I knew he would have. “Clay, I am so sorry. All those months ago when I asked you to make that promise. I shouldn’t have asked that of you.”
He furrowed his brow. “Sure you should have.”
“No. I’m sure it made what was awful even worse.” I closed my eyes. My memory was coming back piece by piece. Some things I wished I could forget.
“Paloma.” He kissed my shoulder, and I opened my lids. “I heard they were going to take you to the block to be sold. I would have kept my promise. I’m so glad I didn’t have to.”
That was the thing about Clay Sandler. He kept his word. And asking him to do that might have killed him. We’d said enough about this. “Where do you want to go when we get Tommy and Quinn? Where should we go?”
His smile was slow. “Home.”
Well, that was a frustrating answer. “Which would be where?”
“I think probably the spot we just left. I think your real family—not the one you were born with—is there. And I want to be with my wife’s people, the kind of folks who put together a plan and hand over their favorite spaceship in a few hours to help her. I know my family will always be safe with them. Maybe at some point, they’ll think of us as family, too. I’m not sure we ever really had one. Outside of each other.”
Tears flooded my eyes. “I would love that. I’d also be okay with just the four of us somewhere alone. You guys have my heart. Being with you is really all I need.”
“Really?” He sat. “That’s amazing. No food. No air. Just us.”
I elbowed him. “Smart-ass.”
His shoulders sagged a bit. “All it’s going to take is sneaking into a prison on a planet where my face used to be up on screens in the sky to celebrate my birthday. Not as frequently as Tommy’s was, but still. Pulling my brothers out of the prison, and getting away unscathed. Piece of cake.”
“I know how we’re going to do that, Clay. And it isn’t going to be you, it’s going to be me.”
He shook his head. “Maybe we all go together, but…”
I put my hand on his leg, and he stilled. “My love, they don’t know me there. Most people won’t anyway. I would have been able to sneak into the courthouse to get to you that time you refused to leave. I am the girl in the red dress. I told Tommy once when I was first trying to convince him not to send me away. I can be any number of people. Down there, no one will pay attention to me. I’ll get them out. You’ll get us away. That’s how this will work. Whether you like it or not, whether Keith likes it or not, I am the best chance we have at saving them. That is what I’m going to do.”
I hoped he understood how serious I was. Nothing was going to get between me and mine. Not anymore.
7
Meeting The Family
Five Months Earlier
Somewhere in Sandler Space, Earth Standard Time
I thought there would be troops dragging us off our ship, hauling us to our deaths on a Sandler ship somewhere. That wasn’t what happened. Tommy ran from the control room toward Quinn and me.
“Get her off the ship. All three of you go with her. I’m going to stay here and blow it up.”
I shook my head. “Too late for that, and you know it. You can’t blow yourself up, my love. I need you.” I rose on unsteady feet and wrapped my arms around Tommy. “I can’t do this without you. Somehow, we all survive this. Somehow, we get away. I just know it. Don’t stop believing, and don’t give him anything he wants.”
Truth flooded my mouth, and I didn’t hold back. “I’ve told Clay what I can’t tolerate. Other than that, you have to believe I can make it through. I’ve survived a lot. Don’t let them use me to get to you. I mean it. If I find out you gave him an inch to save me, I am going to be super…”
I never did get to finish what I was going to say. A strange smell filled the room, and seconds later, I saw colors. If anyone else realized it was gas, I didn’t know. I hit the ground.
Waking up with a headache was bad enough. Waking up in a cell on a Sandler ship that didn’t belong to one of my husbands was a special kind of hell. My head pounded, my eyes watered, I wanted to vomit, and there was the strangest taste in my mouth.
I was in a cell similar to the ones on Mars Station. It was transparent, like I was in a giant, see-through box. I lay on a pad on the floor. In the corner was a toilet. That would be really fun to use—in view of everyone. I sat up on my elbows.
“Paloma.” A woman I didn’t recognize squatted in front of my box. She had red hair that fell to her shoulders, not the red of the sunset over Earth but rather, a very bright, almost orange version. Her eyes were brown, and she had a small cleft in her chin. She looked like she had broad shoulders and curves to spare everywhere. A span of freckles covered her face.
“Paloma, can you hear me? Are you understanding yet?”
I rubbed at my eyes. “Was I not understanding?”
I gave a cursory look around my cell area. There were half a dozen others in the area, but only mine was occupied. For now. Wherever I was, the guys weren’t with me. My stomach tightened, and then I forced the anxiety away. They were not with me but that didn’t mean they weren’t okay.
“Oh good.” She touched her forehead. “I was afraid you weren’t going to wake up. Since they won’t let me in with you to take your vitals, I had no way of knowing if you overdosed.”
The woman sat on the floor, and I tried to focus on her face. I was clearly not one hundred percent yet. Everything was a little blurry. But this woman had a kind voice, and she wasn’t yelling. Instead, she actually seemed concerned.
“Do we know each other?” Something about her was familiar. I couldn’t exactly put my finger on what it was.
She shook her head. “No. My name is Waverly Sandler. You’re married to my brothers. But I’ve never met them. So, we’ve never met, obviously. I’m a nurse. If I could get in there, I’d check you out.”
This was one of the Sandler sisters? I rose to my knees and moved closer to the edge of the enclosure. She didn’t resemble her brothers at all. Every Sandler I’d ever seen in photos had blond hair and blue eyes. Waverly’s eyes were brown and her hair was red—almost orange.
She pointed to her face. “I’m the one who fell off the genetic hill. My mother was a gorgeous redhead. Stunning.”
I knew the one she meant. I’d seen the pictures when I’d been making my Sandler debut in the red dress. They hadn’t been married very long.
“I didn’t get her version of the hair. What you see in front of you? Say hello to my maternal grandfather.” She shrugged. “Can’t deny the family sometimes. Dad hates it. Decided I would never make a good marriage and I’d do better learning a skill. For that, I’m actually grateful. I don’t want to be some crazy baron’s wife. I’m rambling.”
I touched the plastic. “I think you’re lovely.” This was the strangest conversation to be having with my just met sister-in-law. There was something warm and disarming about her, as though everything might be okay just because Waverly was there. I bet she could light up a room. And as for her physical description of her face, I wondered if she saw herself the way she really looked or how someone had told her she did. If I wasn’t in a box, I might ask her just that.
Waverly shrugged. “You must be kind. I wondered if you would be. I hear such conflicting stories of my brothers. According to Dad, they are all that’s wrong with the universe. But other people remember them differently.”
I swallowed. “They are everything that is right with the universe. They are my whole world.” My head was clearing up. “What is happening? Where are they? What is going to happen here?”
She visibly swallowed. “I’m sorry I didn’t lead with that. I wanted you to wake up a bit. Are you feeling okay?”
“Waverly…” I didn’t want platitudes. She seemed to get that, because she nodded.
“Okay, you were taken off your ship. They apparently retrieved the information they needed after they tortured someone. I don’t know who that was,
but some of Dad’s men seemed to know him. They were glad to hurt him.” She looked down on the ground. “I hate it here. Sorry, this isn’t about me.”
Actually, my heart went out to her. Under other circumstances, I’d be plotting to get her out of here. That was a great idea. We’d both go. She could meet her brothers. The six of us could make a run for it. “Please continue.”
Waverly didn’t know Ari. That made sense. She had been kept from the guys. They’d never met her. Ari wasn’t a Sandler. He was related to the guys through their mother. They weren’t related, and even if they had been, it seemed Waverly didn’t know her relatives anyway. I wasn’t going to enlighten her yet. Much as my instincts were telling me she was kind, I had to be careful. This might have been the best constructed sympathy story ever and Ms. Waverly a fine actress. I would wait and see. Actions would speak louder than words.
I’d help her if I could and if she wasn’t working for her father to harm us.
Of course all of this was moot. I was stuck in this cage.
“They found you. Gassed you. Brought you on board. This is the wing where they keep the women Dad sells. My brothers are on another deck. I think he plans on using you to get them to do what he wants.”
I sighed. “That’s what I figured.”
She touched the plastic. “I’m going to try to get in to them. I have no reason to be allowed there except that I can treat prisoners. My medical training can come in handy. I… Paloma, I’ve been stuck here for years. On this ship. Taking care of his men. I… I haven’t seen another woman in forever. I’m going to do what I can for you. I promise.”
That was very nice of her to say. “Waverly, what does he want from them?”
She blinked. “He wants his sons back. He wants Thomas to take back his role as General Sandler. He wants Quinn making plans, Keith looking all brilliant and respectable teaching in the best schools. He wants Clay to destroy the people he deems worthy of taking on in court. He wants his dynasty. After them, he just had girls, and I’m defunct.”
She rose to her feet. “Well, that and our so-called cousin, Holden, who’s really Dad’s bastard son. We pretend he’s a cousin.”
My mind whirled. “Wait. What? Cousin Holden is a brother? I thought he was the son of Uncle Quinn.” Of course now that I thought about that, it didn’t make sense. Uncle Quinn had been sleeping with my husbands’ mother. He was entirely devoted to her. He wouldn’t have been out fathering children. Although it looked like Garrison had, since Tommy and Holden were the same age.
There was so much to process, not the least of which was Cousin Holden, or brother Holden—whoever he was—had been killed. “We blew him up.”
Technically, Quinn had. But to the world, anything one of us did, all of us did.
Waverly shook her head. “You blew up the Rochambeau. Killed a lot of people—mostly men that my father considered expendable anyway. Not that it makes it any better, I suppose. Cousin Holden wasn’t there. He was in a meeting with Dad. Holden is… different than you would imagine him to be. I need to go. If I spend too much time here chatting, someone will notice. I’m going to try to see my brothers.”
I knocked on the plastic. “If you can, remind them what I said, please. That I can manage just about anything. I’m a survivor. Don’t give him anything.”
She furrowed her brow. “You might not feel that way after you meet my father and see just what he’s capable of.”
“I know myself. I won’t change my mind. I won’t falter. Whatever happens to me.” Except the auction block. I had to hope beyond hope it wasn’t that. “I can make it through.”
I wanted Waverly to know that in any scenario. If she was on our side, and turned out to be an ally, she should believe I meant what I said. And if she wasn’t and every word I spoke was to be repeated to her father, then they should both understand just how sincere I was. I would not break. I would not falter.
When Waverly left the area, the lights dimmed. I guessed they didn’t care whether women they were going to sell to the Dark Planets had the ability to see their surroundings or not. Maybe I should pee since I was alone and there was no one around to witness it.
After, I sat on the mat cross-legged. For years, I’d had to kneel to meditate. It never worked. I wasn’t getting on my knees for anyone but Tommy. Still, I closed my eyes and breathed. I could feel the ship beneath my feet moving. I could hear the hum of machinery, a lot of it. I’d never be able to identify all of it even if I tried. Otherwise, there was silence. There must’ve been hundreds of people on this ship, yet I couldn’t hear any of them.
Feel the universe move, Paloma. Feel it call to you. Feel it open for you. The not-so-good Sisters of The Universe had said those words to me over and over with increasing disdain that I couldn’t manage to feel what they wanted me to or pretend that I could. I’d never been the kind of person who could manage such a feat, but they had taught me to breathe. I was going to use those skills while I waited for what came next.
Five months later
Circling the Sandler home world. Earth Standard Time
* * *
The comm dinged. This was the moment we’d been waiting for. Keith held up the voice distorter he’d used all of his time lately to perfect. If the homeland was running voice recognition software, they wouldn’t get a hit on Keith.
Clay nodded to him. “You can do this. I trust you. I know nothing has gone the way it’s supposed to lately. I know we keep losing. This is where that ends. Right now.”
Keith ran a hand through his hair before he hit the button on the comm. “Hello, Sandler One, are you reading me, yeah? This is the Jim Playno on the Artemis. I need somewhere to get rid of this ship I stole from some crummy rebels, and I hear you are the place to do it. For a fee that I of course plan on paying.”
The distorter made Keith sound old and like he’d been working in the mines on Venus for too long without a filtration system. But it wasn’t simply the distorter that changed his voice. No, it was the way he was speaking. He’d changed his tone and the cadence of his voice. Somehow, the music of it was different.
Clay nodded toward Keith. “He and Quinn used to run away from home, steal a shuttle and go for a bit. They never got caught. I’m thinking I’m finally seeing how they managed it.”
Keith didn’t respond to us. He stared at the control panel as though it had answers for him. “Welcome to Sandler, Artemis. Where did you get that ship? There are bounties on her all over.”
Keith nodded. “Well, I have my ways. Pesky group of rebels came around yelling about a revolution. They yelled, I took off.” Keith rubbed his eyes. “I’m thinkin’ I want to land in Polar Beta Two. That’s where I hear the best deals are to be made.”
“We’ll let you down for that fee you brought up.”
Keith sat back in his chair. “As is only fair.”
He hit some buttons that would pay the people he spoke to. Clay sat down at the controls. “Are you ready?”
“More than,” I answered. I couldn’t wait until every second of this time was a memory. I touched Keith’s shoulder. “Good work, love.”
“All that time we were sneaking away. If I’d know that all I had to do to find happiness was go to Mars Station, I’d have been there.”
So he had been listening. “You wouldn’t have liked the version of me that was there.”
“You wouldn’t have liked the version of me that showed up. Guess it’s good we met when we did.” He shook his head. “Let’s get this over with.”
Landing was bumpy, but I was relieved he didn’t crash Artemis, considering he had apparently crash landed us in the shuttle when he’d been trying to get me to Diana’s farm-slash-resistance base. Keith wasn’t Tommy on the controls. He couldn’t fly it in his sleep. Clay didn’t seem anxious to take the helm from him, so I left it alone. Tommy always gave the ship to Clay when he needed a break, yet Keith flew now.
Maybe Clay preferred to be back up and not first man out of the gate w
hen it came to space travel in general. I didn’t think I’d ask. There were male egos to concern myself with. We landed, and Keith hit the quarantine notification button.
Usually, if a ship came in on quarantine, it was left alone until whatever illness the ship had on it cleared up. On Mars Station, Dane wouldn’t have left the thing alone; they’d have boarded. Eventually, that might have happened here except we were putting out a code for Terranium flu. It wasn’t fatal, just yucky, and would clear up on its own.
We’d be given a wide berth.
I looked in the mirror. I appeared every bit the role I played. Widowed and sickly. In my black garb, only the worst of the worst would bother me. The dark circles I’d keep applying with makeup would go a long way toward reinforcing the look.
I couldn’t have been further from the look I’d presented at the council meeting on Earth. I wasn’t sure where that girl had gone anyway. Sexy in the red dress. I’d feel that way again… after I had my husbands back and I was the heck out of here.
As far as I was concerned, if I never saw Sandler space again, it wouldn’t be too soon. Of course, that might be a problem since I was, in fact, a Sandler. The trick was going to be convincing my guys to give up the crusade to take their homeland from their father. They weren’t responsible for all the ills of the universe. We couldn’t keep doing this.
I stepped into the control room of Artemis. The hardest thing about what was about to happen was the separation. Keith and Clay could absolutely not come with me. Their faces were recognizable. They were Sandler princes and that meant they were staying on this ship and waiting for me to get this done.
If I needed help, I’d come back and get it. But the plan was for me to at least get inside and see what the story was in terms of rescuing them. Maybe it would turn out we had to turn our ship’s guns on the house and start firing, but if there was a stealthy way to manage the retrieval, then that was preferable.