Page 64 of First Offense

I continued considering his words as the plane arrived. And after every last inmate was loaded into the cargo bay, I still wasn’t sure what he’d meant.

Space is relative.

Because of the portals?I wondered.Or something else entirely?

I took a seat beside Layla’s prone form, her eyelashes spanning her porcelain cheeks as she slept rather peacefully on the floor. Novak lay on her other side, his dark hair swept off his forehead and his expression blank. Not innocent. Not even harsh. Just… stoic. It reminded me of a time when he used to stand among my ranks, never giving anything away with his eyes.

Always loyal.

Always respectful.

Always quiet.

What made you Fall?I wondered at him, not for the first time. He’d been a remarkable warrior, quick with a blade, and lethal in the most beautiful aspects of the term. Then he’d Fallen, his body forever cloaked in an edge of darkness.

I shook my head and sighed, my head falling back to the metal siding behind me.

This wasn’t like the plane I’d arrived on—no rows of seats or passenger areas. Just a lot of open space, suggesting this typically contained large cargo or boxes, not inmates.

But it worked well to lay everyone down. I’d used belts to secure the prisoners to the floor. At least the ones I’d been responsible for carrying. Which had included Layla, Novak, Raven, Zian, and Sorin, in that order.

The Nora Guards saw to all the others, throwing most of the bodies onto the plane bed without care. I’d tried to situate most of them as they retrieved more inmates from the ground, but after seven or eight, I’d given up and focused on those I cared about most.

Mainly Layla.

And, begrudgingly, Novak.

I’d provided some care to Raven as well, feeling it was a bit of a requirement considering she’d healed me. Sorin and Zian received what was left of my concern, which wasn’t much. But at least they were safe and buckled.

“Long day?” Sayir asked as he moved toward me on the plane.

I’d sensed his entry, had even observed him from the corner of my eye, but had purposely not outwardly acknowledged him. I’d gone about this all the wrong way, demanding my right to a phone, not so subtly threatening to express my frustrations to the king, and overall disrespecting my “host.”

If I wanted to find answers and to make sure Layla and I survived, I needed a completely different tactic.

Not that the disrespect and threats hadn’t been deserved—they absolutely had been, and I still felt that way—but Sayir required a different approach. Something more cunning. Morecomplimentary.

I needed him to stop trying to kill me. Assuming that was his goal, anyway.

Regardless, the previous method wasn’t working. So I’d test this angle and see what happened.

So I sighed again, infusing as much exhaustion into that sound as I could while he sat down across from me. His gaze flicked to Layla before settling on me once more.

He wants to talk, I thought.Good.

“I’ve had better days,” I finally said, responding to the question he’d asked upon reaching me.

His shrewd gaze narrowed slightly, indicating his distrust. Likely because of the shift in my approach. The last time we spoke, I’d demanded an audience with Sefid. He probably expected the same now, particularly as Layla had very nearly died in that fire. Which meant he found my calm approach suspicious.

Right.

I considered my words carefully, searching for a way to put him at ease. To make him think I’d changed my tactic for a practical reason.

“I’ll admit,” I started slowly. “My frustration over this situation might have been misdirected, causing me to react in manners outside my typical behavior.”

I couldn’t actually apologize but needed to sound contrite. And it wasn’t necessarily untrue. I had taken a few frustrations out on Novak. I’d also been quite cruel to Layla.

“I see,” he murmured. “I imagine being compatible with a female you have no right to touch can be difficult as well.”