“We delivered your son safely back to you, as requested,” Dex said suddenly. His tone held the calm calculation of a man trying to hold himself back, as if he, too, was fighting to rein in the fury that bubbled just beneath the surface. “Now, I believe we are both owed payment.”
General Cortas removed his glasses and set them down on the desk. “I’ve decided to lengthen the terms of our contract.”
Andi’s stomach felt full of lead. “What?”
The general nodded. “Despite what I’ve said, the events that played out on Adhira cannot be ignored entirely. My son has only just returned home. I can’t risk his safety during the Summit.”
“What does that have to do with us?” Andi asked.
The general smiled at her.
Her insides crawled.
“You may have delivered him home safely, Androma. But that does not mean I am ready to let you go. You will remain here until the Summit is over and all parties from the Unified Systems have returned to their respective planets.” His voice was wicked, a devil hiding behind a soothing smile.
“I decline,” Andi said, crossing her arms.
“The payment, General,” Dex added.
The general ignored their dissent. “You and your crew will be my son’s hired guards for the Ucatoria Ball following the Summit meeting. You said yourself how dangerous it could be.” General Cortas chuckled as he turned to his Spectre. “Please escort these two to the guest quarters to join the others. Ensure that they have ample time to rest in their rooms, with no disturbances.” He smiled at them both. “They’ve had quite a journey thus far.”
“You don’t own us,” Dex protested as the guard made his way around the desk. “If we say no, we say no.”
The general shook his head. “You’re quite wrong on that front, bounty hunter. I have access to all your funds—and your Guardianship title, which I can alter as I please. And you, Androma. I don’t just have your crew—I believe, in fact, that I also have access to your ship.”
“Take the Xen Pterran ship,” Andi snarled. “I don’t give a damn about it.” She hated that he could use her crew and ship to restrain her without physical bonds.
General Cortas chuckled and placed the glasses back on his face. “I’m talking about the Marauder, Androma.”
Andi’s blood turned to ice.
“My ship is on Adhira.”
“For now,” the general said. “But if Queen Alara wishes to enter my system for the Summit and prove to the galaxy that Adhira will not bend to Olen’s attempts to instill fear...” He waved a hand before him. “Ah, well. I am quite certain she will agree to my terms of entry.”
He was going to take the Marauder, just like that.
Andi felt herself careening back into that place of darkness. Her cuffs, heavy on her wrists, ached to become weapons, to swing and collide with his face.
“This wasn’t part of the deal.”
The general did not smile this time when he turned his gaze on her.
“Neither was being delivered a box of my daughter’s remaining bones after you left her to burn in the wreckage of my transport ship. You will stay, continue to do my bidding until the Summit is over and only then, if I am pleased with your work, will you be allowed to go free. Remember, girl. I don’t just have your crew and ship. I also have your life in my hands, and I can easily do away with all three if you don’t comply.”
Each word was a jab she couldn’t block.
Her breath left her lungs in a hiss.
He was playing with her as he would a puppet.
“And the payment?” Dex asked.
“Still on the table,” the general said. He looked down at the screen on his desk. “I’m offering you free room and board and medical care for the Adhiran Sentinel you brought with you. Don’t make me regret my kindness. Now...I’m a busy man, as you may well know. Go now, the both of you, before I change my mind.”
With that, they were dismissed.
Andi turned to Dex, who was already staring at her, lips pressed tightly closed.
General Cortas had them bound up in his will, simply for the fun of it. To prove that he was above them, and always would be.
“Move along,” the general added, just for good measure.
She could kill him now, as easy as breathing.
But Andi knew her crew was now trapped within the confines of Averia, and she’d been the one to lead them in. She hated the thought of telling them they were stuck here, still on this stars-forsaken job.
Bending to the general’s will, so far backward that they might break.
It’s almost over, Andi told herself, trying to stay calm.
“Let’s go, Androma,” Dex said, placing a strong hand on her shoulder. He gripped it tight, as if he knew the thoughts assaulting her. As if he, too, wanted to fight back. He tilted his chin, sniffed the air and grimaced. “This office smells like a home for the elderly.”
Despite herself, Andi smiled as they left the office, trailed by the general’s Spectre.
Chapter Seventy
* * *
LIRA
WHEN LIRA WAS a child growing up in the wilderness of Adhira, she couldn’t travel more than a few feet away from her twin brother without his fingers gripping her wrist.
Without him rushing to join her side, always the protector.
Always the faithful guide.
Everywhere she went, he went. Everything she did, he did.
Their mother had never been there for them, and so Lon had filled that gap for her, and she for him. They’d shared countless memories, days spent exploring the quadrants of their planet, getting lost in its glorious splendor.
They’d been inseparable, two parts of a whole.
Until, one day, Lon stopped following her. He’d grown out of his need to be near his sister, to follow her motions as if they were his own. He turned his attention toward other things.
Like standing guard near the doors of Rhymore, trying his best to imitate the older Sentinels.
Lira had turned her eyes to the sky, while Lon kept his feet on the ground, his greatest wish to be an Adhiran Sentinel, a protector of the queen whose greatest desire was peace.
It was why, of all people, Lon did not belong in this Arcardian hospital bed, his eyes still shut, his vitals being monitored by a medical droid.
“I’m so sorry,” Lira whispered as she held Lon’s hand in hers. It was warmer than it had been on that horrid journey across the skies, Lon lying on the cold floor of the Xen Pterran warship. His condition was improving.
Soon, he might even wake up.
Lira wanted to run, to be anywhere but here when she told Lon the news of what had transpired on their planet. When he discovered that he wasn’t there guarding their aunt, as he’d sworn to.
His chest was bare, the fresh wrappings on his skin pulled taut as he lay in the bed. The gunshot had just missed his vital organs, but he’d lost nearly enough blood to kill him.
And though he’d survived, after he learned how many had died...
Lira guessed Lon would wish himself dead.
So she sat by his side for endless hours, until the warm clutches of sleep stole her away.
In her dreams, she imagined she was riding atop an Adhiran darowak. The massive winged beast, with scales that burned bright like her own, carried her across the skies of Adhira.
The wind pounded fiercely against her, causing her eyes to water, her hands to shake.