Page 15 of Star Bringer
I glance back and spot Arik racing toward us. “Princess Kalinda!” he shouts just as an automated voice calls over the ship’s internal communication system.
“Decontamination system activated. You have ten seconds to vacate area 27.”
I have no clue what that involves, but it doesn’t sound good. “Hurry,” I yell.
Arik is almost up to us as loud sirens blare and a metal bulkhead slams down between us, cutting me off from Arik and the others still inside the lab.
“No!” I thump on the metal, desperate not to leave all those people behind. But Lara is pulling me again, and I can’t fight her. Not when I can’t even breathe.
My lungs hurt. I’m guessing the decontamination system is sucking up all the oxygen, leaving us gasping for breath.
I grab her hand and search frantically for a way out. But we’re on a fucking space station—where could we even go?
I don’t want to think about what’s happening inside the lab. But at least others got out as well. I spot Ambassador Holdren, High Priestess Rain, and Secondary Delegate Merrick. Around us, people are crashing to their knees. My own breathing is growing even more labored, and I know I don’t have long. I need to find the control panel and switch off the decontamination system, but I don’t know how. We need to evacuate.
If we make it to the docking bay, hopefully we can take off on one of the shuttles. I look around through the swirling gray smoke. Which way? I have no idea, but to the right, the corridor is blocked by a security door, so I pull Lara with me and head left.
Out of nowhere, a hand grabs my elbow and I’m being propelled along the corridor. I have one second to register that someone is actuallytouchingme before it also registers that I’m being pulled in a direction I don’t want to go.
I whirl around, prepared to fight. Then freeze when I realize just who was brave enough to risk a death penalty and put his hand on me.
Chapter 7
Ian
The princess is staring at the spot where my hand touches her bare arm like I’m committing some sort of sacrilege.
Maybe I am.
How the hell would I know? Fucking etiquette lessons weren’t on the agenda where I grew up.
“You,” she wheezes, and the way she says it doesn’t sound complimentary.
I should just let her go. This is wasting time I don’t have.
The princess can look after herself. She was probably trained from birth in the art of self-preservation. And I have to get to the docking bay anyway—if there’s even a docking bay left after whatever the fuck just happened. If that was Max’s idea of a diversion, we’ll be having words later.
As for the princess—she’s a problem I don’t need right now. I tell myself to let her go, but somehow, I can’t seem to do that. In fact, my grip tightens.
It’s just another bad decision in the string of bad decisions I’ve been making today. I’m supposed to be keeping a low profile. So what was I doing in there, warning her away from that damn weird sphere that Dr. Wicked is so obsessed with?
I don’t have a fucking clue, and Max wasn’t exactly thrilled about it, either. All I know is I didn’t want her touching it. I’ve heard rumors of people—prisoners—burned to a crisp by that thing, but still, I acted without thinking. Never a good idea, but especially not today.
Yet here I am again. Going on instinct instead of thinking shit through.
I try to tell myself that it’s because she might come in handy as a hostage or something, but the fact is my brain isn’t functioning right now. Probably due to lack of oxygen. The edges of my vision are blurring, which seems to prove my point. We have to get out of here like, yesterday.
I drag the princess toward the security door, but she’s fighting me every step of the way, punching and kicking.
“Quit with the goddamn wriggling,” I snarl just as someone leaps on my back and starts thumping me on the head. “What the hell? Get the fuck off me.”
“Don’t touch the princess!” she screams back at me.
Which just goes to prove that nothing good ever comes from trying to help someone else, especially not someone like her.
Lesson fucking learned.
I reach behind me and peel whoever the hell is hitting me off my back before dropping her to the floor. I have no clue who this woman is, but she’s slowing me down, andthatI’m not having. While saving the princess could be a smart bet for me later on, this other one gets me nothing. So she can go down with this flying fucking torture chamber.
