Cien, Kee, and Havil were in the galley, ostensibly making lunch, but really Kee and Havil were keeping the kid off the bridge in case things went sideways.
With her colorful hair, delicate build, and bright personality, Kee was the least threatening person on board, and the only human Cien trusted enough to let close. He had tolerated the shared dinners, and had even cracked a smile once or twice, but the rest of the time, we gave him his space. The kid deserved it.
Everyone else was on the bridge. I scratched Luna under the chin as the minutes crept past. Finally, Starlight pinged a warning—we were within range of the battleship’s guns. I brought up our weapons and defensive systems.
Not that it would be much help against a battleship.
But even though Empress Nepru had very likely used her grandson as a pawn, she’d also kept him safe, so I didn’t think she would kill him now—and a hit from a battleship would absolutely destroy Starlight.
Torran’s expression went distant. I pretended everything was normal and confirmed our course through the wormhole. After a heart-stopping moment, the anchor put us in the holding pattern.
Was the empress going to let us leave?
Lotkez entered the pattern behind us, and Torran blew out a low breath.
“Everything okay?”
He smiled at me. “Yes. They’re letting you leave. Your bounty has been permanently rescinded.”
My eyes narrowed. It couldn’t be that easy. “But?”
“You are strongly discouraged from ever visiting again. And while I won’t be tried for treason, I’m being stripped of my diplomatic status and all standing within the empire. She’s made me a pariah, and my team with me.” Bitterness coated his tone.
“Why is Lotkez following us through if you don’t have any diplomatic standing?”
“They will ensure Cien’s safety in FHP space, and then return me to Valovia.”
My heart skipped a beat. Of course he would want to return. Even stripped of standing, he still had a life on his home planet. And as soon as we made it to Fed space, his life debt would be over. He could do whatever he wanted.
Lexi asked, “Did the empress freeze your accounts?”
Torran grinned at her. “She tried, but thanks to the kidnappers, I’d already moved a great deal of my money elsewhere.” He turned his attention to me. “Your payment should already be in your account. I doubled the completion bonus, as we discussed.”
“You didn’t have to—”
“I did,” he said, his expression fierce.
“Yeah, he did,” Lexi and Eli agreed over the comm.
I ignored the peanut gallery. “So you can return to Valovia?” I asked. I was happy he had the option—truly, I was—but I’d hoped that maybe he’d hang around for a while longer. However, if he didn’t have to avoid Valovia, then there was no reason for him to bounce around the galaxy with us, especially not if he wanted to hunt Morten and the telekinetic.
“Yes,” he said slowly, his eyes on me.
I nodded and buried my hand in Luna’s soft fur. She purred at me, trying to soothe my frayed nerves, but it was a losing battle. I’d already told him he could stay. But staying meant giving up his life on Valovia, at least for a while, so it had to be his decision. I wouldn’t try to influence him, no matter how much I wanted to.
I returned my attention to my terminal. The empress might’ve said she would let us go, but I wouldn’t completely relax until we were through the wormhole. And maybe not until we reached Bastion, where Cien’s parents were supposed to meet us. Lotkez wouldn’t dare attack us at the busy FHP station.
As the wormhole got larger on-screen, Cien slipped into the bridge and climbed into his uncle’s lap. It seemed he, too, could feel the energy in the air and didn’t care for it.
Luna stretched, then leapt to the communications terminal and flopped over with her fluffy belly on display. Cien glanced up at Torran. When his uncle nodded, Cien reached out a tentative hand and stroked his fingers through Luna’s fur.
She purred and rolled over, her feet in the air, shamelessly angling for more petting.
Once again, I wondered just how smart she was because she kept the kid occupied all the way through the wormhole.
The bridge let out a collective breath as we popped back into human space. I checked the sensors and kept us on course out of the danger zone. There were a few ships waiting to traverse, but no armada waiting to turn us into tiny little pieces of debris.
Carrying the heir to the Valovian Empire into human space was a huge risk. The empress had let us go because of it, but if we lost Cien, she wouldn’t need any flimsy, manufactured excuse for war because we would have delivered the perfect one right to her door.
Lotkez came through behind us, and I felt the lightest brush of a mind against mine. I glanced at Torran and he raised an eyebrow. When I dipped my head, he whispered into my mind, “We need to change course.”
“Why?” I asked mentally. With practice, I was getting better at directing my thoughts his way.
“We’re going to meet with my sister and her husband nearby rather than on Bastion.”
It was almost scary how often his thoughts mirrored mine. “You expect trouble?”
“Not expect, exactly, but I would prefer if trouble didn’t find us.”
He sent me the coordinates and I punched them in. Eli and Kee cut me looks across the room, but they didn’t question our new heading.
Starlight estimated we would arrive in twenty minutes. Torran hadn’t been kidding about it being nearby. In less than half an hour, his debt would be fulfilled, and he could leave with his nephew.
And I would just have to learn how to live with the empty ache in my chest.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Twenty-five minutes later, we docked with a large, sleek ship broadcasting a Valovian diplomatic registration, and Lotkez hovered nearby. Both teams had gathered in the cargo bay while we waited for the docking tunnel and airlocks to confirm a solid connection.
Torran had gone around to each person on my team, presumably saying his good-byes, but I didn’t know because he hadn’t talked to me.
The ache in my chest deepened.
“Anyone who wants to return to Valovia early may board Nirpaf,” Torran said. “My sister returns to the capital directly and has vowed safe passage.”
Nilo’s gaze slid toward Lexi without ever quite reaching her. His expression went distant, and Torran nodded at him. No one else spoke.
Torran’s team wore their armor, and my team was armed with whatever weapons we could successfully conceal from Cien. We didn’t want to make the kid nervous, but we didn’t want to face potentially hostile Valoffs without weapons, either.
I had a small plas pistol tucked in a shoulder holster hidden by an open jacket, and Eli had hidden a rifle in a pile of cargo, which he now leaned against.
We were as ready as we were going to be.