Page 111 of Tempting Cargo

He smelled of the city, not fresh hillside air, and I tried not to lean away. “Yes. We have about five minutes before Mother learns of my change of heart and gets suspicious. Let’s see where my crew are.”

Garrison, Airida, and the shaa’ith should be long back on theDorimisa,so once I’d found Paiata and Muzati, we could leave—forever.

They weren’t in the kitchens. I wanted to explore deeper in the house, but we had to get to the gardens lest we raise suspicions.

“I’m going back to Mother,” I said.

Rokharu stopped. “I thought you needed to find your crew.”

“I do. But they should be here. They’re not, which means something’s wrong.”

“And you being under armed guard did not hint at this?” He raised his brows, a sparkle in his eyes.

It would be too familiar, too un-Orithian, to punch him in the arm. But I thought about it.

“I had an inkling,” I said dryly. “Come, let us pretend to give her what she wants and find out where my crew are.”

I smiled, but it didn’t linger because of him. No, I could just imagine Garrison saying something similar. Gods, I missed him. I needed this all to be done, needed to leave.

Wecouldleave, I realised. This would work. Rokharu’s aid had to signify something.

And then what?

I’d not dreamed of love, not since I was young. I’d lived without hope for so long, I didn’t know what to do with my new reality.

It all rushed in with my next breath, choking me up, filling me with life, so full of possibility, it flooded me in a beautiful rush of joy.

We’re going to win, mitsha.

We swept into the room in a rustle of polymer silks and crisp boots.

“Hello, Mother. Would you like to gloat now?”

Mother raised her furious face from her wrist-comm. She stared at my arm, linked with Rokharu’s, and narrowed her eyes. As if seeking any trickery, Mother examined his face too. “I will gloat after I have found out why you brought an alien creature to Orith. And why it was in the woods with your brother.”

When I realised what she meant, I clenched back a growl. Fear nipped at me, threatened to take over, but the bondsmoothed it away. I knew, deep in my bones, Garrison wasn’t hurt, though they screamed to have my mate by my side.

Regardless, worry must have shown in my face because she continued, “Do not concern yourself. It is safe in the cell.”

It took all my control to keep my face neutral and my headspines still. She had Garrison. We didn’t have Airida. Hadnothinggone right?

The bond soothed my rising panic, and I heaved a breath. “Where is my brother?”

“I’m here.” Airida stepped out of the adjoining room, our steward Kimivha on one side, Father on the other.

I drank him in. Skinnier than last I’d seen him, and his face had more of a pallor. But his eyes were bright, and he gave me a small tilt of his head.

“What is this about, Shohari?” Father said. “He won’t tell us anything.”

Nothing about the plan was as intended, but we had to plough on—even though my only ally in the room was a male I thought I’d despise, one who didn’t know what was about to happen.

I hooked one of the swirling adornments off my dress, teasing off the microslab hidden there. “You wish to know why I am here, Mother? Play this.”

Her brows furrowed.

“I’d play it myself,” I said, “but I find myself without my wrist-comm.”

She huffed in disdain but slunk towards me, snatching the tiny data chip from my fingers. As soon as she placed it in the dock, a holodisplay shimmered to life on the wall.