We’re safe…for now.
I waited and made certain Jas found our booking at the private terminal and then, just to solidify the deal, I found a Talie lookalike and did some sweet-talking, making sure to hide my roughed-up hands. She let me walk her onto the ship’s ferry in plain view of my former captain.
I chuckle even now knowing he has no idea I slipped right past him on my way off that very platform.
Now I’ve just managed to board the ugliest floating ice ship I’ve ever seen. It will circle the main island of Hexalia’s spaceport and, according to my research in the pod, the trip takes eight hours to make a full circuit with stops at regular intervals. It’s usually used by tourists—which I doubt Hexalia has many of—or locals commuting to another part of the island. All I cared about was eight hours of freedom to form our next plan.
But first I need to find Talie and make sure she’s safe.
I take a right to the outdoor passway. Sio-glass windows line the outside hull and offer a stunning view of the tundra beyond the city. It stretches out in snow drifts and ice pillars created by fierce storms and lower temps where the solar sphere doesn’t cover.
My gaze travels along the desolate landscape, and a part of me resonates with it. Iced over, the way my feelings for Talie must be.
I slipped up by kissing her back there, went a little crazy in the aftermath of the fight, and the rush of adrenaline and emotions that flooded me were too powerful to ignore. I should have known her nearness had nothing to do with her feelings and only the cold, but you can’t blame a guy for taking a shot. Right?
But never again.
I rub my mouth to erase the feeling of her lips. I’ve got to be locked down. Focused. The mission demands it. Talie’s position demands it. And that right there strikes a chord, sending illogical rage coursing through me.
All my life, I’ve been surrounded by that type of commitment. Suppress your feelings for the sake of duty. Forget your roots to better focus on your job. Change who you are at the core to make them happy—whoever they are.
I’m sick of it. I’m sick of pretending what I want doesn't matter.
Talie’s laugh yanks me to the present, and I breathe through the anger until it boils back to a contained rage deep inside. I’ll deal with it later when I have a clearer head.
I spin toward the nearest opening and peer out across a sea of faces separated into small round tables. It’s a dining room, and the smells of cheap meat product and root vegetables mingle with the astringent scent of synthesized alcohol. The bank of windows offer yet another spectacular view, but my eyes lock on Talie, flanked by two men as she leans against the bar at the back.
I do a double take. It’s definitely Talie. She’s taken her hair down, and it falls in long wavy curls of silky gray-blonde over her shoulders. She must have stowed her coat somewhere, and I appreciate how the blue of her tunic offsets her pale complexion, highlighted by twin pools of pink on her cheeks.
Stars.
One of the men must crack a joke because she laughs again. A fist of something uncomfortable twists in my gut. Is that…jealousy? It’s even more ridiculous than my earlier thoughts, and I bat it away. Renner Cartha doesn’t do jealousy.
I stride forward confidently. “There you are.” I speak with more bravado than I’m currently feeling.
She looks up and meets my gaze. Her smile turns genuine, but it’s over bright. A flicker of doubt hits me. What is she warning me about?
“Ah, there he is,” she says with a flourish. “Boys, meet my husband, Rex Lars.”
I force myself not to flinch. She’s playing a part, that much is obvious, but what else has she told them?
I kiss her knuckles. “My star.” I’m surprised the words make it free as they claw their way out of my throat.
“Meet Captain Hike and Malik, his first mate.” She welcomes me, and I add my congeniality to the mix.
“Nice to meet you, fellas.” What’s she told them about me? Has she made me into a character? Will I dismantle any groundwork she’s laid by being myself?
“You too. Trilla here’s been telling us all about your exploits.” The man—I think it’s Captain Hike—smiles approvingly at Talie.
“Oh?” I flash her a look.
“Yah.” Malik assesses me. “Never woulda thought I’d meet a real life gargona fighter. Dinna know that takes yeh across the Verse like that.”
“You’d be surprised.” Gargona fighter. Right. I look at Talie, expecting her to add something.
“Rex, baby, I’ve got good news.” She slides up to me and wraps her hands through my arm.
Her touch is fire, and I douse it with reality. This is a farce.
“Hike has said he’ll take us to our next destination on spec.” She widens her smile.
Our what? “Oh?” I hope I don’t sound as shocked as I feel.
“Your girl has a silver tongue.” He elbows Malik in the side. “She’d be able to talk me out of my ship if I wasn’t careful.”
“That’s my girl.” I pull her close and push a kiss to her temple. The mere act twists my insides, but I convince myself it’s necessary. “How close do you think you can get us?”
“Right to it.” Hike grins.
That was not helpful information.
Talie looks at me. “I told him about the next series on Meloran. He said it’s on his way, and he’s willing to take us with the promise of payment after your first round of fights.”
Warning bells clang to life in my mind. This was too easy. But also, why Meloran?
“We couldn’t accept such a generous offer.” I squeeze Talie’s arm a little more tightly to convey this is not a good idea.
“Of course we can. I’ve already accepted.” There’s that confident smile.
“It’s no trouble.” Hike doesn’t appear to be hiding any deception, but it’s hard to tell.
There are all sorts of things I don’t like about this, but I can’t discuss it with her in front of them. If they’re our best chance of a ride off this iced rock, then maybe it’s worth considering, but I don’t know many captains willing to transport on spec. If we’re going to be in this together, I need to know the plan.
Feel the irony, Renner? Talie’s words ricochet through my mind as if she’d spoken them.
“You know what?” I look down at Talie as if I’ve just remembered something. “I actually need to check to make sure that series wasn’t canceled. They were talking about the egg-rot epidemic, and I don’t know if that’s been resolved. Will you be aboard the whole ride, Captain?”
“Call me Hike or Cap,” he grins, “and we’re here to see the sights, so yes, we’ll be here. Find us anytime. I’ll be trying to outdrink Malik here—”
“Which’ll never happen, yeh know.” Malik raises a glass as if to toast his eventual victory.
“There’s always a chance,” Hike says. “But whatever you do, make sure you find me when we arrive back at the spaceport.”
“Done,” I say with a final nod.
“It was so nice talking to you both.” Talie flashes a brilliant smile.
I tug her away. “Take me to our berth.”
“Hey.” She nearly trips, but my strong grip on her arm helps keep her upright. “You’re going the wrong way.”
“Then lead me the right way,” I hiss through my teeth. “Please?”
“Come on.” She turns down a long interior corridor and stops halfway down, opening the door with the swipe of an access chip attached to her bracelet.
When we’re inside and the doors close, I round on her. “You can’t seriously trust them.”
“Before you think that a plan will only work if you come up with it, hear me out.” She puts her hands on my shoulders and gently presses me into a chair. “I got on board early, and since I was just waiting for you, I went to get coffee. That’s when I met Hike and Malik.”
“And you started making things up.”
“You’re good with animals. If anyone could fight a gargona, it’s you.”
“How sweet.” I offer a simpering expression. “Get to the part where you convinced them to take us on spec.”
“Oh that,” she blushes. “I said your last few fights didn’t go so well, and we’re a bit down on our luck. I might have played it up a little too much.”
Great. Not only do I imaginarily fight massive lizard-like creatures who can breathe fire, but I’m bad at it.
“But Hike is nice. He seemed genuinely interested in helping us. And Verse to Renner—we need a ride off Hexalia.”
“But why Meloran?”
“You didn’t tell me where you were planning to go.”
Her words aren’t accusing, but I feel the sting of embarrassment all the same. I haven’t told her because I don’t know where the High Council meets next. That was the next step of my plan. They rotate each meeting, selecting a new place every time so as not to open themselves up for sabotage or, at this point, the Rising. All I know is that their next meeting is in less than one Cerlian month, and they’re likely to meet within the Verna system. It gives us about twenty standard days or less.
“I didn’t tell you because I hadn’t gotten that far yet.” I hazard a look at her, but she’s staring out at the tundra floating by. Ice crystals have formed on the outside of the window, but they only add to the beauty.
“I know how we can find the location.”
My breath catches. “You do?”
“I thought you did too, seeing as you were in such a hurry to get off the Midway. I’m sure you realized you must either be on the council or know someone who is in order to find them.” Her blue eyes flash to mine. “Freyda’s father is on the High Council.”
The pieces align. Freyda’s status as elite in the Meloran caste system. Her connection to Talie is more than protector.
“Her father is on Meloran?”
Talie nods.
“We go to Meloran and find the High Council through Freyda’s father. I present—we present—our case and…that’s it.” When I lay it out like that, it seems so simple, but I know it won’t take much for things to quickly become complicated.
“Yes, for you that is all.” Talie’s shoulders fall.
That’s the end of my mission but the start of hers.
“Then I’ve got one question, Trilla Lars.” I strive for lightness to break the weight of her responsibility.
“What’s that?” She finally turns away from the window to look at me.
“Will you go to Meloran with me, a sub-par gargona fighter?”
She pauses, pretends to consider my offer, then her smile bursts like a sun from behind clouds. “Rex, baby, I’m with you for the long haul.”
I will her words to run off me, forcing a laugh, but I fear they stick in the cracks of my heart.