In the Devil's Nebula (Phoenix Adventures #2) by Anna Hackett Page B

was
blaring down toward the horizon, baking everything in its path.
    Diablo. Memories rushed back in. Ria .
Where was Ria?
    Frantic, he looked around as best he could
from his awkward position. He spotted Clint and Ray seated on
horses ahead of him. They had two extra horses on long leads,
trailing behind them. When Zayn saw the feminine body draped over
the other horse, he released a long breath.
    Then worry pounded into him. She wasn’t
moving. Was she okay?
    Zayn tested the restraints. They were solid.
For now, he wasn’t going anywhere. Besides, he really needed to
assess how bad his injuries were. He remembered some rib-shattering
jabs to the chest and gut before a blow to the back of the head had
equaled lights out.
    And Ria. She’d gotten a damn hard blow to
the head.
    He forced the panic down. She was a Guild
assassin. She’d be fine. She had to be.
    It felt like hours later when Ray and Clint
stopped the horses amongst a stand of straggly trees surrounded by
a high canyon. The rocky walls were striated in every shade of red.
The setting sun hit them, turning them a bloody scarlet.
    Zayn remained still and listened to the men
muttering about making camp for the night. The next second, Zayn
was dragged roughly from the horse and dumped on the ground. The
drop made fire tear through his ribs and he clamped down on his lip
to stop an agonized groan from escaping.
    Ray dropped Ria’s dead weight down beside
Zayn and stalked away. The men set about creating a fire and
setting up camp with the ease of long experience. They ignored Zayn
and Ria.
    For now.
    “Ria? Ria?” He kept his voice low
    She didn’t move.
    He managed to scoot over beside her. With a
nudge, he rolled her over and he sucked in a breath. One side of
her face was covered in dried blood. As best he could with his
bound hands, he searched for the wound. There . A bloody gash
on her temple. He probed it a bit, was gratified by a tiny groan.
It wasn’t too bad. Might scar without a medscope, but it wasn’t
life-threatening.
    In sleep, her face was more relaxed. Even
injured, covered in blood, she was beautiful. Not like Eos with her
dark gorgeousness, but something fresh, healthy and real. Looking
at her now, he couldn’t see Vik in her anymore. He dragged in a
deep breath, finally acknowledging what he’d known for a while. She
was like Vik in some ways, but so different in others. She was more
flexible, more understanding than Vik had ever been.
    Now looking at the woman beside him, Zayn
only saw Ria.
    As the sun sank farther away, a night sky
scattered with stars appeared. One huge rising moon balanced on the
horizon, and visible not far behind it, the top of a second,
smaller one. He kept his bound hands resting on Ria’s and willed
her to wake, all the while watching their captors. The Baker
brothers clearly knew how to survive in this planet’s harsh
climate. God only knew what they had planned for him and Ria. They
needed to escape. He looked back to the unconscious woman beside
him. There was no way they were going to do that until Ria woke
up.
    Full darkness descended, broken only by the
moonslight and the temperature dropped rapidly. The men’s fire
popped and crackled, but Zayn was too far away to feel any warmth
from it.
    Suddenly one of the men came out of the
shadows, silhouetted by the flames. He dumped two tin bowls filled
with a gray gruel down on the ground. Some sort of animal skin
landed beside Zayn’s bowl, topped at one end with a plas cap.
    “Hare stew and water. Eat up. You’ll need
your strength.” Clint gave a harsh laugh.
    “Where are you taking us?” Zayn figured if
they wanted him and Ria dead, they’d be rotting in the desert by
now.
    “We’re going to sell you both to Tumbleweed
Bob.”
    That didn’t sound good. “Who’s Tumbleweed
Bob?”
    “Owns a gold mine up in the hills. Always
looking for workers he doesn’t have to pay.” Clint laughed again.
The sound rubbed across Zayn’s nerves like barbed