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She tried again to engage her neural override, but static feedback hit her like a slap.

He had locked her out. Eugene glanced over, amused.

‘Oh, sweetheart. You’re not the pilot anymore.’

Ahead, a vessel crept into view, dark and hulking, ringed in sickly violet pulses.

Eugene’s pleasure yacht.

ThePeñaaligned with its docking bay.

‘Please tell me you’re not taking me to that over-hyped, raucous,kokopalace,’ she muttered.

‘Oh, but I am.’ His grin widened. ‘It’s so quiet now. You’ll be able to hear everything.’

The vessel shuddered as it berthed with the ghost ship, hull locking into place with a hiss of pressure.

Eugene turned his head toward her, humming still.

The cuffs around her wrists tightened as they pulled her to her feet with sheer, unseen force.

His voice dropped to a whisper. ‘Shall we?’

They stepped out into the darkened belly of the craft.

Only now, it was silent.

The lights were dim. The windows were dark, there was no music, no laughter. No party.

It was a ghost town.

‘Where are your little orgy guests?’ she muttered, struggling as he pulled her forward.

‘Gone,’ he stated with a titter. ‘Fun has its limits. Now the real delight begins.’

He dragged her down a freezing corridor, her boots skidding across the polished metal floors.

Goosebumps laced her arms. The air was frigid, a cold that bit her skin. Her breath fogged in a cloud before her as she exhaled. The deeper they went, the worse it got.

She caught glimpses of abandoned glasses, velvet robes left behind, holograms half-flickering on loop. The eerie echo of forgotten laughter haunted the halls.

The cuffs pinched as she twisted.

Eugene didn’t bother looking back. ‘We’re headed for the observation chamber,’ he said, as if they were going for a walk on the beach. ‘It has the most exquisite view of the Wildlight.’

‘Why me?’ she bit out.

‘Because you’re valuable to him,’ he said mildly.

She stilled. ‘Him who?’

‘Your knight in wolf armor, your lover, I believe.’

‘How did you know about him?’

‘I’ve eyes, Savvine, informants on the Sombra who whisper to me. I also observed him rescue you valiantly after I exploded the mines in the Lombardi debris field. I was lost for words at how he snatched you from death with his masterful prowess. You’re a lucky woman. Pity Helena Bianchi doesn’t think that.’

She blanched. ‘FokkHelena.’