Delivery (Star Line Express Romance Book 3)

by Alessia Bowman

  Chlo will take care of Aeryen, as I’d originally intended. She’ll make sure to find him a good home. Maybe in the Triangulum, which he seems fascinated by.

  “What’s that?” Joston says. He opens his yellowish eyes, nearly green in the reflection of the rain.

  “I’m glad you’re awake,” I say. “It doesn’t happen that often. The blue rain.”

  “It’s not a myth, then?”

  “Not at all,” I say. “Unlike some things.”

  “You mean like our being life mates,” he says.

  “Yes, like that,” I say, holding back a twinge of regret. But of course it was a slick lie made up by my friend Ozker—and nothing else. Yet it saved us and I was happy to pretend it was true, just for last night.

  But that was last night. This is today, the day we must make sure that Chlo and Lasson make it back to the Marinax.

  “How long does it last?” Joston says.

  “I don’t know,” I say. “I’ve seen it only twice before.”

  “It’s beautiful,” he says, and we both go quiet, just watching the blue rain as it lights up the sky.

  “Do you want to have breakfast now?” I say.

  “We’d better,” Joston says. “Can’t hope to get anything done without some fuel in us.”

  We get up, and I realize I have nothing on just as Joston also realizes it. He’s staring at me.

  “You don’t really want to settle down in the Triangulum, do you?” he says.

  “Of course not,” I say, even though I’ve heard there are some wonderful worlds there. But I’ll be here, on Engra. Where I belong. And Aeryen and my friends will be where they belong—far away from here.

  “That’s a relief,” Joston says, smiling. He pushes his white-blond hair back from his face and I’m suddenly unbearably emotional. That simple gesture has stirred something in me that I’ll never be able to negate.

  Fighting back tears, I say, “Did you mean what you said last night?”

  I hadn’t intended to ask him that. I’m standing here, naked, in my living room. I have to get dressed. I have to make breakfast. I have to get Chlo and Lasson out of here while I still can.

  “I mean everything I say,” Joston says.

  “I’m going to take a shower,” I say, and I do. As I’m drying myself off, Joston comes into the bathroom and says, “We don’t have time for anything else, I’m sorry to say.” Then he steps into the shower and I resist the urge to join him there.

  I get dressed. The rain’s stopped.

  In the kitchen, while I put together some grains and fruit, I turn on the newsfeed.

  Martial law declared. Anyone not required for military duty or essential services is to remain in their homes until further notice. Rebels will be shot on sight. Engra, your world needs you. A bounty of a hundred thousand to every Engra who turns in a rebel, dead or alive.

  Joston comes into the kitchen and I turn off the newsfeed just after the loop restarts. Martial law declared. Anyone not required . . .

  “I heard all of it,” Joston says. “Ironic, isn’t it?”

  “What?” I say. I can’t think of one ironic thing about this mess we’re in. That Chlo and Lasson are in. That Engra itself is in.

  “The Chengdry founded Engra because of how harshly they’d been treated by the Choryneans, who stole their lands and their lives. Now they’re even crueler themselves.”

  “Engra don’t even know about Chengdry,” I say. “But they despise anyone who . . . who’s . . .” I can’t finish the sentence, but Joston finishes it for me.

  “Who’s like Aeryen, you mean,” he says.

  “Yes,” I say.

  “Aeryen’s the most amazing kid I’ve ever met,” Joston says.

  “I know,” I say. “He is.”

  “Your fellow Engra are despicable,” Joston says.

  “Don’t say that,” I say. “It’s not everyone.”

  “It’s enough of everyone that the palace isn’t being raided and burned to the ground right now,” Joston says. “Because surely there are legions of Engra who side with the rebels—and very few who want to keep your strict laws and support the royal government.”

  “But they’re afraid,” I say, even though I agree with Joston.

  “Everyone’s afraid,” Joston says.

  “You’re afraid?” I say. The devil-may-care Joston Lynar seems like someone who’s never afraid.

  I finish cooking the grains and put two bowls out on the table.

  “I live off fear,” Joston says. “It’s my fuel. I thrive on it.”

  “I guess that explains the speed,” I say.

  “Eat your breakfast,” Joston says. “It’s going to be a long day.”

  I pick up my spoon and sneak a glance at Joston, who’s already downed half of the grains. Like Aeryen, Joston has a huge appetite, unaffected by anything as ordinary as fear.

  Allowing myself just this moment, I indulge in a fantasy where Joston Lynar is my life mate, where Aeryen is playing out in our backyard, where we’re living together in a safe, beautiful place, where the day I’m about to live is far behind us and grand new days are in our future.

  But I’ve had my reverie for too long. Joston looks up from his nearly finished meal, glares at me, and says, “I’d rather spend the rest of my life on Majnia than get anywhere near the Triangulum.”

  Caught dreaming of the impossible, I look away, embarrassed.

  Then Joston says, “Niya, eat your breakfast,” and starts laughing.

  I try out a laugh too, but I can’t manage it. Nothing is funny about today. I stuff a few spoonsful of grain into my mouth and force myself to eat even though my fear outstrips my hunger, which is enormous.

  Joston, ignoring me and looking past me, out into the backyard, absentmindedly eats two pieces of fruit.

  “What are you thinking?” I say.

  “I’m thinking we have to get the hell out of here right now,” he says as he gets up and grabs my hand.

  That’s when I look out the window and see what Joston’s been focused on: the troopers who are sneaking their way through the backyards of all the houses on the block. I reach into my pocket and feel for the card to Ozker’s s-car. It’s there, and I grab on to it while Joston and I start running.

  Chapter 23

  Joston

  “This is the wrong way,” Niya says as I ease the s-car toward the airfield. No speeding today. Can’t call attention to ourselves.

  “It’s fine,” I say, dodging her remark.

  “The prison’s in the building next to the palace,” Niya says. “You’re going in the opposite direction.”

  “Don’t worry,” I say. “I’ll get there. I know what I’m doing.”

  I do know what I’m doing. I’m driving Niya to the airfield. No way is she going to come to the palace—or the prison—with me.

  There are other vehicles on the roads, although not many. We’ve already been stopped once, and Niya showed her flight controller credentials while I held my breath. Good thing the Engra authorities consider her job to be essential or we’d be back at her house.

  Apparently my being her supposed life mate was good enough to get me through as well, although perhaps because I’m Chorynean the authorities don’t give a shit about me. Or maybe we were allowed past because a female trooper stopped us and I flashed her my most winning smile.

  “What did you do?” Niya says after the trooper waves us on.

  “Nothing,” I say.

  “You did something,” Niya says. “That trooper’s mood changed drastically.”

  “I may have smiled at her,” I say, grinning.

  “Some life mate you are,” Niya says.

  “Well, I haven’t had much practice at it . . . yet. Give me some time.”

  “Joston, you’re not going to get to the prison going this way,” Niya says.

  “We’re not going to the prison,” I say. I have to tell her, because at this point it’s obvious that’s not where we’re headed. />
  “How are we going to get Chlo and Lasson out of there if we’re not there?”

  “We aren’t going to be there,” I say. “You are going to your job, like you do every day, while I take care of your friends.”

  “Like hell I am,” Niya says. “I—”

  “Think about it, Niya,” I say. “If you’re at your post, it’ll make it seem as though everything’s normal.”

  “But everything isn’t normal already,” Niya says, arguing. “There’s martial law and—what the hell are you doing?”

  “Surviving,” I say.

  What I’m actually doing is swerving. I’m driving this sorry s-car through a deserted lot, ramping up our speed, and putting some distance between us and the barrier I spotted about a thousand meters ahead. I may be Chorynean and have great night vision, but my day vision is unusually good as well. Helps when you’re a pilot—and when you’re trying to circumvent the authorities.

  “But I have a plan,” Niya says.

  “Let’s hear it,” I say. Maybe her plan and my plan will dovetail.

  “Your raft is on the palace roof, right?” she says.

  “Yes,” I say. “It is. Assuming it’s still in one piece.”

  “You’re going to get to the raft—”

  “How do you suggest I do that?” I say even though that’s part of my plan too, but I want to hear how Niya’s worked all this out.

  “You’re going to—Joston! Now what are you doing?”

  I’ve spotted yet another barricade, only this time I have to do a 180 in order to avoid it and now we’re going back the way we came.

  “We can’t risk another barricade,” I say, slipping the s-car down an alleyway that I hope to hell doesn’t dead-end.

  “Because your smile only works on females?” Niya says with a melodramatic huff.

  “Yeah,” I say.

  “And while you’re on the roof, getting the raft ready,” Niya says as though she described how I was going to get there, which she never did, “I’m going to go visit Chlo and Lasson in prison.”

  “And that’s going to rescue them?” I say as I speed up again. I don’t see any barriers ahead on this route.

  “The visiting room is wide open,” Niya says. “There’s a minimum of guards. And I’m hoping there’ll be even fewer today, since there are so many troops deployed.”

  “And how the fuck do you know this? Are you a regular prison visitor?”

  “I was,” Niya says, “when Chlo was in prison a few years ago.”

  “I forgot about that,” I say. “I defer to your expertise. Go on.”

  “I have a hat in the trunk,” Niya says. I’m catching her drift. Chlo’s orange hair is a dead giveaway.

  “I put it there when you were in the shower,” she says.

  “Won’t they have prison uniforms on?” I say.

  “I’m hoping not. They were just arrested last night and Chlo never had a prison uniform years ago.”

  “Lasson is pretty well known,” I say.

  “But not as recognizable here as he is on Choryn,” Niya says. “I think we can get away with it—assuming we can get out of the visiting area.”

  “And, assuming you can get out of the visiting area, how are you going to get to the roof?” I say.

  “We’re not,” she says. “You are going to come get us.”

  “Well, you’re not going to be able to do any of that, because you’re going to be at your post on the airfield,” I say as we pull up to the back gate, where Ozker is waiting for us.

  “What?” Niya says. “I’m not doing this.”

  “I commed Ozker while you were in the shower,” I say as I open the hatch.

  “Joston Lynar, you are one sly devil,” says Ozker. I get out of his s-car and the two of us embrace. “And you have some very clever friends as well.”

  “I do,” I say. I guess he had a chance to talk with Nik and Aymee before they left.

  “Ozker, I’m not staying,” Niya says.

  “Well, come with me and rest for a minute anyway,” Ozker says, winking at me. Good—he understands that Niya has to stay here.

  But when we walk past the outermost docking bay and Ozker steers us toward it, I wonder what’s going on. And I wish I could ask Niya if she really trusts this guy. Because this is starting to smell like betrayal to me.

  So I get ready to make a break for it, even though I no longer have Ozker’s card. But, really, it’ll be easier to dodge the barricades on foot.

  Niya

  Joston looks like he’s ready to run, so I get ready too. I’m worried that Ozker’s being coerced by the authorities, because why would we be heading for the docking bay?

  “How are the kids?” I ask Ozker, thinking that if he’s been threatened, they’d be at the heart of it and maybe he can tell me something without actually telling me anything.

  “I told Mirz to take them out to our country place,” Ozker says. “Safer there.”

  I look at Joston and nod my head. Ozker and Mirz do have a country place and it probably is safer there. The troops won’t bother with the outlying areas right now, I don’t think.

  Ozker opens the side door to the docking bay just as Joston makes a break from us and sprints back toward the gate.

  When I see who’s inside the docking bay, though, I call out to him. “Joston! Come back!”

  He stops, looks at me, and I gesture for him to follow us. Because inside the docking bay are Nik, Aymee, and their brand-new baby, who’s no longer wailing.

  Aymee picks up her daughter’s tiny arm and waves it to me and I wave back. In the midst of all this craziness, I’m instantly overwhelmed with joy for my new friends.

  “What in the name of . . . ?” Joston says when he comes into the docking bay and sees who’s here.

  “I said you had clever friends,” Ozker says. “I’d better leave you to it. Any minute now they’re going to notice I’m not at my post.”

  “You didn’t think we were really going back to the Marinax, did you?” Nik says.

  “And leave the four of you stranded?” Aymee says, finishing her husband’s sentence.

  “But—your baby,” I say.

  “She’s fine,” Aymee says. “When you’re born in the front seat of an s-car, you can make do with anywhere.”

  “This blows my plan to hell,” Joston says.

  “What were you planning?” I say, since he never told me.

  “Something involving Chlo’s rebel pal—”

  “How are you going to find him?” Nik says.

  “He might have given me his comm channel,” Joston says.

  “And you gave him yours,” Nik says.

  “Perhaps,” Joston says. “But I haven’t contacted him yet.”

  “And then what?” I say. I can see this is getting more and more dangerous. I like my idea much, much better.

  “Something with explosives, diversion, and getting to the palace roof,” Joston says.

  “And how are you going to get to the roof?” I say. I’d left that maneuver out of my plan, hoping to figure it out on our way to the prison.

  “See?” Joston says. “I knew you didn’t have that part down.”

  “Stop arguing, you two newlyweds,” Nik says as Joston scowls at him. I scowl a little myself.

  “You can get to the palace roof the easy way,” Aymee says.

  “Do tell,” Joston says.

  “On the transport raft that Niya and I used to get here,” Aymee says.

  “I hadn’t figured that into my plans. I thought you and Nik would have used it to get back to the Marinax.”

  “Those idiot troopers all left with their prisoners,” Nik says, “and forgot about us. Staying here was dead easy.”

  “Okay,” I say, putting everyone and everything together into a workable scheme. “Here’s what we’re going to do . . .”

  Chapter 24

  Joston

  You’d think Niya Redmor was a professional strategist for Engra’s royal troop
s, yet even though her plan has many workable elements, it has many gaping holes as well, which holes Nik, Aymee, and I work on filling in on our way to the transport raft.

  Ozker, who I have to apologize to later for having even suspected him of betrayal, has already talked with Nik and Aymee about today, so he’s ready for everything and anything that we’re about to do.

  Aymee and her newborn daughter stay behind at the airfield, but only after a heated argument, one that I’m happy to report Nik, Niya, and I won, although it took all three of us together. I’m afraid even two of us wouldn’t’ve been enough of a force against Aymee’s impressive arguments. Yet hypercalculation and the skills of a master engineer aren’t what’s called for here, and her baby, who doesn’t get a vote, needs her.

  We get into the transport raft—I pilot, Nik copilots, and Niya works the navigation, which she’s very familiar with, especially after her stint as amateur pilot—and Ozker gives us the go-ahead.

  I comm my newfound friend, Engra revolutionary and fellow daredevil, Wilm. He was so amused that my name’s Joston that he whispered his name to me, swearing me to secrecy. I’m not allowed to tell Chlo until we’re safely away, after the black shift.

  Wilm. Odd that it’s the same name I’ve had picked out for my nonexistent unborn son, and as soon as I heard it I felt it was a good omen.

  Over the comm, Wilm and I discuss things for a minute, just long enough that no one can possibly intercept us, then I sign off.

  “How is it you’re not worried about talking with him over the comm?” Niya says. “Couldn’t the troopers be listening in?”

  “He’s got a special protected channel,” I say, not wanting to reveal any more than that. “And we’re limiting our conversation.”

  “Oh,” Niya says. “That explains nothing.”

  But I don’t want to explain anything else. Because although I’m going into this sure that we’ll all end up back on the Marinax and that none of us is going to be caught, I have to protect Niya. She may not be my real life mate, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to keep her safe. And knowing about Lasson’s involvement with the Engra revolution is not information she should have. Ignorance on this matter could save her life. And Lasson’s.