The flight to his personal spaceport was another short ride Dragon wished would take longer.

So many unspoken words lay between them, crowding the space inside the aircar until he couldn’t bear the silence any longer.

He removed one hand from the driving lever and placed it on her thigh. “I still don’t want you to go.”

Shivers ran along her body, and she gulped. He felt her reaction as if it were his own.

“I have no choice,” she whispered.

“You do, but are too stubborn to see otherwise.” His hand slowly caressed her leg.

The pants Valerian chose for her were made of a sturdy cotton, but despite the fabric, he could still feel her skin underneath, heating under his touch.

He could stall the aircar in autopilot and remove her clothes to have her one last time before he let her go. “Jade—” Desire burned brightly inside him, suggesting he go back on his word. He could cage her inside his quarters until she succumbed to the inevitable and accepted they couldn’t live apart.

“I have no choice,” she repeated, louder, putting a halt to his train of thought.

He removed his hand from her leg to pass it over his jaw, frustration eating at him.

Jade angled in the seat, turning sideways toward him and opened her mouth to speak. Her words were drowned by the sound of the heavy artillery of a machine gun firing at them.

The glass on her side was riddled with a hail of ammunition, and he thanked his decision a few years ago to fit all the court’s vehicles with bulletproof glass.

Hovering in the sky, a lonely, winged figure took aim at them and shot again, directing the fire power at the same spot he had already hit. Cracks appeared on the window.

Dragon jerked the lever and steered the aircar away from the assassin. With the corner of his eye, he saw Jade’s hand reaching for the door. He realized what she wanted to do and leaned to grab her elbow before she would jump out.

There was no time to yell at her, but he tightened his hold to let Jade know he wouldn’t let go of her.

“I can keep him busy while you fly back and ask for help,” she said over the loud shooting.

“The assassin isn’t going to hang around once he gets hold of you,” he answered, pressing the gear button and switching from automatic to manual. The van wasn’t one of the faster vehicles in his fleet, but it could achieve a decent speed in the hands of a capable pilot.

“Are there any weapons I can use?” Jade asked, sitting back in her seat.

He shook his head, driving the van toward the next Rocky Dome in sight. He would use the geography of his realm to lose their pursuer.

“Hang tight,” he warned Jade before sending their ride into a tilt as they entered the narrow valley shadowed by the Cathedral and the Twin, the tallest of the Rocky Domes in the region. With their canyons and hidden valleys, the Cathedral and the Twin were a sanctuary for wild draglets. The harsh terrains and rugged peaks made the two domes the perfect habitat for the draglets, but it was highly dangerous to drive between them. At several points, the monoliths leaned against each other with no flying space left to maneuver, but Dragon counted on that to get rid of the assassin.

“Is it the same one from yesterday?” he asked, maneuvering closer to the Cathedral while keeping an eye on the rearview mirror.

She didn’t hesitate. “Yes, that’s Maarlo.”

“Then the Academy now knows for sure that you’re alive and with me,” he voiced his conclusion out loud.

“And that I have no intention of killing you,” she added.

“He also knew where to look for—”

A volley of bullets hit the rear glass, interrupting him.

Jade turned and swore. “He’s switched artillery.”

Miniature wings protruded from the bullets that had burrowed their sharp points into the window. The wings started rotating faster and faster as the ammunition screwed itself deeper inside the glass.

“The good news is that he can’t carry many of the winged bullets because they are twenty times heavier than regular ammunition,” she said.

“And the bad news?”

“Winged bullets can perforate steel.”

Dragon was still waiting for something to go right today, but it seemed that there was no end to his bad luck lately.

“How long does it take for one of them to go through bulletproof glass?” He steered the aircar once again toward a rocky arch connecting the two domes.

“Ten minutes at the most, probably less because he’s already compromised the integrity of the surface.”

He nodded, changing gears as he crossed under the arch and hung a sharp right, entering a windy canyon.

The assassin followed them easily enough, but when the first gust hit his wings, he was jerked backward. His gun went off, wasting a round of ammunition.

“Hopefully, they were winged bullets,” Jade said as she kept looking from the front to the rear of the van, her head whipping back and forth.

“We can only hope.” As far as he was concerned, he was due some luck by now.

The assassin adjusted his aim with the next shot and hit them squarely on Jade’s side, cracking the side window until it sported a web of lines radiating from the impact points.

“No winged bullets,” Jade exulted.

Dragon changed gears again, pushing the van to its highest speed yet before entering a valley. His intention was to lure the assassin into the open space before leading him inside the Death Canyon. The gorge was named after a group of teenagers who lost their lives on a dare. The elusive terrain lured inexperienced drivers into its meanderings that appeared safe enough to fly through at first glance, but high winds and the water cascading from the top of the Twin ran through its nooks and crannies. Fed by the winter snows, a beautiful waterfall fell along the wall of the Rocky Dome, splashing the Cathedral. During summer, a strong gale filled the narrow passages of the canyon and it would form a channel of water in a matter of seconds. The unfortunate teenagers were driving airbikes when they drowned several dozen meters above the river.

Dragon tuned his ears on the combined sounds of gurgling water and whistling wind. “You might want to take a good breath,” he said before giving the riddled windows a brief glance, then forged ahead toward one of the tunnels excavated by hundreds of years of slow erosion. “We’re going to get wet soon.”

Behind, the assassin followed.

Dragon had chosen that tunnel because it would allow the assassin’s gear through, even though it didn’t accommodate his van’s wingspan—but he had a plan to remedy that. Keeping the same distance between them and their pursuer, Dragon pushed the button to fold the van’s wings in half and activated the propellers that would keep them hovering long enough for him to carry out a risky maneuver. The propellers consumed fossil fuel and weren’t as fast as the clockwork lateral sails, but they would do in a pinch.

He focused on the rumble ahead of them, slowing his heartbeats as he calculated several scenarios.

The assassin gained speed on them and took aim at Jade’s side one more time. Bullets hit the glass again and again. The rear window cracked under the relentless action of the winged ammunition that were now sticking inside.

Reality froze for a few heartbeats. Then in short order, the windows collapsed and thunder shook the vehicle. A wall of water advanced fast toward them. Dragon grabbed Jade and enveloped her in his arms, bracing for the impact that came a moment later.

“Everything is going to be okay,” he yelled in her ear, holding her closer as they were tossed inside the vehicle and icy water filled the space.