by Audrey Grey
“Lucky shot!” Lux called, her tone calm and even, not the voice of someone waging warfare.
His snappy retort died on his lips as more drones thronged the sky. They dove as one mind, barreling straight for them.
He was so focused on the drones he forgot about Talia. When he turned his attention back to the vessel, his body went cold all over.
Only the top of the cruiser was visible, bobbing just above the surface. Bubbles disrupted the top of the water. Then they stopped, and the vessel sank with a groaning sigh.
Stars, she was trapped. Will ripped off his snowsuit and kicked out of his boots, the chilly air stinging his skin. “Cover me.”
“Let her go, Captain!” Lux pleaded. “There’s too many.”
That was the most rational decision, of course. Any other time he would have agreed to flee. But this time—this time he couldn’t let go. Already the image of her fragile human body stuck inside that metal cage was eating him alive. He couldn’t get to her fast enough.
As he teetered on the edge of the ice, overlooking the darkness, Lux called out one more time, “Will! Don’t.”
Any other day, the rare pleading in her voice would have made him listen. “If I’m not back up in one minute, leave.”
He dove before he could hear her reply. The freezing water was like a punch to the chest, the cold wave enveloping him. After all that noise, the silence of the water was startling. His muscles went rigid. Frantic beeps sounded inside his head, and a temperature monitor popped up on his biometric vision. The warmth of his body was plummeting. Even mocks like him succumbed to water this cold. He needed to hurry.
Pushing past the initial shock, he swam deeper, following the receding light of the craft. The cruiser had settled on its side on the floor of the lake. A dim-yellow light filtered out from its interior. His ears popped as he reached the door handle and tried to pry it open. The door wouldn’t budge. Lungs aching, he swam around to the front and darted inside.
Talia’s white face and unblinking eyes resolved from the darkness. His heart clenched, but then her wide-eyed stare jerked his way, bubbles of oxygen escaping her purple lips and rising to the long bubble of air trapped at the ceiling.
She was alive.
She gestured to the harness pinning her to the pilot’s seat. Silt and strands of her hair brushed over his face as he leaned close. The buckle was jammed. He retrieved his pocketknife and carefully slipped the blade under the harness to begin cutting. As he did, he noticed the sound of air leaving her lips stopped.
Hold on, Princess. He could hardly feel the knife handle beneath his fingers as he cut, sawing with a desperation he hadn’t experienced in years. The thoughts floating around his brain went from the possibility of her dying, to the inevitably.
That cannot happen.
Her eyes began fluttering back into her head, and a rush of panic overwhelmed his systems. Finally the blade severed the first harness strap. The second one seemed harder to cut, or perhaps he was tiring. Slippery shadows nibbled at his vision. His body temperature was dangerously low, and his oxygen readout was blinking.
Not good.
Leave her, the rational side of him argued. No bounty is worth dying for.
He didn’t know why he cared so much. Why the wretched human emotions he’d tried so hard to leave behind had suddenly reappeared. But there was no way in hell he was leaving her to die in this dark, lonely place.
The last strap gave way, and he slipped his arms under her armpits and kicked off the floor. As soon as their heads hit the air bubble trapped at the top, he filled his lungs with oxygen. Talia’s eyes were half-rolled back, blue shadows clinging to the bone-white skin around her mouth. In this meager light, the wet hair pasting her skull was the same color as old blood.
“Breathe, Princess,” he whispered, knowing full well the fear gripping his chest went beyond keeping her alive as a bounty and into different territory. “Please, just breathe.”
Chapter 22
Talia
One second, Talia was trapped inside the cockpit, struggling against the straps of her harness as her body screamed for air.
The next, she was somewhere else. Somewhere dark and empty, a million pinpricks of light winking just on the edge of her vision. As if she’d fallen into a secret pocket of space. She was floating, the dress from her eighteenth birthday fanning out around her like spilled oil.
Ailat appeared. She was wearing her dress from the party—stars, she was beautiful—and she was smiling.
“How does it feel?” Talia’s friend asked.
Talia stretched out her arm. Everything was foggy, like a mist enveloping her brain. The only thing she knew for sure was she hadn’t seen her friend in forever and desperately wanted to touch her. As if, somehow, just holding hands with her junior mock again, laughing and whispering all the new things that had happened to them, might fix everything. “How does it feel to what, Ailat?”
Ailat’s pupils began to glitch, her facing twisting into something horrible as she said, “Drown.”
Gasping noises ripped Talia back to her body. She was sucking in air and clawing against something—Will. The dark shadows covered half of his face and made him look more severe than she was used to, but it was him, his normally tousled hair contorted at a crazy angle. His arms were tight around her, the solid muscles of his chest and stomach hard to ignore beneath his thin shirt. He could crush her to death if he wanted to.
Hopefully he didn’t.
“You’re hyperventilating.” His voice was gentle but stern. “Slow, deep breaths.”
Her first instinct was to fight Will, but images of him trying to free her popped into her brain. Besides, she could hardly feel her body. Then there was the fact she couldn’t swim.
To survive she’d have to trust him.
“Where are we?”
“Bottom of a lake, fifty meters down. As soon as you’re able, we should get to the surface.”
Impatience was hidden beneath his gentle tone, and she barked out a pitiful laugh. “Just my luck. I can’t swim.”
He shifted her in his arms, and she swore they tightened—though with her body totally numb, it was hard to tell for sure. “Then I swim us both up.”
“Fine . . . I can try to kick, if that helps?”
The corner of his mouth quirked. “No, just be still.”
Right. She’d end up kicking him somewhere tender and cripple him, and then they’d both drown.
“Okay. I’m ready.” A lie—the idea of submerging her head into the black water sent her heart racing—but they had no choice.
“Quickly take three deep breaths,” he commanded.
After her third gulp of air, his face lost its playful edge and she was dunked under the water without warning. She twisted to the side as they maneuvered out of the broken windshield. Then he came up behind her and circled his arms around her waist, and they began their ascent.
The hole in the ice appeared. Light streamed into the depths, slants of pale yellow that warmed her face and gave her hope. As they neared, lightning bolts of blue streamed across the ground of that other world, followed by explosions.
They surfaced just as a blast split the air. Propping his arm on the side, Will lifted her over the edge. She clambered the rest of the way herself, panting as her freezing limbs scraped over hard ice.
“Nice of you to join us!” Lux called. She stood with her legs planted wide, holding two blasters. Every time one of them went off, something silver fell from the sky.
The drones.
They littered the ice around Lux’s feet.
Near the edge of the lake, three hunters waited. Talia cringed at the sight of the spider-dogs clumped in packs just ahead. They were all watching the battle unfold.
Talia got to her knees; she was too weak to stand. “What are they waiting for?”
“My blasters to die.” Lux said it so matter-of-factly Talia thought she misheard.
“Take mine,” Will offered. He�
��d climbed from the water, his jumpsuit clinging to his body.
Shocked, she tried not to stare at his slim waist and ropy muscles or remember the feeling of his flesh around her body as he carried her to the surface.
Not the best time to notice the mock captain has abs.
Lux pointed at a drone as it dove near her head and then tossed the weapon at the ground. “That was yours, Captain.”
A sinking feeling came over Talia as she stared at the dead weapon lying on the ice. Then a strange whistling drew her attention to the hunters. The spider-dogs turned to their android masters, obviously waiting for a command.
All three hunters pointed a finger at Talia and her crew, and she hardly breathed as the spider-dogs erupted across the ice toward them.
Talia was impressed by how steady Will’s voice was as he asked Lux, “How much charge is left in that one?”
“One percent,” Lux said. “Two if the stars align and all the crap.”
Will plucked the gun from her hand, and Lux whipped around. “What are you doing?”
“Go.” His eyes were fixed on the oncoming pack, and he blew out a long breath. “Take Talia, and get to safety.”
“Like hell—”
“That’s an order, Navigator.”
Talia expected Lux to argue, or crack some joke, but she set her shoulders and turned to Talia. “You heard the captain.”
Talia staggered to her feet, glancing at Will. In a few moments, he would have to face those horrible creatures alone. The idea was more troubling than it should have been.
He was her captor. Yet he’d also saved her. He was a mock. But he played the piano better than any human she knew.
Before she could make up her mind, a gun-metal gray ship broke over the mountains and swooped down on them, raining fire over the pack. The blasts tore giant gashes in the ice and left the spider-dogs nothing more than mounds of scattered metal.
The tension from Will’s shoulders melted away. “Leo!”
“That good-for-nothing bastard,” Lux added. By the rare girly lilt of her voice, that was a compliment.
Talia had never seen the Odysseus from the outside. Any other time it would have seemed ugly, with its bulky core and corroded parts all patched together. But now—now it was the most gorgeous vessel she’d ever seen, and she found herself laughing as it landed gently at their feet.
“That’s not Leo’s flying,” Will said. “Jane must be on board.”
The ramp crashed open, cracking hard against the ice. Lux went to leap on board when something caught Talia’s eye, a flash of metal just above. Drone! Lux was just starting to turn to face it, but she was too slow. On instinct, Talia grabbed the girl and dove, flinging them both to the ramp. At the same time, the ground where Lux had been standing lit up in flames.
Leo hit the drone with a blaster.
“Get off,” Lux grumbled.
That was easier said than done, considering Talia’s limbs were near-frozen and her snowsuit, swollen with water, made bending her knees and elbows almost impossible.
Leo lifted Talia up by the back of her collar, and Lux popped up, brushing off her hands and knees and cutting annoyed looks at Talia instead of thanking her.
Dorian appeared at the top of the ramp and tossed Will a fresh blaster. He flipped around to face the drones, walking backward as he fired. The sound of his well-aimed shots made a nice, safe little tempo as they boarded.
Leo’s gaze kept sliding to Talia. She thought he might gloat, or make some stupid remark saying he was right about the hunters, but he simply nodded to her. “Glad you’re okay.”
Once the Odysseus was in the air and Talia knew she was safe, the adrenaline wore off and she nearly sank to her knees. Leo went to grab her, but Will was quicker, propping her up against his shoulder.
He led her to the engine room, and once inside, a wave of delicious heat washed over her. The numbness in her cheeks and fingers began to fade as she peeled out of her snowsuit. She turned to Will and found herself paralyzed. He was naked from the waist up, his dark-gray briefs clinging to his lower half and leaving little to the imagination. His core muscles tensed and rippled as he leaned over and shook out the water from his hair.
Once his skin was mostly dry, he turned his attention to her. “The heat won’t work if you leave your clothes on.”
“Yeah, my fingers are numb so—” Her words died as he approached and began unbuttoning her blouse, his bottom lip caught between his teeth as he worked. The middle of her shirt parted, and more goosebumps ridged her stomach.
He dropped his hand and turned his back, his gaze fixed on the engines. “There. You can do the rest.”
Frowning, she shrugged out of her shirt and rolled down her soggy pants. If she had any questions regarding his leanings—mock or human—they were answered. She’d been exposed, her breasts barely hidden behind a lacy bra, and not even a twitch disrupted his face. Her presence had no effect on him whatsoever. He was probably used to the perfection of mock bodies, and hers definitely didn’t fit the standard.
Her body had always been athletic, but after she woke up from the pod, she was lean, every muscle showing beneath her skin. Her breasts were small, her curves pretty much nonexistent.
So much so, apparently, they inspired not even a flicker of reaction in Will.
That shouldn’t have bothered her, but it did. Standing behind him with her arms crossed, she said, “Go. I’ll be fine.”
“You’re positive?”
“Yep. I’m tougher than I look.”
His shoulders shook as he chuckled. “I noticed.” He hesitated before crossing to the door and glanced back at her. “I’ll have Lux bring you more clothes.”
“See if she has anything jewel-toned,” she called after him. As soon as the door shut behind her, the pressure in the room felt a million tons lighter.
Now she needed to get dressed so she could put her thoughts in order and find an explanation for what she saw on that off-world planet.
Chapter 23
Will
Will sat in the bridge next to Jane—who was beaming after her solo flight—and tried not to think about the incident in the engine room as they discussed Talia’s fate.
The way her chest shuddered when he unbuttoned her shirt, her stomach tightening. Had her breath caught from the air brushing against her bare skin, or had she reacted to something else?
Masking his reaction took every ounce of power he had left after the fight. The strength it took to keep his breathing steady and eyes on the wall behind her. Even with Talia in the other room, his hands twitched at the thought of touching her human flesh, and he kept them clenched in his lap like the traitors they were.
“Captain,” Lux snapped, breaking Will from his thoughts. “The book.”
He focused on the holo-screen in the middle of the room. The holo-book from the Hall of Memories hovered in the air, three times as big on the ship as it had been in the church. Under her direction, the pages flipped until they landed on Talia on her eighteenth birthday. Lux pushed play on the scene, and they watched in silence as Talia crossed the stage.
At the sight of her, Will’s skin grew hot until he had to look away.
Leo inhaled sharply. “That’s our girl.”
It wasn’t a question.
Will nodded. “That symbol on the pod is the Starchaser Dynasty crest. For unknown reasons, someone high up erased all traces of the Starchasers in the flesher histories.”
Jane unfolded from her chair and approached the holo-book, her head tilted. “This date is from a century ago.”
“So . . . she’s over a hundred years old?” Dorian asked.
“No, silly,” Lux answered, pausing the video. “The pod put her in cryosleep. Technically she’s still eighteen.” She pointed the remote at the holo-screen, and the pages turned to another scene. A massive starliner, bigger than any Will had seen before, filled the holo-screen. Stars glittered around it as the beauty sliced through space.
&
nbsp; Everyone in the room gasped as a crack split the air and an orange fireball consumed the ship. Dorian cried out the loudest, and Lux watched him from the corner of her eye. Their parents were both killed on a mock carrier when Lux was only ten, and Dorian seven. Ambushed by fleshers. Watching something similar had to be hard.
Other than a muscle jumping in his jaw, the kid seemed unfazed, and Lux moved on, flipping more pages to the aftermath. “The description says all the Starchasers were destroyed on Insurrection-Day. Obviously now we know that’s not true. But their supposed deaths were the turning point in our war, and the reason we’re free and not still enslaved.”
“So,” Leo asked, tugging on one of his blond braids. “What do we do with her now?”
Lux shot Leo a withering look Will knew too well. “What kind a question is that? We take her to the queen. The bounty alone will buy back all of our jump privileges for an eternity.”
“Bounty? Since when do supposed dead people have bounties?”
Lux scoffed. “No, Leo. Before they died, each member of the royal family had a bounty on their heads of fifty billion put on them by the rebels. By law, that bounty still stands.”
“And what happens when we hand her over?” Leo asked, his brows gathered and arms crossed over his massive chest.
Leo’s question hung in the air, and a long stretch of uncomfortable silence followed.
Lux jerked the remote at the holo-book, her movements emotional and angry. The scene from the princess’s eighteenth birthday played again, except this time Lux let the whole thing unfold. Emotions Will hadn’t felt in a long time surfaced as he watched Talia and her fiancé taunt her mock companion. The way Talia sneered, the pleasure she and the prince seemed to take in the poor mock’s fear, didn’t match the girl he saved in the water. But denying the evidence right in front of him was impossible.
“Is that someone you want to risk your lives for?” Lux paused to let her words sink in. “We can’t protect her, and if we don’t hand her in, Xander or someone else like him will.” The video clicked off, and she set the remote down. “Her fate is already written in the stars, but ours isn’t. Not yet.”