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17

Allie

My heart is pounding against my chest – like it wants to burst out.

I’ve heard an Aurelian expression before: The deadliest poison is hope.

In all my years on the run, I’ve begged the Gods for a sign about the fate of my sister. I’d never found one.

It didn’t help that I was barely managing to survive on my own, let alone having the resources to look for a girl who’d gone missing three years prior. I thought it was hopeless – that sign I prayed for would be like a sign to something else if it ever actually arrived…

…and then it did.

Within days of being captured by these Aurelians, I suddenly have my first real lead. I’ve now got access to the Aurelian Law Enforcement’s famed database – or, at least, I do until my triad is cast out of the Aurelian Law Enforcement service; turned from trusted agents to wanted fugitives.

Thetriad.

Notmytriad, Allie. You can’t think that way! Staying with these Aurelians would just be another form of captivity.

In any event, my pulse is racing as I follow behind Kitos and Hadrian, eager to enter the dining room and learn their plan.

I’ve already learned one very important thing today. I can hide my aura. Not completely – but enough to avoid detection by my Bonded mates.

I’d spent hours practicing, while I lay half-awake, half-asleep, in that hazy state of being that only painkillers can bring on.

During that period of lucidness, I experimented with the Bond – delving deep into myself to touch my own aura. While there, in the very depths of my subconscious, I found something very important. I can mute my own aura – obscuring both my emotions and my location.

The test was in sneaking up on the triad in the cockpit. If they’d been able to sense me coming, there would have been no surprise in Hadrian’s face when he’d turned and seen me in the doorway. As it was, the surprise was clear and apparent – he’d had no clue. None of them had.

I’m sure of it. The Aurelians may be good at concealing their emotions on the outside, but through the Bond it was very clear to me.

That means that when I do finally get away from these Aurelians, I can stop them from coming after me. It means I don’t need to turn them over to Law Enforcement anymore. I won’t need to get them killed, or imprisoned. All I’ll have to do is just get out of their reach. Then, they won’t be able to track me down.

It’s a huge weight off my mind – alleviating the guilt that had been eating away at me for the last day.

Finally, the three of us enter the mess-hall. Hadrian motions for me to sit at the table with an idle gesture of his hand.

Part of me rankles at being bossed around by this huge, hulking warrior – but I’ve got no reason to disobey him. I’m already cursing myself for losing control of my emotions earlier. I’d let anger take control of me in the cockpit. I played my hand too quickly. I shouldn’t have told the Aurelians I was considering investigating The Rhino on my own.

But if the Aurelians don’t do a thorough-enough investigation?

Then, I’ll take over – whether they like it or not. It’s going to take more than three Aurelian warriors to keep me from finding out what happened to my little sister.

“Did I hear everything?” I demand, as I sit down. “You said the owner of The Rhino is connected to a group of space-pirates who follow the same patterns as the ones who took Lilac, right? Who is this owner, then?”

Kitos clears his throat. “Allegedconnection. It’s based on rumor. The Aurelian Database is in-depth, but there’s no primary source in this case. We don’t even know the identity of the owner of The Rhino – we just have that lead.” He shrugs. “At this point, it’s like finding a platinum mine in an asteroid field. Understood?”

A platinum mine in an asteroid field.

Otherwise known as a one-in-a-million chance.

I’ll take that chance, though, and be grateful for it.

“How long until this prisoner hand-off?”

Hadrian looks at me deeply with those brown-tinted eyes of his, considering his words.

Those brown eyes have dulled significantly – but I know they’ll never go back to the slate-grey hue they were before he’d become Bonded to me.