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She used it to prod him along as he moved past her.

He half-turned and growled at her, even though the touch was gentle.

Their gazes clashed, and he caught a fleeting expression of agitation on her face as if it hurt her to cause him any pain.

Which sealed his suspicion that her bravado was an act.

She was still his sweet, silver-haired angel underneath the swagger. A little more hard-edged and toughened by life, but the woman he’d fallen in love with nonetheless.

‘Walk ahead of me, turn right to the gangway, and keep going until you hit the external doors. Once you’re down the rampart, please wait for me. Don’t try any tricks, or I’ll evaporate your ass.’

‘You’re lucky because I don’t take orders. Not even suggestions.’

Yet he did as commanded, feeling a buzz of respect at her badassery. She’d give any one of the Riders a run for their money.

All thought whipped out of his head when his feet stepped out of her vessel and onto the ramp.

Light, heat, and the bite of flying sand swamped him in an instant.

He lifted a hand to guard his eyes from the glaring shafts of the roiling nebula and star body above. At the same time, his metanoids raced to adjust his sensors and shield him from the glowing intensity.

‘Welcome to Devansi, The Lonely Expanse.’

Riv half turned to peer at Élisa. She’d thrown on a contoured transparent plex face mask to protect her from the pebbled projectiles.

He grimaced. ‘Where’s mine?’

With a twitch to her lips, she produced a similar apparatus from the bag she’d slung across her chest, prowled to him, and placed it over his face.

‘Sante,’ he murmured, not revealing his own inbuilt high-tech Sable helmet that could appear at his silent command.

She started with a short jerk. ‘You keep speaking fluent Edenite.’ She nailed him with a suspicious glare. ‘Are you from that moon rock?’

Hell, she was relentless. ‘I’m well traveled, fair lady and speak many linguas, so shoot me. Nature of the bounty game. I use the words I find most favorable for my needs.’

She shot him another cold side-eye. ‘Something doesn’t add up about you.’

‘Nothing ever does,’ he quipped.

After a short stare-down, she shrugged and used a sharp chin jerk to suggest he hustle on.

Riv shuffled down the ramp until he was off it.

His eyes fell on a battered cargo air trolley packed with boxes and supplies.

He sliced his eyes to Élisa as she camouflaged her ship, which he noted she’d already set as far under the overhanging ledge as possible. It was now well hidden within the shadows of the small mountain.

She dragged a large camo sheet over the Osprey and activated a button on her wrist comm.

The surface shifted, and the craft disappeared from view, merging into the rock finish above and around it, rendering it invisible to the eye.

He raised a brow at her ingenuity, even though Glimmer, hovering overhead, had infinite surpassing tech. ‘Why park here?’

Her eyes skimmed him as she tossed her shoulder bag into the levitating cargo carrier. ‘This area is overrun with sand raiders and looters. They would have clocked our arrival by now. I try to put them off the scent by parking my craft far from my home and taking a circuitous route. There’s also no good place to hide it where I live. That enough of an explanation for you?’

He shrugged.

She peeked up at the sky, where she imagined Glimmer was hovering. ‘Your ship still above us?’