Starfall

by Melissa Landers

  “Everyone, calm down.” Cassia narrowed her eyes at Jordan. “I’m sure no one’s accusing Kane of being a rebel.”

  “Of course not,” Jordan droned. “Must’ve gotten my rumors confused.”

  “I asked you to wait outside.”

  “Believe me, I wanted to. There’s an emergency.”

  “What kind?”

  Jordan hesitated, darting glances around the room as if gauging whether to trust its occupants. “Biological warfare from the sound of it. A third of the city’s sick with the same symptoms, but the royal physician says it’s not viral or bacterial.”

  Kane pushed off the counter. “What are the symptoms?”

  “Nausea and vomiting.” Jordan paused in thought and then continued ticking items on his fingers. “Fatigue, headaches, loss of appetite…”

  “What about sweating?” Kane asked. “And trembling hands?”

  “How’d you know?”

  “My mom. I knew something was wrong yesterday. She blamed it on the coffee, but that didn’t—” Suddenly, Kane stiffened. “The coffee! That’s a new ration, right? If you imported it from the Durango stock, maybe it was poisoned.”

  “I drank the coffee, and I feel fine,” Jordan said. “But I’ll have my men survey the victims to see if they can find a common denominator. If so, we should be able to analyze a sample and identify the contaminant.”

  “While you do that, I want five minutes alone with Marius,” Kane muttered darkly. “If there’s an antidote for whatever his army used, I’ll get it out of him.”

  Cassia shook her head. “No way. If anything happens to him, his army has no reason to observe the cease-fire. I hate him as much as anyone, but he’s under my protection, at least until we figure out who his off-world backer is. I have to sever that relationship to make sure his supplier can’t send more weapons, otherwise the war will start all over again.”

  “Wait a minute,” Renny interjected while shuffling toward the sink to fill a glass with water. “You told me the Durangos specialize in neurological advancements. Didn’t they invent some kind of truth extractor?”

  “Yes, and we already used it,” Cassia said. “Marius doesn’t know who his backer is. His father arranged the deal and kept the details to himself. Now the old king is dead, and all Marius has is a transmission code to reach his supplier through a third party in the outer realm.”

  “We haven’t questioned Marius about the outbreak yet,” Jordan told her.

  “All right. I’ll handle it.”

  “We’ll handle it,” Kane corrected.

  “Fine.” She waved him toward the stairs. “Go get dressed. We’ll handle it.”

  Even though the palace was within walking distance, they took the Banshee’s shuttle to give Cassia an aerial view of the refugee tent camp, where the outbreak was believed to have originated. On a usual day, half the displaced colonists wandered into the city to look for work or to scavenge for anything they could repair and sell. The other half milled about the market or stood in lines for rations.

  But that wasn’t the case today.

  “My god,” she breathed as she pressed her forehead to the windshield and stared at the listless masses slumped over on the ground outside their tents. There were thousands and thousands of them, all too tired to walk. Nearly every pair of shoulders shook from either coughing or retching, maybe both. That was why they chose not to rest inside their tents. They didn’t want to fill their homes with the stink of vomit. “Look at this, Kane.”

  His fingers squeaked from tightening around the pilot’s wheel. “I see it.”

  “There are so many of them.” She prayed the illness wasn’t contagious, otherwise the neighboring kingdoms wouldn’t need sticks and rocks to lay waste to her people. “Is your mom this bad?”

  “Not quite, but I just called her a few minutes ago. Who knows what kind of shape she’ll be in by tonight.”

  “All right, I’ve seen enough,” she said. “Take us to Marius.”

  By the time they walked through the security station door, Jordan had left a message saying he and his men found a common link among the sick. They all appeared to spend most of their days outside, which was consistent with Rena’s work as a farmhand.

  “Something in the soil, maybe?” Kane guessed as they crossed the lobby. “It can’t be in the water supply or we’d all have symptoms.”

  Cassia nodded absently while making a mental note to talk to Councilor Markham. She wanted him to find out whether colonists in the other kingdoms were sick as well, but to do so in a way that didn’t reveal how dire the problem was at home. She had to maintain a strong front. At the first sign of weakness, the other houses might unite against her.

  “Hey, are you listening to me?”

  “Sorry.” She refocused on Kane, who stood with one hand on the door leading to the cell block. “Before we go inside,” she said, “I should warn you about Marius.”

  “He’s locked up, right?”

  “Yes, but if you thought he was awful before, that’s nothing compared with what he’s like on the truth extractor. He won’t hold back. So brace yourself and don’t lose your head.”

  The impish grin on Kane’s lips reminded her of old times, when he treated her like a friend instead of a wounded bird. “He’ll have to step up his game if he wants to provoke me. I lived with you for two years.”

  “And you never lost your head.” She smiled sweetly and knocked on his skull. “Not that there’s anything in there to lose.”

  “Nice one.”

  “I know. Come on.”

  After keying open the door, she led the way to the maximum-security cell at the heart of the block. There she found Marius behind fiberglass bars, reclining on his cot and reading from a data tablet. He glanced up from his device and greeted her with an arrogant grin that fell when he noticed Kane.

  “I see you reunited with your boyfriend.” Marius raked his gaze over Kane’s rumpled clothing. “You do have a taste for the fouler things in life.”

  “Guards, administer the truth extractor.” She kept her eyes fixed on Marius so she wouldn’t miss his reaction. He bolted upright and dropped his tablet. “I want to question our guest.”

  It gave her a tingle of satisfaction to know how much he hated the extraction process. The electrodes always made him confess embarrassing secrets unrelated to her line of questioning. He’d once announced a fetish for body hair, and ever since then the guards had way too much fun at his expense when they came on duty, lifting a pant leg to show off their furry calves. She disdained the invention itself and wouldn’t allow its use on the colonists, but she was all too happy to make an exception for her husband.

  The guards followed her orders, and twenty minutes later, Marius was cuffed to a chair in his cell, under the influence of his own family’s invention.

  “Perfect,” Cassia said through the bars. “Now we can begin.”

  Marius clenched his fists in fury, wrenching uselessly against his restraints. “I’m going to find a way out of here, and when I do, I’ll have your eyes gouged out and every inch of your skin flayed from your bones.” He glared at Kane. “You and your filthy bastard of a lover.”

  Kane snickered. “It’s working. That’s unfiltered honesty, right there.”

  “My people are sick,” Cassia told Marius. “Thousands of them.”

  “Good. I’m glad.”

  She kept her voice calm as a vein throbbed at her temple. “It’s not viral or bacterial. We think your army launched a biological contaminant on us. Do you have a weapon like that?”

  He growled through clenched teeth. “Yes.”

  “Have you ever deployed it?”

  “No.”

  “Tell me how the weapon works.”

  “If we wanted to poison you, we would drop tablets downriver. Or launch them into your lakes.”

  “My turn,” Kane said. “What are the symptoms?”

  The loathing on Marius’s face was nearly tangible. Spittle frot
hed at the corners of his mouth, but he was incapable of remaining silent. “Skin sores and shortness of breath. Loss of consciousness. Your people would faint on the streets. It would make an invasion effortless. I’m going to use it on you the first chance I get.”

  Cassia frowned. Those symptoms didn’t match. “What about your weapons supplier? Could he have launched something different without telling you?”

  “Of course,” Marius spat. “It sounds like something he would do. My father said he was the most twisted man he’d ever met.” Marius tried to hold back his next words, clenching his jaw so tightly his eyes watered. Finally, he gasped and said, “There’s more.”

  Kane chuckled and made a mock sympathetic face. “Go ahead, buddy. Get it all out.”

  “I hate you!”

  “Enough games.” Cassia landed an elbow in Kane’s ribs. “Tell me the rest.”

  “A shipment arrived on our wedding day,” Marius grunted through his teeth.

  “What kind?”

  “I don’t know. I didn’t have time to inspect it.”

  “But it might’ve been a biological weapon?”

  “Maybe,” he howled with fury. “I had it delivered to the armory. One of my men might’ve deployed it after you took me.”

  Cassia tapped the com-button at her collar and told the answering attendant, “Send a message to General Jordan at once. He should inspect the Durango armory for the presence of a biological weapon.”

  “Yes, Highness.”

  Marius smiled, forcing her to suppress a shiver. “Search all you want. If my supplier created a poison, he’s the only one with the cure.”

  “What’s his name?” Kane asked.

  “I don’t know.”

  “But you must have a theory.”

  “His operation is in the outer realm, isn’t it?” Marius hurled back. “Even someone as stupid and low-born as you should be able to figure out that he’s a fugitive. Beyond that I have no damned idea.”

  Cassia asked one last question. “Is there anything else you’re not telling us?”

  “Yes.” Marius’s lips curled into the same sick leer he used in her nightmares. Suddenly, the memories of her latest dream came rushing back and stole her breath. “I’ll see you dead, my dear Cassy. I promise you that.”

  She turned on her heel and signaled for the guards to remove the electrodes, then strode briskly out of the cell block so no one would notice the cold sweat breaking out on her face. Even as her chest constricted, she reminded herself there was nothing to fear. Marius couldn’t hurt her.

  “I’m in control now,” she chanted under her breath.

  When Kane caught up, he settled a hand on her shoulder. She flinched at first, but then she relaxed into his touch and let him rub circles on her lower back. The contact felt better than she cared to admit.

  “Want to talk about it?” he murmured.

  She shook her head. The only thing she wanted to talk about was finding Marius’s supplier, which she had to do before the entire city fell ill and the other noble houses grew tired of her stalling. She hated to leave Eturia so soon after her parents’ defection, but without a cure, all the progress she’d made would unravel. There was too much at stake to delegate this task to anyone else.

  “My tech team pinged Marius’s transmission code and tracked the signal to a moving satellite station in the fringe.” She turned to face Kane. “There’s not much money in my coffers right now, but if Renny won’t mind taking a partial payment, I’d like to hire the Banshee to take me there.”

  “You and me both,” Kane said, and paused for a moment. “I don’t want to leave my mom, but the fastest way to help her is to find whoever made her sick. If money’s a problem, I’ll ask Gage for the signing bonus he promised me.”

  The reminder of his job offer made her stomach clench. “Talk to Renny first. I’d like to handle the bill. While you do that, I’ll tie up loose ends and pack a bag.”

  “Your clothes are still on board,” he reminded her.

  “Oh. Right.” She had forgotten. “Then I’ll pack light. Meet you at the Banshee in an hour.”

  Standing inside her former quarters for the first time in over a month gave Cassia an odd sense of déjà vu, almost as though she’d dreamed the two years she’d spent on board this ship instead of living them.

  Looking around, she found cold steel panels surrounding her on all sides, quite the contrast to the artfully papered walls of her palace bedroom. Instead of royal silk, she wore canvas pants, a T-shirt, and the jacket she’d inherited from her old captain. There was even a sugar glider snoring inside her left breast pocket. But strangest of all was the sudden absence of activity she’d grown accustomed to as queen. On the Banshee, there were no advisory sessions, troop inspections, supply raids, or rallies for volunteers. Those tasks belonged to General Jordan now, and that left her with idle hands…and an idle mind.

  A breeding ground for dark thoughts.

  She needed something to do. Since boarding the ship, she’d double-checked the air-lock seals, swept and mopped the decks, flushed the garbage chutes, and logged the contents of the supply closet. She’d even stopped by the engine room to see if Solara needed help with repairs, but Doran was already on the job. That left Kane. He could probably use her help with dinner, but something awkward had hung between them all day and she didn’t know why. Maybe it was because she’d fallen out of step with her old routine. Or maybe it was the way he coddled her, offering extra servings at lunch and then suggesting she take a nap afterward. Either way, he was right when he’d said their dynamic had changed. They were out of sync now, so she tried to avoid him.

  Which left her no choice but to confront this empty bedroom, particularly the naked top bunk. She didn’t know how she felt about that. Nearly every night for the last two years, she’d fallen asleep to the sound of Kane’s breathing. His presence had been her only constant on board this ship, and despite the strangeness between them, it didn’t seem right sleeping here alone. Even standing in the empty quarters felt unnatural.

  Maybe Renny needed help in the pilothouse.

  She jogged up to the top level and found him relaxed in his seat at the helm, letting the autopilot fly the ship while he studied his data tablet.

  “Permission to come aboard?” she teased.

  He glanced up at her and smiled. “Hey, there. I thought you were resting.”

  “I’m not tired.”

  “Anything on your mind?”

  “No. Just wanted to say hello.”

  He patted the copilot’s seat. “Then you can keep me company while I review these job orders.” While she sat down, he watched her with an expression she didn’t recognize, pride mingled with something deeper. “Have I told you how good it is to have you home?”

  Home.

  That wasn’t the word she would’ve used, but she didn’t correct her captain. Seeing him grinning at her through his broken glasses, his sweet face marred by scars—it was all she could do to keep her eyes dry. She knew the Daeva wouldn’t have touched him if it hadn’t been for her.

  “Only twice.”

  “Well, one more time won’t hurt. I missed you. We all did.”

  “I missed you, too. It’s good to be back.”

  His grin slipped, warning her the conversation was about to turn heavy. “Listen, I don’t want to dredge up bad memories—”

  “Then don’t,” she said with a laugh that didn’t fool either of them.

  “—but I need you to know why it took so long to reach you.” He removed his glasses and rubbed both eyes in a nervous tic she’d seen him do a hundred times. “The Daeva really worked me over. I was unconscious for hours after they finished with me. I think the only reason they left me alive was so I would lead them to Kane, but I couldn’t—”

  “Renny, please.” It didn’t make her feel better to imagine her captain lying on the floor, bloodied and beaten. “I was already gone. You did the right thing and protected Kane. I’m just sorry w
e put you in that position.”

  “Don’t be sorry.” He was still fidgeting with his glasses. “There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you. I hope you know that.”

  She nodded while studying a crack in the leather of her seat. She knew how much Renny cared for her. She cared for him, too, more than she loved her own father. But the pilothouse seemed to have shrunk three sizes since the conversation began, and now she couldn’t get enough air.

  “I should go,” she said, and stood up. “I forgot that I promised to help with dinner.”

  “Oh. Okay. See you at supper.”

  She dropped a kiss on his shaggy head and then jogged down the stairs, pausing at the landing to catch her breath. Her relief was only temporary because now she had to help Kane in the galley, otherwise Renny would know she’d lied. She mentally groaned. She should’ve come up with a better exit strategy.

  Her boots dragged as she continued down another flight of steps to the galley. When she strode through the doorway, Kane glanced up from a fish-shaped wooden cutting board piled high with the onions they’d bought from the farmers’ market on Eturia.

  He used the back of one hand to blot his watery eyes. “Hey, I thought you were—”

  “Not tired,” she interrupted, and gestured at the cutting board. She knew how much he hated dicing onions. “Want me to do that?”

  “God, yes.” He immediately tossed down the knife and spun toward the sink, then washed his face and dried it with a dishtowel. “I hate those things. If it were up to me, we’d use dehydrated. They taste just as good.”

  “No, they don’t.” She carried the cutting board to the sink and positioned it below the flowing faucet. That was the trick to tear-free onion dicing—cutting them under running water. Kane didn’t know that because she’d never told him. She liked being able to do something he couldn’t. It made her feel needed. “Good thing you’ve got me to do it for you.”

  He snickered while sorting dried lentils in a bowl. “You missed your calling, Majesty. Forget the throne. You can come with me and be my personal onion cutter.”