Page 26 of Star Bringer
I can hear them now, whispering to my mother that I blew theCaelestisup out of pure incompetence. Or worse, out of spite.
I’ve never been popular with the Council—or any of the upper echelon of the Ruling Families, and not just because they’re hoping to take my family’s place in the hierarchy. Most of them were against my mother’s marriage to my father because he wasn’t one of them. He was a priest from Serati—part of a delegation to Askkandia—when he met my mom and fell in love. My father used to tell the story to me when I couldn’t sleep, and I always adored it.
Of course, that was before I realized that their love was one-sided and that my mother hid her true contempt from him for the years she needed him, and not for one second longer. She smiled until it was time not to smile…and my father and I are the ones who paid the price.
Most of the minions believe I have weak blood because my father was not from Askkandia or even from one of the Ruling Families. I don’t care. I wouldn’t swap his blood for anything.
An abyss of sadness beckons—like it has every day since his death—but I ignore it…as I have every day since his death. Time to take stock and decide where to go from here, literally and figuratively. If I’d wanted to drift aimlessly around space, I could have just leaped off theCaelestisin a space suit and hoped for the best.
Reaching down, I tug at a loose strand of cloth from the frayed hem of my Imperial Regalia. The dress is hacked off just above the knee, revealing more bare leg than I’ve ever shown before. And bare feet,dirtybare feet. I lost the cloak somewhere on the run from the lab to the docking bay—though that’s definitely not a loss. Good riddance to bad fashion, if you ask me, but Lara would have a fit if she saw me right now. All her hard work reduced tothis.
At the thought of her, my lower lip starts to wobble again, so I shut it down, banishing her from my mind even as I press my lips together so tightly that my jaw aches. What would my mother tell me?
One day, I’ll be able to think of Lara, when I can do something positive with the memory. Just not now.
And maybe not ever, consideringI’m stuck on a piece of space junk that will likely disintegrate around us any second, leaving us floating in space for eternity. Add in the company I’m presently keeping, and what happens next is anyone’s guess. Especially considering everyone in this group seems to be looking out for number one and no one else—except maybe Ian, who’s looking out for Milla, whoever that is.
All I know is he was ready to hop aboard this thing without a second thought just for the chance at saving her.
I’d like to think that makes him honorable, but the truth is, it just makes him even more dangerous.
I can sense someone staring at me, and I raise my gaze to find Beckett, the escaped prisoner from theReformer. She’s leaning against the console, and she has that look in her eyes again—the one I can’t quite decipher but I’m pretty sure means nothing good. When she sees me watching, her lips curve into a small smile and she waggles her fingers at me in a way that sends shivers of unease prickling along my spine.
I tell myself it’s because she could have done anything to earn her spot on that ship. For all I know, she could be a murderer of prupples and kanadoos and baby varlens and deserves everything that happens to her.
Or maybe she was planted on theCaelestisto sabotage her. She could even be part of the Rebellion. I grit my teeth at the thought—I hate the rebels and everything they stand for. They killed my dad. Blew him into so many pieces that there wasn’t even a body left to bury.
But when I look at Beckett again, both her hands are twitching. They’re hanging at her sides and bear the same dark stain as around her eyes. As though she senses my gaze, she screws her left hand into a fist. It hides the stain but doesn’t stop it from trembling.
I remember Ian’s comment that they were carrying out what surely must be illegal experiments on theCaelestis. To be fair, they’d have to be illegal—my mother may be a stone-cold political operative, but there’s no way she’d countenance experiments on her citizens.
But that doesn’t mean Dr. Veragelen didn’t take things into her own hands. Maybe she did something to Beckett that did more than scar her skin. Maybe she damaged her mind. Which means I can’t just presume she’s a bad person thinking horrible thoughts about me. Maybe she’s just…broken. If that’s the case, I have to at least try to be kind to her.
I smile back, trying to think of something to say. But she meets my smile with a look of total and complete contempt before deliberately turning her back on me. I start to get angry, but then I see the writing on the back of Beckett’s jumpsuit.Prisoner 826.
Maybe her contempt is justified.
I shift my gaze to where Max has just stood up from the seat beside me. He’s still in his guard’s uniform, but I’m doubling down on my previous impression that neither he nor Ian are actually guards. Now that I can think a little clearer, it’s obvious they were only on theCaelestisto track down this Milla person.
Part of me wonders iftheyblew up theCaelestisto hide their escape on the prison ship. If so, they messed up, as theReformerwas destroyed as well…which makes them incompetent as well as armed, dangerous liars. Though it’s hard to think of Max that way when he glances up and gives me a grin and a very mischievous wink—one I internally fight not to return.
Despite everything I’m figuring out, I can’t help liking him.
Also out of his seat now, Gage is fiddling with one of the control panels on the back wall. Of everyone on the ship, he seems the nicest and the most uncomplicated. Then again, I gather he’s been working with Max and Ian all along, so maybe he’s not as uncomplicated as he seems.
On the other side of the triangular bridge are Rain and Merrick, their heads close together. I really like Rain, but Merrick I’m not so sure of—despite the fact that he reminds me of my dad. There’s a reserve to him that makes me suspect we’ve yet to see the real man. Despite pledging his life to the Sisterhood, he moves like a fighter, and he looks a little bit older than the rest of us—maybe in his mid-twenties.
But, while I like Rain, they’re still officials of the Sisterhood, which means their agenda—worshipping the Dying Sun, even hastening its demise—will always be in opposition to the rest of ours—to save it by any means possible. So can any of us truly trust them? Rain is the most unlikely ambassador I have ever come across—and I know what politicians are like—so did the Sisterhood somehow learn about the heptosphere and Dr. Veragelen’s work and decide to destroy it? They nearly died themselves, but martyrs are hardly unheard of in religious organizations.
And then there’s Ian—I’ve saved the worst and most obnoxious for last. Right now, his long, lean body is sprawled in the captain’s seat, even though he’s given up all pretense that he’s actually flying this piece of junk. His eyes are half closed, and he has a brooding look on his handsome face that makes me wonder what he’s thinking about. Milla, maybe? Or how catastrophically wrong his plan has gone? Does he feel responsible for what happened to theCaelestisand the mess we’re currently in?
I have to remind myself that he did in fact save my life—I think I would have passed out if he hadn’t gotten me out of the decontamination zone when he did. Then I also remind myself that he likely had an ulterior motive. That he was just thinking of his getaway and how he could use me as a hostage.
Truth be told, it seems like just about everyone on this ship could have had a reason to blow up theCaelestis.Which means I need to keep my wits about me. I need to get the rest of us somewhere safe. And I’m the only one with the plan to do so.
I glance around at the others and decide it’s time to inform the rest of them of my plan. And more than time to prove what a formidable leader I can be. Because if the person who blew up theCaelestisis on this ship, I’m not going to let them get away with it.
Chapter 11
