“You’re still on blood?” Lauren asked, intrigued.
Ronad nodded. “I might look more human than coldblood these days, but my digestive system is still geared toward the Vysanthean side of things,” he explained wryly, removing the stopper from his vial and sipping the contents.
“You still don’t look like any human man I’ve ever seen,” Angie said with a wink, getting a shove in the arm from Lauren. Bashrik looked crestfallen, though he hid it quickly, staring into his vial of blood instead. I wanted to tell him there was nothing to worry about—this was just Angie’s defense mechanism when she was unsure about things. I could tell she wondered if their feelings for each other still stood, now that Bashrik wasn’t close to death.
Ronad smiled. “Here I was, thinking I was starting to blend in,” he joked, putting his arm around Bashrik. The downhearted coldblood’s mood instantly improved.
“So, what in Rask’s name are you doing here?” Navan asked.
“It’s a long story.” Ronad took another sip of his vial. “When Bashrik was sent for, and I helped these two spirited humans get on board his ship, I decided I’d have to see what I could do from the ground. So, I—”
“You helped these two onto my ship?” Bashrik gaped at him.
Ronad grinned. “How else were they supposed to get to Riley? They wanted to see their friend again. Who was I to say no?”
Shock registered on Bashrik’s face, bringing a blush to Angie’s cheeks. Without Ronad’s help, the two of them would never have ended up in this complicated dance of love. I wondered what might’ve happened if Angie and Lauren had never come to Vysanthe. Would they have gone on to Paris and Stanford? Would they have waited for me to come back? Now we would never know, and though it was slightly selfish, I wouldn’t have had it any other way.
“You were saying?” Navan prompted, as Bashrik and Angie locked eyes.
“So, after Bashrik and the girls left, I convinced the Fed to let me join their cause and keep an eye on Orion for them. Since then, I’ve been living in a shack near the invisible compound, keeping tabs on things in the freezing cold—which was a lot easier when I wasn’t warm-blooded, let me tell you!” Ronad said with a playful smile. “It’s not glamorous, but I’ve eavesdropped on Orion and followed his every move. When I got wind of his plans to meet Pandora near Zai, I knew you all would be there too, given Orion’s blackmailing scheme. As soon as he left Earth, I followed, staying back and keeping my invisibility shields up. He was so focused on you guys, he never even bothered to look for me.”
“Wow,” Lauren said softly, gazing at Ronad. A strange look flitted across her eyes, and my heart gripped. I longed for Lauren to find someone adorable to love her the way she deserved to be loved, but Ronad wasn’t the right man for the job. After hearing the story of him and Naya, I knew there would never be hope of another true love in his life, at least not soon. He’d given up his wings in her memory, and even though I’d only had wings for a short amount of time, I knew the enormity of what that meant.
“Did Lazar ever return to Earth?” Navan asked, distracting my attention.
Ronad nodded. “Yeah, he came back to the rebel base a while ago. He was in pretty bad shape and lost an eye from some nasty injuries. But he’s back to his usual self, creeping around the place as Orion’s lapdog.”
“I doubt anything could kill that old goat,” Navan remarked sourly.
I couldn’t believe Lazar had made it back to the rebel base. In Southern Vysanthe, he’d been on the brink of death, blood gushing out of him while soldiers poured into the room. I was still angry with him for leaving the tracker chip in my neck, but he had gotten us out, in the end, and it had cost him an eye.
“Are you planning to return to Earth soon?” I asked Ronad. Everyone’s eyes turned to me.
“You sick of me already?” he joked.
“No, not at all. It’s just… I told Orion what I did to Pandora,” I admitted, my stomach sinking. It hadn’t fully hit me in the moment, but the dread was creeping farther through my veins with every moment that passed.
“What did you do?”
I sighed. “I killed her.”
Ronad whistled. “Really?”
“She didn’t leave me with a choice.” My throat tightened at the memory. Navan’s arm slid around my waist as I continued, his grip reassuring me. “Only, now that he knows what I did, I’m worried about what he’ll do to my family. He was already threatening to kill them, and now he has no reason to keep them alive. I killed his lover. He’ll do everything he can to hurt me.”
Ronad smiled. “You’ve got nothing to worry about, Riley. I didn’t know you’d killed Pandora—and, I’ll be honest, it’s going to take a little while for that to sink in—but I already knew I had to step in to protect your loved ones, given Orion’s blackmail attempts,” he explained, his words warming my heart. “That man can’t be trusted, and I knew there was a chance he’d betray the contract you’d made. So I tricked the human authorities into putting all of your families into witness protection,” he said proudly.
“How?” A wave of relief washed through me. It was reflected on Angie and Lauren’s faces, too.
“I falsified a few documents, conjured up a few old Vysanthean tricks, staged a few incidents—pretty simple stuff, really.” He chuckled.
“How did you find our families?” Angie asked breathlessly, gesturing to herself and Lauren.
“I asked the Fed to help me track them down and did the same thing I did with Riley’s parents,” he replied. “It means they know you’re safe, too. I just made up a ruse that meant they couldn’t see you, for security’s sake, until a certain amount of time has passed.”
Angie grinned. “I bet my little brother is causing chaos! Witness protection will need protection from him!”
“Thank you for getting them out. I’ve been so worried about them,” Lauren said quietly. “They’re not as young as most people’s parents. They’ll be so happy to know that I’m okay!”
“You did a really wonderful thing, Ronad,” I added, feeling tears prick my eyes.
“I did what anyone would do, in my position,” he replied, a smile on his face. A moment later, however, his expression changed, the humor fading. “Although, it’s not all good news, I’m afraid.”
“Why, what’s the matter?” Navan pressed.
“Well, I didn’t know Pandora was dead, but I knew she was missing. Orion was worried about it, just before he left, because he couldn’t get in touch with her via the Vanquish,” Ronad replied grimly. “In a fit of frustration, he murdered an entire town in Siberia. It was a complete massacre. No survivors. I found out too late to stop it.” Ronad’s gaze dropped to the ground.
Navan patted his friend on the shoulder. “Even if you’d found out, what could you have done? If you’d stopped him, you’d have revealed yourself. This is all on Orion, nobody else.”
His words reassured me, too. I couldn’t help feeling somewhat responsible for the deaths of those poor people. If I hadn’t killed Pandora, her radio silence worrying Orion, then maybe they’d still be alive.
“You’re probably right.” Ronad sighed. “Even so, it sucks balls.”
“Looks like someone has been picking up the local Earthen lingo,” Angie teased.
Ronad grinned. “I’m glad you noticed. You have no idea how hard I’ve been trying to talk like a local!”
While the others bantered, I retreated within myself, unable to shake the idea that I had caused the deaths of those Siberian innocents. When I turned, however, Navan was looking at me, a comforting expression in his eyes.
He leaned in, his voice tickling my ear as he whispered. “You did nothing wrong, Riley. Those people aren’t dead because of you, but countless more are alive because of your actions.” He squeezed me tight.
I nestled against him, grateful for his strong arms around me and his soft lips kissing my forehead, reminding me that some things in life were good, and worth fighting for. Glancing acr
oss at Ronad, I saw him watching us, a sad expression falling across his face. He smiled as our eyes met, before looking away again, some of his exuberant energy diminished for a moment.
“Are these two always like this?” he asked with forced brightness.
Angie laughed. “They’re usually worse. They must be toning it down for you.”
“You’re one to talk. We never know if you and Bashrik are going to kiss or kill each other!” Lauren teased, prompting Angie to look at her with horrified eyes.
Ronad gasped, turning to Bashrik. “You and Angie? You dark horse!”
Bashrik flushed. “She’s funny, and smart, and beautiful—why wouldn’t I fall for her? Anyone would,” he said defiantly, prompting an audible “aww” to ripple around the table, mostly from the female contingent. Angie’s eyes lit up. It seemed Bashrik wasn’t so unsure about their relationship after all.
“You’re a lucky man, Bash,” Ronad said, giving his friend a hard pat on the back. “Besides, Angie will keep you on your toes. I wish you every happiness. I just wish someone had told me, so I could’ve brought flowers or something. I hear that’s customary for humans?”
I smiled. “It’s customary for the partner to bring flowers.”
“It is?” Bashrik asked thoughtfully.
“It is,” I replied.
“Anyway, as much as I love to talk about love,” Ronad interjected, that false, pained note of enthusiasm in his voice, “we need to decide where we’re heading. My ship has taken a few hits in the engine, and yours doesn’t look too sprightly.”
Navan grimaced. “Judging by the diagnostics, we don’t have much choice—we’ll have to return to Vysanthe and decide where to go from there. Earth is too far. We’d never make it.”
“It doesn’t look like I’m going back there either.” Ronad sighed. “My deep-space tech has been knocked out, so even if I wanted to make the return trip, it would take forever. I can give you a tow if your engines are in trouble, and we can switch ships nearer to Vysanthe?” I noted he didn’t say “home.” Like Navan, he didn’t think of the coldblood planet as home.
“We can find a way to contact the Titans from Vysanthe,” I chimed in, garnering a curious look from Ronad.
“You’re trying to get the Titans to join your cause?” he asked.
I nodded. “I hear they’re fond of a fight.”
“You know what, that’s not a bad idea,” he agreed. “If you can get the Titans to help in your fight against the queens and the rebels, you might actually stand a chance. I’ve never known warriors like them, and I’ve had the chance to see them in full battle mode!”
“You have?” I mused.
“I was part of a secret ops team sent to study them. They were mesmerizing and utterly terrifying. If you can win their trust, you’ll be on your way to a formidable team,” Ronad said excitedly.
Navan rolled his eyes. “I’ve been trying to put her off the idea.”
“Pfft, don’t listen to him. He hates the Titans, but that’s only because he can’t see their full potential. He thinks they’re heathens with no moral compass, but I see them as war machines with a pretty honorable code of conduct,” Ronad enthused, strengthening my resolve.
“Looks like we’re getting in touch with the Titans!” Angie whooped.
Lauren nodded. “If Ronad thinks it’s a good idea, I think we might be onto something.”
Even Bashrik seemed convinced. “You know what, he makes a good point.”
“Fine,” Navan said. “Once we’re back on Vysanthe, we’ll find a way to get in touch with them and try to persuade them to join us. But if it all goes awry, don’t say I didn’t warn you!”
Right now, however, we had bigger things to worry about. If we were going back to Vysanthe, that meant facing Queen Brisha again. Only now, her right-hand woman was dead, and we had nothing to offer for her elixir experiments. I hoped she wouldn’t banish us on the spot, or worse.
Yeah, we really had a lot of explaining to do.
Chapter Thirty-One
With our engines damaged and the Fed ship no better, it took us just over a week to reach Vysanthe’s solar system. It was a tense journey, considering we weren’t sure how Queen Brisha was going to receive us, but we were all glad we didn’t have to clean pipes and do endless laundry under Pandora’s iron fist.
In fact, it was nice to have some alone time with Navan. I was particularly glad he’d brought those herbs along, though I wished he’d brought more. By the end of the first five days, we were out—he’d only snuck a handful into his pocket. For that one week, we were in a strange limbo, where we could push away the weight of responsibility. Vysanthe was still far enough away that we didn’t have to dwell too much on what the queen was going to do to us. It would be bad, we knew that much, but the details didn’t matter until we reached the planet itself.
On the morning of the ninth day, I awoke to Navan sleeping soundly beside me. As I leaned over his bare chest to kiss him tenderly on the lips, his arms wrapped around me, pulling me to him in a sleepy embrace.
“Where are you going?” he murmured, as I tried to wriggle away from him.
I grinned, kissing him again, feeling the heat rise within me. “I’m going to relieve Bashrik before I do something I might regret,” I whispered, pressing my body close to his. Without the herbs to protect us, it was becoming increasingly frustrating to be so close to him, with no safe way of making love. I enjoyed our passionate kisses and the sensuality of our tangled limbs, but I was starting to miss the main event.
“I wouldn’t regret anything.” He sighed, dipping his head to kiss my neck, nipping at my earlobe in the way that always made me gasp. It was almost more than I could take, and I found myself sinking into his kiss, melting into his body, my breath quickening.
Sliding my hand down the hard muscle of his abs, I stopped just above his hips. “No, I definitely need to go,” I muttered against his mouth, knowing it would only end in more frustration.
“But I was having such a good dream,” he lamented, running his hands through my hair.
I chuckled as I pushed away from him, moving across the bed to sit on the edge. Now that Pandora wasn’t in control of the ship, we’d moved to our own private quarters, where we could be alone together. Honestly, it was great to get out of bed and wander around in whatever state of undress I wanted, without worrying about other people looking. I didn’t mind Navan looking, of course, which he was doing at that very moment, a hungry look in his slate eyes.
“You sure you don’t want to come back to bed? I’ve got something more satisfying in mind,” he growled.
I laughed, dressing quickly before I could change my mind. “As much as I’d love to spend the morning in bed with you, someone needs to relieve Bashrik in the control room,” I said firmly, darting back to give him one last kiss before leaving our quarters. With a sigh, I walked down the hallway toward the cockpit, feeling my stomach begin to rumble. I’d have to grab something to eat in a few hours.
The Vanquish was on autopilot, but Bashrik had been paranoid about Orion, as well as space pirates, so we’d decided to sit in the cockpit in shifts in case anything happened. I’d been sure it was Bashrik who’d been on the nightshift, but, as I neared the open hatch, Angie’s voice drifted out.
Curious, I peered around the corner of the door and saw Bashrik and Angie sitting close together at one of the side tables, his hands holding hers. By the looks of it, she’d been crying, but I didn’t want to storm in and start accusing Bashrik of upsetting her before I knew all the details. Tucking myself back against the wall, I listened to their conversation, knowing I probably shouldn’t but unable to help myself.
“I’m sorry I’ve been acting so distant,” Bashrik said softly. “My head is a mess, and I wanted to sort through everything before I came to you. The lines between reality and fantasy were too blurred, and I didn’t know which thoughts were from before, and which were from the virus.”
“You told me you
wouldn’t keep me waiting any more, but here I am, waiting again,” Angie replied, her tone hurt. “We’ve been on this ship for over a week, and you avoid me like the plague. If we’re around the others, all we do is fight. I’m confused by you, Bashrik, and I don’t want to be confused anymore.”
“I know, I know. I’ve acted like an idiot, but I swear I’ll make it up to you,” he insisted. “I just wanted to be sure that my feelings weren’t part of the virus. I wanted to be certain they were mine, and mine alone.”
Angie sighed. “And are you sure now, or are you going to keep running the other way every time we’re in the same space? The only thing I associate you with right now is the sound of your shoes squealing on the floor when you run off.”
Bashrik gave a tight laugh. “I’m sure.”
“Good, because I’m not going to waste any more time on you, if I’m not what you want,” Angie replied. “I know you have trouble with this, because of… what I am… but I’m not going to be your dirty little secret. If you want to be with me, you be with me. If you don’t, put me out of my misery.”
“I want to be with you, Angie. From now on, I’ll try to do better. I’ll make you see that you’re not wasting your time.”
“You better,” Angie remarked.
I raised an eyebrow as the sound of kissing echoed out into the hallway. Well, at least they weren’t at each other’s throats again—not in the traditional sense, anyway. Knowing it was borderline creepy to stand there and listen to them kissing, but not wanting to break up their romantic moment, I stayed tucked against the wall a minute longer, covering my ears with my hands.
Once their minute was up, I crept over to the other side of the main space and made a show of stamping my boots against the metal floor as I approached the cockpit door. I peered into the control room, a broad grin on my face. They broke apart, their cheeks flushed.
“Angie? What are you doing here?” I asked, flashing her a knowing look.
“Just relieving Bashrik,” she replied, giggling.