Ice Baron (Ice Chronicles, Book One (science fiction romance)) (7 page)

A fine tremor seized Joshua as he
struggled to keep himself under control. A violent loss of self control would
accomplish none of his goals. The bastard would die. This was a certainty. Now
he just had to plot how.

“Joshua, you’re scaring me.” Anya
touched his arm and with a desperate twist to his head, he looked deep into her
beautiful blue eyes. They were like clear waters that lapped at his soul and
calmed him. They always had. They always would.

“You won’t marry him,” he said
gruffly. “Come home with me.”

*  *  *  *  *

Relief was so swift and strong
that Anya swayed a bit, feeling light-headed. Could it be so simple? She could
go home. Everything would go on as it had before. She looked down at her
fingers, still on Joshua’s arm.

Then, slowly, she removed them.
No. It could not. For the first time, she saw this truth clearly. She would
die. She would waste away from wanting a man who would never want her…who
could
never want her. “What about peace?”

“Peace will wait for another day.
Pack your things. We’re going home.”

She stepped back. “I won’t go with
you.”

Joshua’s gaze narrowed.

“I’ve made a clean break. I want
to start a new life.”

“No.”

“I’ve said my goodbyes.”

“Your family needs you.”

It was the one card he could play
that would break her heart, and he knew it. After all, she had never wanted to
leave home—at least, not forever. “Marriage to Onred would have done the same thing.”

“You have no need to leave. I will
protect you from Onred. You can marry whomever you wish.”

“No. I can’t.” Anya turned away
before he saw the truth in her eyes. He was a perceptive man. It wouldn’t take
a space scientist to see through the flimsy, self-protective layers to her
heart.

Silence elapsed. “I won’t leave
you here.”

Anya gathered up her things and
pushed them into the black bag. “I’ll go with you under one condition.”

“What?” He sounded grim.

“Fly me to my uncle’s territory
and leave me there.”

Joshua’s gaze flickered.

“No tricks,” she cautioned. “Or I’ll
escape again. You can’t keep me a prisoner.”

Softly, he said, “Now I am your
captor? Your guard?” Temper heated his eyes to tawny fire.

She stiffened, and lifted her
chin. “Of course not. But I need freedom. I want to find out who I am, apart
from you…and my family.”

“Apart from me.”

“You are no longer my protector,
Joshua. Let me go.”

His fingers curled around her
wrist, and he drew her close to him. “I will always be your protector,” he said
through his teeth. “Accept that. Finally.”

“Let me go.” Her voice lowered to
a whisper. “Please.”

His gaze remained locked with
hers, but he did not release her.

A piercing shriek broke the
silence. Then came a distant, guttural boom and a hissing whoosh, like the
explosion of an air cannon. The ground shuddered.

“What was
that
?”

Both bolted into the night. Far to
the north, low on the horizon, a bright yellow ball mushroomed, rimmed with
crimson. Whatever it was, it had happened a great distance away.

Anya stared in shock. “What…”

“No. God almighty.” Joshua’s words
sounded like a strangled prayer.

“What
is
it?” she cried
out.

Surely it was too far away to be…

“Astana.”

The yellow mushroom roiled higher,
billowing into an angry, orange-red cloud, rimmed with black, devouring its
prey like a greedy, voracious monster.

CHAPTER SIX

“
No.
”
It could not be Astana.

Anya staggered backward. It wasn’t.
It
couldn’t
be.

But Joshua’s very silence
terrified her. He stood completely still, staring north, his features rigid.

“It
can’t
be!” Anya cried
out.

“It is.” The horrible deadness in
his voice made her gasp. Suddenly, she couldn’t catch her breath. It felt like
all of the air had been sucked from her lungs.

“No,” she whispered, her voice
tight and choking. “
No!
” Not Astana. It couldn’t be. And yet a
descending, horrible certainty told her otherwise. No other city lay in that
direction. What else could it be?

Joshua said nothing, his features
as still as stone. But the bleak acknowledgement in his eyes struck to her very
soul.

Something crumpled inside of her.

“
No.
” A high, keening wail
left her throat, and Anya fell to her knees. It couldn’t be true! Her family.
Marli, Damon, Elise, David… “No.
No,
” she screamed again. “Marli…”

Joshua’s arm clamped around her
shoulders and held her tight. He was on his knees too, staring at the far
horizon; at the inferno that had been their home. She wasn’t sure who held the
other up.

Her home was gone, destroyed
forever in one thermal fireball. At least it wasn’t nuclear. At least it wouldn’t
wipe out all of Donetsk Territory. A hysterical sound rose in her throat, and
she cried out gasping, incoherent belts of misery.

Thermal bombs were clean and
precise, and the modern weapon of choice for mass destruction. They left no radiation,
unlike the nuclear bombs which had destroyed the planet one thousand years ago,
and had left it in a permanent ice age.

Astana was gone.
Gone.
She
could not comprehend it. It could not be true.

“
No.
” She wept in gulping,
uncontrollable sobs. Time became meaningless. Her throat felt raw and her jaw
ached.

Slowly, after many long minutes,
logical thoughts formed. She choked out, “Who could do such a thing?”

“Onred.”

“Why?” And then it hit her. “Because
of me. It’s because of
me
they’re all dead!”

“Anya, no.”

“Yes. It’s because of
me.
Oh God, what have I done?” Weeping, she fell face first on the ground and
screamed her inconsolable torment into the snow.

“Anya. Anya!” Joshua pulled her
up.

Her wet face felt frozen. She didn’t
care. She wanted to die right now. She wanted to be with them. “I should be
there. Why them, and not me?” She could barely think.

Joshua’s arms went under her knees
and he lifted her. She fought him. “Put me down. Put me
down.
That
should be me.” She wept without ceasing. “Put me
down!
I need to go to
them.”

“They’re dead.” Through her own
torment, she heard his voice break. “Stop fighting. We’ve got to go inside. I
have to think.”

Think?
What good would thinking do? They
were dead. All of her family was dead. Bitter, piercing wails tore through her
as Joshua carried her inside the cave. He gently set her down against the wall,
near the fire. Anya wrapped her arms around her knees and rocked back and
forth, wretchedly weeping.

Joshua paced, his strides jerky.
Anya pressed streaming eyes into her jacket sleeve. The world had ended. What
else was there to live for, to fight for?

Onred had taken it all. Every vile
curse word she had ever heard in her life spit from her mouth, damning Onred
forever to hell. She didn’t feel better afterward, just more filthy. Guilty. It
was all her fault. If she had just sacrificed herself, maybe peace would have
come. It had been arrogant of her to try to achieve peace on her own. Who
was
she, anyway?

“I’m sorry,” she whimpered. “I’m
so sorry.”

“It’s not your fault, Anya.”

“It
is.
”

“A man who wants peace wouldn’t
take the first opportunity to attack. You were right. We couldn’t trust him. He
probably planned this all along. After he got you…” Joshua’s harsh words broke
off, sounding strangled.

Anya wiped her face and took
several deep breaths. “He’s won. Just like that, he’s won. The whole territory
is his.”

“No, it is
not,
” he said
with low intensity. “I am still alive, and so are you.”

“The other cities will be next.”

“No.  He needs our greenhouses. Destroying
Astana was symbolic. He destroyed our power base to send a message to the other
cities.”

“They’ll surrender.”

“Not….” A crackle came from the
gold, triangular patch on his collar.

“Alpha Victor; Tango Bravo. Copy?”

Joshua pressed the microscopic
send button. “Go ahead, Tango Bravo.”

“Thank God!” Relief mingled with
the panic in the young male voice. “I’m flying the northern border. Astana’s
gone. Did you see?”

“Affirmative. Report.”

“Onred arrived at twenty hundred
hours. I don’t know how he got through our defenses. I got a distress call from
Control fifteen minutes ago. Onred’s shuttle left ten minutes later. Then
Astana blew up.”

Joshua bit out an expletive. “Replay
the distress call.”

Static crackled, and then a
precise, clipped woman’s voice said, “They’re shooting in the halls. Onred’s
men are armed. They’re sweeping the baron’s level. They’re…” hissing crackles
popped. “They’re breaking in here.” For the first time, a small note of panic
entered the woman’s voice. “What’s that?” She seemed to be listening to
something else. “Report. They’ve kidnapped the Dubrovnyk children. I don’t
know…” An explosion sounded, and the sound of running footsteps. A grunt. “No!”
Then silence.

“Copy, Alpha Victor?” The young
man’s voice shook.

“Retreat to Zebra Charlie Alpha,”
Joshua barked. “All units report.”

“They’re tracking me!” Fear
elevated Tango Bravo’s voice. “I’m taking evasive action. Get rid of your
transponders, Alpha! Once you’re dead…”

Complete silence.

Joshua swore and stripped off his
jacket and shirt. He wore thin snow wear beneath. He thrust one garment at
Anya. “Cut out the transponder. We need to go. Now.”

With shaking hands, Anya flipped
out her utility knife and hacked out the rectangular transponder from the back
collar of Joshua’s shirt. For security reasons, the small device tracked his
movements. She had already cut them out of her own clothing. As she did so, she
wondered how Onred had breached Astana’s entire defense network. How else could
the thermal have punched through their defense shield? And how could he track
the pilots? To do it all, he must have gained access to Central Command and the
military’s highly protected computer transponder codes. But
how?

While Joshua yanked back on his
shirt and jacket, Anya swiftly finished packing. She pulled out her heat
reflecting tarp.

“Let’s go.” Joshua strode fast for
the cave entrance.

“What about the fire? Should we
put it out?”

“Leave it. They’ll think I’m
hiding here.”

Anya followed him into the
freezing night. Moonlight glinted off the white snow. Dark rocks looked like
unfathomable black shadows.

Joshua said, “Onred’s men will be
here soon.”

“What about your aircraft?”

“No time.”

Silently, Anya handed him one end
of the tarp. Casting her a quick, approving glance, he took the end and pulled
it over them both. Although the heat insulating tarp was large, they had to
walk shoulder to shoulder. Joshua pulled her black bag from her hand.

She protested, “I can carry it.”

“Don’t argue.”

They walked fast over the frozen
snow, heading uphill, deeper into the mountains.

Anya couldn’t seem to feel
anything. Maybe she was in shock. She peered around the edge of the tarp at the
glowing orange slice on the horizon. “Do you think they’re alive? Do you think
Onred kidnapped my family?”

How could she feel any hope when
all the other inhabitants of Astana were dead?

“Maybe. They could be insurance,
in case they can’t kill me. Or you.”

“Hostages, you mean.”

Joshua didn’t answer. He didn’t
have to. Now a whole new set of worries tortured her. If her brothers and
sisters were still alive, what would Onred do to them? Horrible images flooded
her mind, making her feel sick.

“Maybe it would be better if they
were dead,” she whispered. No. She couldn’t think like that. Anya didn’t dare
cry, for it was so cold now that the liquid might freeze her eyelids together.

Joshua still didn’t answer. That
scared her, for if he could reassure her, he would. That was his nature.

They both heard the whisper of
approaching aircraft at the same time.