They were in on the plot!
Caillen saw the assassin’s eyes narrow past his shoulder. Since the Qill Guard was in front of him, he knew it meant reinforcements were coming at his back. He turned just in time to catch the first one and launch her into the assassin.
The second one lifted a blaster. He dodged the blast an instant before it would have exploded his head.
The one he’d thrown picked up her link and shouted into it for security. “Help! We’re being attacked by the Exeterian prince! He’s mad. He’s trying to assassinate our princess. We need immediate assistance.” She leveled her own blaster at him as she muted the link. “Give my regards to the gods.”
He gaped, then dodged her blast as he realized they were setting him up to die. “You harita!” he snarled at the cute Guard he’d thought he was saving when he entered the fray. How could he have been so stupid as to think a Qill would be hurt?
Idiot!
Not only had he embarrassed his father—again—he was about to be charged with a crime he hadn’t committed. And all because of her.
Nice revenge from their bitch queen.
Desideria was baffled by his insult and the look of hatred blazing in his eyes as he glared at her. But her confusion died as she saw Pleba set her weapon for kill and open fire on them. She had to do something or they were both dead.
Reacting on instinct, she launched herself at Caillen and knocked him into the wall, out of the line of fire. The moment she did, the wall shimmered and opened, dumping them into an escape pod.
Thank the gods for small favors. She hadn’t realized a portal was there.
Now she had to seal it before Pleba and the others shot through it. Unable to read the panels which were in a language she didn’t know, she made a guess as to which button would shut the door and notify security. Red most likely would launch them, so she hit an orange button in the center of the console. The door shot down, protecting them from the others.
Relieved she let out an elongated breath and sat back to wait for security.
Until she realized the engines were firing and the pod was launching while they were trapped inside it.
Crap…
10
His head throbbing from being slammed into a hard steel wall by a wom/fo wanted to throttle, Caillen cursed as he regained his equilibrium and realized what was happening.
They were launching away from the Arimanda.
Mobilizing, he climbed over his female annoyance who appeared frozen in horror by her actions, but by the time he reached the console, it was too late.
They were adrift and the ship was leaving them in its wake. Son of a…
Would the misery of this day never end? He sat down in the black leather chair next to hers and shook his head as deep aggravation filled him.
There was nothing he could do to stop this. Nothing. He let out a slow, agitated breath and cursed his crappy luck that had betrayed him yet again. Of all the flipping shit…
“Can’t we catch up to the ship?”
Oh yeah, there was an award-winning question of the day and it set his temper boiling.
He gave her a withering glare. Not even the vulnerable look on her face that made her extremely attractive could cut through his need to want to launch her out an air lock head first. Still, he forced himself to keep his tone even and his sarcasm at an acceptable level that wouldn’t quite motivate her to murder—no need in both of them being pissed in tight quarters. “We have one small thruster that’s only strong enough to safely land us on a planet.”
Caillen pointed out the window to the ship that was quickly becoming a silver dot in the darkness. “In case you haven’t noticed, they’re moving a lot faster. I don’t know about the laws of physics on your planet, but where I come from an object moving at subclass speed can’t catch up to one running at starclass. But if you know something about turbines, thrusters and engines, quantum or classical physics that I’ve somehow missed, then please enlighten me.” Yeah, okay, so he’d never been the best at corralling his sarcasm.
At least he’d tried. That counted for something, right?
She curled her lip. “You don’t have to be an asshole.”
Now the gloves were off. “Oh, baby, this ain’t asshole. Trust me. There’s a hole keg of asshole I haven’t even begun to tap yet.”
The expression on her face was so scalding he felt the burn of her anger even from his seat. Another time and place, they’d be getting naked.
But this wasn’t the place and it definitely wasn’t the time. All he wanted right now was to finish what her fake attacker had started. Choke her until her eyes bulged out. “Don’t even give me that look. Not after what you were planning.”