Page 37
Icy arrest is terrible, but the desolation is worse. I cannot speak to anyone but myself. The world is a blur around me except for the nearby chamber monitors outside the base and the cable and hose at the top of my cell.
My body feels drained, weak, and so very cold. I am losing hope the attendant will return for me. I cannot expect her to.
Maybe I should have led a real revolution. Perhaps we could’ve had more effect, and I wouldn’t be stuck here, unable to help my people.
Every breath requires focus. The cable assembly has won our fight and injected me with drugs that make me sleepy.
A deep sense that I have been forsaken by my father and my people, that I may never see or hold my beautiful mate again, and she may have to go on without me, sinks me into an abyss of self-loathing misery.
How was I not smart enough to see this coming? Why didn’t I just take her away from here?
When the negativity starts to wear on me, I decide I’ve had enough and choose better thoughts for the last months or years that I’m stuck in here. It’s what Jovie would do.
I’m desperate for anything that reminds me of her.
I focus on the memory of her warm skin against mine and descend into my mind so I don’t have to be aware of the emptiness that is my eternal tomb.
Her beautiful brown eyes looking up at mine with that playful quirk that says she wants me— I’d give anything to see them again. I try desperately to sharpen the image, fearing it will fade with time.
Hours pass, and no one enters the room. I think back to falling here and the others who drift like me in suspended death, starving, and being drained of their power.
I don’t know how many of us there are, but it’s thousands more than I ever believed.
And I bet a lot of them are here for reasons like mine.
How long was I lied to about our system of order? Who all is dirty?
I wish I could do something about it.
Regret starts to eat me alive.
I’m so cold that I have no energy to shiver.
Closing my eyes, I try to sleep away the time. But frustration with my father grows and blurs my memories of Jovie. For hours, I fight to keep Jovie at the front of my mind. I can’t stop my father, but I can still love her.
An odd tension in my core forces my eyes open.
Movement outside my tank draws my attention. A familiar older woman stares up at me. She’s in a spacesuit from an era long in the past. She waves someone over.
“Aura?”
I cannot speak under the effect of the meds or do anything but blink. But I am relieved to have someone to talk with. Someone I haven’t seen since my Rogue Academy days.
“We don’t have a lot of time. We have to make this quick. I need you to find your Storm and hold it tightly.” Allesyndra is one of the few Elders who I’m sure could still kick my ass.
My Storm— Where has it gone? It is so very quiet.
I dig deep and gather the energy I have. Hands press against the bottom of the tank in a circle. The cable in my back pops and hisses as it retracts. Flashes of gunfire with crackles light up the far end of the facility. Allesyndra shouts to someone at the computer.
The blue smoke shuts off. All around me, the glass brightens and fractures.
“Close your eyes, Aura!”
I squeeze them shut.
An explosion of glass peppers my body. I fall into a net of light woven by the hands around me. Someone tosses a blanket down, and the light net fades. I land and pile up on the floor.
A necklace with the Mark of Viestria swings close to me as someone scans my vitals. They press something warm and metal to my neck, injecting a fluid that heats my body.
Elder Allesyndra kneels beside me and inspects my face. On her forehead is a radiant symbol that matches the one hanging from the attendant’s neck. “We must go. Cloak him.”
I barely get a glimpse of two Amphirans in armor, guns flickering with light. My hearing is warped, and my head is woozy as someone gets me upright.
I wobble on my legs, feeling drunk.
“Easy. It’s going to take a second to work.” The male who speaks has red eyes and bound wings.
“Joru—”
He nods. “I’ve got you.”
A flash behind me steals everyone’s attention. I try to look but my neck is too stiff.
“Tal, don’t!” It’s Jovie’s voice.
“Jo…” I’m still too cold, but I fight to turn and sort out the problem.
I stumble and fall. Eluni swears and then takes a hit. A crashing sound makes me prop myself up.
Pronkus snarls at Eluni as he takes Jovie by the hair and drags her down the hallway. Blaize and Fieri fire at squads entering the other end of the level.
“The princess!” Eluni shouts. They turn and chase after him, firing rifles. The bullets disperse over an Arkus shield.
Get up! He’s probably taking her to the king for judgment!
I get myself on my knees, fury surging in my chest. Come on, body! He has Jovie!
Adrenaline floods my bones with a hot tide of energy.
“Sir, you’re not ready,” Elder Allesyndra says. “Fire and ice will make you crack.”
I stagger upright. “She is m-my mate. Mine! No one touches her but me! I will take that risk!”
On the floor beside me as I force my way through my first steps is Eluni, blood draining from her cheek as she inspects an unfamiliar man.
“Talros?” Eluni climbs out of the wrecked desk toward him. He groans something about a broken arm.
Eluni looks up at me. “They cannot be allowed to keep doing this to us. Something needs to change!”
She gets under Talros’ good arm as the Elders, the attendant, and the three others slip out of another door.
“Before you go…” Eluni stops me with a hand and swaps the chips in my implant.
Aura, can you fight?
It is nice to have another voice in my head after so much silence. Yes, Allele. Delayed. Warming up.
Jovie is headed to the commoners’ plaza.
I have no weapon. My Storm’s energy is still building.
I have no rifle. So I break off a pipe from my shattered chamber and motion for Jorusk to stay with Eluni and Talros, who both look like they’ve taken a lot of hits on their way to my cell.
“Get them safely to the ship. Make sure the others aren’t found. ”
Jorusk opens his wings and forms a shield around them.
“We will pick you up,” Eluni rasps with strained words. I know she’s in a lot of pain.
“Understood. And thank you,” I call after her.
“I’m just glad it worked this time.” Eluni looks relieved.
I know the ship well enough to plot a faster course to the plaza than the one Pronkus took. My clumsy steps smooth out until I am running again.
Blaize and Fieri are pushing them toward you, Aura.
I hike the stairs and weave through the security department halls until I am freed from the prison through a maintenance door.
Jovie is almost to the center of the plaza, with Pronkus dragging her by a wrist. I sprint for her, my Storm swirling turbulently inside of me, growing stronger every second I’m not under arrest. But it’s every squirm of Jovie that has me charging up the fastest.
A Royal guard steps in front of me. He’s one of King Eschelor’s by the Ermaea badge on his chest.
“Don’t make me do this.” I tighten my grip on the pipe. But I will. “Pronkus has my mate!”
He fires at me. I dodge the shot, expecting it to hit me. But as I swing my pipe, and he falls, I know my Storm is helping because it is as angry as I am.
I do not like harming my kind, but Jovie is fragile compared to them. I must protect her. Pronkus has zero regard for anyone’s health.
She turns, sees me, and strains against Pronkus’ grip. “Aura!”
I reach her just as two guards tackle me. I snag her hand at the last second.
Jovie screeches. Light swells between our palms. The electricity arcs away from our skin, crawling up my arm and over Jovie’s Faraday harness. The light becomes so bright that my captors let go. Even Pronkus shields his eyes.
Blaize and Fieri light up the guards around him with warping green pulses.
They slam into Royal shields. No one dies, but no one advances.
And I realize, as I wrench Jovie from Pronkus’ grasp and run for the closest dock door, that if Genesis wants to win, they’re going to need some new, more advanced weaponry.
Allele, please tell me you’re tracking me.
Ramp dropping.
A guard shouts and tries to enter Allele as we race up the ramp. A vibrant arc zaps him in the foot before Blaize or Fieri can shoot him.
“Get off my ship!” Allele barks as she closes us in. “Crew, sit down where you are,” she says. “Launching now.”
I clutch Jovie to me and rest on the ramp.
Allele’s windows paint with blue-green missile explosions, sending thumps through the hull.
“Shit!” Eluni charges out of the medical bay. “Stay there, Tal! Jorusk, hold him!”
She slams herself into a gunner’s seat as Blaize and Fieri crawl themselves to the front with her. Blaize takes the other gun and sends out rapid fire with Eluni, fending off the green missiles that chase us from Ermaea.
Fieri and Allele coordinate the escape. We rocket forward. Green light surrounds us. And we are in another galaxy.
“One more. Just to be sure we’re not followed.” Allele jumps us one more time and finally slows.
Talros staggers out of the medical bay, his arm in a sling. “What the hell was that? I saw the light from the window.”
“King Eschelor turned his defense system on us.” Eluni adjusts his brace and jerks it back when their fingers brush.
I see the spark even as I hold Jovie against me in the back of the ship.
“Sorry. My fault,” Eluni shakes out her hand. “I’m just pissed.”
Talros looks down at his fingers as she keeps working.
“Did you see that?” I whisper to Jovie.
She draws my mouth to hers. “All I see is you.”
Fieri walks back to us with a tablet in hand. “Sir, I think we should return to Abr.”
“What for? They’ve already taken me once. I don’t want her to have the same trouble.”
“They have decent security, and the cameras should keep you safe, for now, as long as you don’t take on any missions on the side.” The condescending way Fieri says it is a reminder that I got myself into the situation.
“They do have a lot of security and other ships in orbit, many of which are known allies of you, Aura. Not just Amphir. You have fought alongside a lot of them. They will stand by us if we need them.”
I shake my head. “I don’t want to take our problems to Earth.”
“We’re like a stalled ship out here, way too vulnerable,” Eluni says. “Allele is a one-of-a-kind, not something we should risk.”
Jorusk leaves the medical bay, holding a bandage over a wingtip. “If we’re doing a vote, I say we go back so they can finish their race. But it will keep up appearances for intergalactic relations.”
“Allele?” I trust her advice more than anyone when it comes to threats of any kind.
“If we let certain Amphirans control us, it proves their power. We must act as if all they have done to us is easily overcome, even if it wasn’t. We cannot be deterred, or they win.”
I collect Jovie in my arms and get to my feet. “Thank you, all of you, for what you risked and endured to break me out.”
“We had a little inside help,” Eluni mutters. “Could not have done it without them.”
After a long inhale to freshen my memory of Jovie’s sweet, musky scent, I kiss her temple. “I will have to thank all of them somehow, somewhere.”
“Prince Aurelius, you need some rest.” Allele opens the door to my quarters.
“Allele,” I complain. “What did I tell you about calling me that?”
“The Genesis colony needs a leader. You are the one they already turn to.”
Everyone on the ship looks at me like I’m something I’m not.
“No. I refuse to become my father.”
Eluni hugs herself and makes a surprised face at Blaize, muttering something about my glow .
Blaize thinks he’s covert as he points at us and makes a suggestive gesture. When he sees me watching him, he shrugs. “What?”
I shake my head and let my door shut behind me. Slumping back on the bed, feeling overwhelmed, I hug Jovie to push back the memories of the chamber.
“How did it feel?” she gently asks.
“Cold. Empty.” I weave my fingers into the loose, wavy strands of the braid she’s undone and soak in her softness. “Hopeless.”
Jovie eases out of my arms, gathers up blankets, layers them around me, and then crawls in with me. Her tenderness reminds me of Elix and Zariah, and how he built her a nest after they’d crashed on his frozen homeworld.
She doesn’t know how much the little things mean to me.
Jovie wants me to be comfortable, safe, and happy as much as I want those things for her.
Never in my life have I found anyone so attentive.
But I think the way things are with Jovie is how they’re supposed to be between mates, not the kings’ ideas.
“How—” I start.
“Allele found you. Fieri had a contact among the Elders. Eluni knew someone in the arresting facility. I think they’ve been with the resistance longer than anyone realized.”
“Maybe.” I think back over the years and try to find signs, but I’m just not sure. “Why did you take such a risk to save me? I mean, I didn’t want you to have to meet my people or visit one of our ships in such a manner. I’m sure you joined Abr expecting a better life.”
Jovie tilts her head and smiles at me. “I finally have a hunky man all to myself, one who’s loyal and caring. This is a better life. And someone thinks they’re going to take you away from me? Hell no. They can suck an electrode.
“So Eluni, Tal, and I got the programming taken care of while the others broke you out. Blaize, Fieri, and Jorusk were on combatant duty. They cleared the way, then we did our thing.”
“So there are rebels among the Elders?”
She nods. “Pretty sure they’re everywhere, and they’re a far larger portion of the population than one might think at first glance.”
Jovie taps a modified gauntlet screen and displays a list of readouts. “We picked up Talros on the way to you. Talros has a host of custom drones he built, so we’ve launched them to various ships to coordinate an escape.
“We didn’t have you to make the call, so we collectively decided to help those of Genesis coordinate a plan to peel apart from New World, quietly and quickly, with less conflict. Jorusk says it’s what his people did with the Talhuskins.”
“Thank you.”
She kisses me. “For now, all we have to do is finish the race. Are you up for that?”
“I already have what I want.”
“Me too. But if we want to broker peace, we have to show others that it’s possible. The galaxy needs to see us .”
Table of Contents
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- Page 37 (Reading here)
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