Page 35 of The Interdimensional Lord's Earthly Delight
Chapter 9
Since that burst of plasma fire and the threat to Lishelle, Tynan had been acting on reflex. His reflexes had served him well as a warlord, but only when balanced with stratagems.
The bold lady beside him made him forget strategy, forget everything except her presence and his urge to keep her close.
Although she didn’t seem to feel the same…
He sidelonged a glance at her. As talland fierce as she was—like one of the battlemaids of Thorkon’s past—she looked young and lost, curled up in the copilot’s chair. And that was his fault. He’d dented her spirit with his high-handed ways—
“By the way,” she said casually. “You left the blaster on this seat, and I have it aimed at your guts. So you better stop jerking me around.”
He swiveled in his seat to face her, eyebrows arching.“And here I was worried that you would be thrown off course by all these revelations.”
She lifted one sculpted brow back at him. “Amazing how one’s nerves are steadied by holding the blaster.”
“You’d probably feel even more empowered if the converter was properly engaged for firing,” he suggested.
She hazarded a quick glance down at the weapon. “Which button is the converter?”
“No light meansthe weapon is not on. White indicates safety feature engaged and it will emit an audible warning to your target that they should stand down. Yellow is stun setting for most life forms within its parameters. Orange is lethal. Intermittent blinking light means the weapon is running low on power and should be set to ambient recharge or force powered from a compatible energy source. Solid red indicatesthat the weapon is overloading and an explosion is imminent.”
She frowned at him. “We’ll probably need to go over that again.”
He nodded solemnly. “Any time.”
With a sigh, she set the blaster down. On the side of her away from him, he noted wryly.
“You know I’m not going to shoot you,” she said. She rolled her eyes. “Not yet anyway.”
“My thankfulness knows no bounds,” he said.
She gavehim a suspicious look, as if she thought he was being sarcastic. But then she nodded. “If there is a threat—”
“There is,” he interrupted.
She continued without pausing, “—to the station, the wedding, or my friends, I have to do something.”
“You are a brave lady,” he said.
Again, she shot him a disbelieving look before her glance slid away. “I…wasn’t brave last time. And I let Blackworm hurtpeople to save myself.”
“You couldn’t have stopped him,” Tynan said firmly. “You had nothing, no way to fight him.”
She trailed one fingertip over the blaster beside her, and his spine tingled as if he felt the caress.
“After what you went through, it is admirable that you’ve chosen to come with me.”
“Chosen?” She scoffed. “Let’s not overstate the case.” She put her feet back on the floorand leaned forward to stare out the viewport. The astral nav was charting their course through the Azthronos system. “Is that where we’re going?”
He zoomed in. “My stronghold, on the inner inhabitable planet.” He quickly tapped at the comm panel. “There. I sent a message to the duke and the captain about Radek. Perhaps they will treat him gently. Perhaps they will space him.” Tynan rubbed histemple. “Although…”
Lishelle had been studying the chart, but she twisted to face him when he hesitated. “What?”
As bold and brash as she was, she had a sensitivity that surprised him. “Radek said he spent everything to break Blackworm out of prison to kill him. But accessing a transgalactic penitentiary would be prohibitively expensive. I’m finding it hard to believe a Thorkon commoner hadthat sort of credit.”
She grimaced. “Just because he wasn’t of noble blood doesn’t mean he was poor. Maybe back in your day all commoners were kept under heel, but your people have gotten more upwardly mobile.”
He nodded slowly. “Perhaps you’re right. But then why was Blackworm disgraced for taking a commoner as his consort?”