vent stuck out like a thick metal tube many dozens of feet wide. A thick cap clung to the tip of it, and a wire net prevented us from entering.

“I’ll make a pass, and you climb onto the vent and create an opening,” Raven said.

“Got it.”

I readied myself, and when I was right underneath it, I leapt and clung to the vent like my life depended on it. Which it did.

I did an incredibly stupid thing and looked down. Far, far below me was Aldrust, and my stomach lurched, roiling with nerves. My skin went clammy just as cottonmouth dried my tongue and I fought to keep from hurling.

“Holy shit!” I swore and focused on anything other than the many hundreds of feet that separated me from becoming jelly on the pavestones.

With my claws, I set to work slicing through the dense wire, careful where I cut so I wouldn’t cut away my lifeline. The string dipped and buckled as I severed it, and I clung ever tighter as I made a hole more than wide enough for Raven to fly through.

When I was finished, I slowly crawled up through the hole and perched on the lip of the metal while I caught my breath and my nerves quit screaming at me.

It only took a few moments before Raven flew up through the hole and landed beside me.

“That was kinda fun,” she said.

“Yeah, but look up.”

The tubular shaft stretched up and up; more nets like the one I’d just gut through hung on brackets every hundred feet or so. We had plenty to cut through to get out of this place.

“Well, we best get started.”

This is going to take a while.

 

***

“Woo!” I screamed as we shot through the vent and out into the blistering daylight. “Freedom!”

It had taken several long hours of hopping from net to net before we reached the top, and by the time we were done, we were both slick with sweat and beyond exhausted. But soaring through the open air once again was more than enough of a reward for our hard work.

“I’ll fly as far away from Aldrust as I can, but we’ll have to find a place to stop and rest soon.”

“Understood.”

I sat back and relaxed as the cool wind whipped the sweat from my face and arms. The sun