Page 89 of Star Bringer
We’ve left our attackers—whoever they were—far behind. TheStarlightis superfast. I’ve never known a ship so quick. It makes me wonder about the aliens who built it. Maybe Rain is right—maybe they were gods after all. All I know is they certainly knew how to build kick-ass tech.
Now that we’ve left that other ship in the dust, I touch the speed control and theStarlightslows. I wasn’t sure she would listen to me, but it seems she only takes over when she thinks I’m not going to manage on my own. Which is insulting. And also freaky.
Do I really believe the ship can think for herself on that level? Those capabilities are so far beyond anything we’ve got, unless the Ruling Families are holding out. Which they probably are. Who cares. My head hurts.
I recheck our course for Glacea—but theStarlighthas already adjusted her flight plan—then sit back with a sigh to take stock. My mind is getting clearer, the gaps in my memories shrinking, and I’m feeling more lucid than I have since I was drugged and taken on board theCaelestis. But I suspect it’s a temporary reprieve.
My head always hurts. It varies from a dull throbbing in the base of my neck, like now, to a pain so intense it’s as though someone is drilling into my skull. I wish I remembered what they did to me on that shithole space station. The not knowing—it’s another violation, one more on top of the many the Empire of Senestris has been serving me my entire life.
Part of me thinks I shouldn’t try to remember. That I’m better off not knowing what they did. But then I take off this jumpsuit for bed and can’t help but see the fresh scars and healing injuries all over my body. And the horror of not knowing takes over, making it impossible for me to sleep. Impossible for me to think.
The only thing that helps is sitting in this pilot’s chair—and Rain. It’s impossible to feel trapped when I’m sitting here, the endless expanse of space spread out at my fingertips, mine for the taking.
I can go anywhere, fast. And while, yeah, Ian would probably have something to say about that, it doesn’t matter. Because the knowledge that Icango anywhere makes the need to do so shrink.
As for Rain…I can feel myself blushing when I think about her, and I never blush. I’m usually as stone-cold as they come—it’s how my mother raised me—but there’s nothing cold about my feelings for her. Which is freaky, too.
Not freaky enough for me to stop wanting to hold her, kiss her,touchher. But freaky enough to have me wondering what happened to me. What’s happening to me still.
My body aches. A bonus gift from my time on theCaelestis. I shift position, stretch out my back and legs a little. Tamp down the newest wave of rage at what they did to me.
I used to be able to go for hours, for days, without feeling so much as a twinge. My family conditioned me since birth to make sure of it. Now, I can’t even sit in a fucking chair for longer than half an hour without some part of my body cramping up.
As the shock and fear from the attack fade, the others start to talk around me. I let their voices wash over me without paying too much attention to their words. The more my head hurts, the harder it is to comprehend the words being spoken, so these last few days I’ve gotten in the habit of hearing without listening.
I twirl my chair around and grin. Rain is seated on the closest chair on my left, and Merrick is sprawled out next to her. His broken nose is swollen to twice its usual size, which probably explains the surly expression. Rain looks a little subdued but gives me a wan smile when she catches my eye.
Ian and the princess are still on the floor. Probably thought it was the safest place. He’s sitting up, arms wrapped around his legs while she’s still lying flat out, eyes open, staring at the ceiling.
Even I have to admit Ian is a fine specimen of a man. I’d be tempted myself if I liked that sort of thing, which I don’t. Probably just as well. I’ve seen the way he watches the princess when he thinks she isn’t looking. I wish him all the luck with that.
Though I have to admit, her asking him to teach her to fight was…unexpected. And actually kinda cool. Which pisses me off.
My back is still bothering me, so I get up and stretch. “So,” I say. “After what just happened, should we renew the conversation about who wants the lot of you dead?”
“I thought we already went over this,” Rain says, sitting up straighter.
“Yeah, well, that was a whole new murder attempt we just lived through, so I think the sentiment bears repeating.”
Kali gets to her feet. “You don’t think it’s just people after the bounty?” she comments as she brushes herself down.
I roll my eyes. “The flyers said dead or alive, but even dead, they’d need bodies to prove it’s you all. And whoever that was, they were doing their best to vaporize us. No bodies, no bounty.”
“She’s right,” Ian says. “Whoever was in that ship wasn’t after the bounty. But it could still be whoever put out the flyers in the first place.” He shrugs as he gets to his feet before pulling a flask from his pocket and taking a gulp. “Or it could be someone completely different.”
“Popular lot, aren’t you,” I say. But it’s an intriguing mystery. One we need to find a few more pieces of if we actually hope to solve it.
If I’m being logical, I know it’s highly possible that it could be my group. Except, unless things have changed drastically since I’ve been away, we didn’t have the resources to take on a job as big as attacking theCaelestis.At least not without a lot of help.
“Maybe we just need to think it through,” Gage says.
“Don’t hurt yourself, big guy,” Max snarks back.
He just shoots Max a winning smile, then continues. “Who would want the princess dead?”
“Just about everyone in the system with a brain,” I offer.
Aw. She almost looks hurt. Which almost makes me feel bad.
