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A

lice and Liam saw Gideon and Hara off the airship when they arrived in Versailles. Hara said to Alice, “You might as well see what work you can get us. I don’t think we’ll be here very long but I can’t guarantee how long things will take, so you need something that’s flexible.”

Alice nodded. “I won’t let you down.”

Hara saw the slight guilt shadowing Alice’s eyes. Alice had once taken a cargo to be delivered to a very dangerous area of the world but Hara wasn’t worried about that happening again. Alice had been naïve then and had since learnt more about the world and knew where they could take cargo and where to avoid.

“I know you won’t.” Hara patted Alice’s hand. Hara turned to Liam. “Keep an eye on the others.”

Liam grinned. He had grown up in the last six months and put on muscle and weight. He would outstrip Murphy soon if he kept putting on muscle.

Liam asked, “Who do you trust the least, Murphy or Talen?”

Murphy was a gun happy thug Hara had picked up in a shady port. The same port where they had picked up a Roshian Revolutionary who had betrayed them. Murphy was simple in his demands and what he wanted from life. He wasn’t a worry.

Talen, on the other hand had once worked for her father, who was a con man. Talen was slippery but he had been sticking around as he had some misguided idea that he was in love with Hara and should make sure that Gideon didn’t take advantage of her in any way. Talen was more confused than anything as he went from being jealous to being fatherly and dispensing advice that would never have passed her real father’s lips.

Hara knew she would have to do something about the way Talen acted, sooner rather than later, but he was from a part of her life that was complicated and painful. Liam had been a witness to some of the more awkward encounters as Liam was her apprentice in engineering. Liam wasn’t really asking who Hara was talking about when she asked for them to be kept an eye on.

Hara shook her head and said to him, “Just keep an eye on all of them. I might get grumpy if they mess up my ship. You know I like a tidy ship.”

Liam just grinned. He knew she was avoiding the issue.

On the ground, Gideon suggested they take a carriage, but Hara hadn’t been to Versailles before and wanted to see some of it from the ground. Gideon had only shrugged and offered his arm.

Hara was waiting for a day that he turned into the men she was used to but he hadn’t tripped up yet and she believed he might actually be genuine.

Gideon stroked her fingers with his own and asked, “Are you worried about court?”

She shook her head but she knew Gideon wasn’t fooled when he added, “You know you don’t have to worry. Dragons like interesting people and you are certainly interesting. The humans might be curious as to why you are there but they know better than to say anything.”

Hara shook her head. “It doesn’t matter if we are invited or not. These are many of the people who my father conned out of their wealth. I was part of that even if I was just a child and I’m worried some might recognise me.”

Gideon snorted. “You were dressed as a boy.”

Hara motioned to her clothes. “I’m dressed as an airship captain now. It isn’t very different to what I wore when I was travelling with my father.”

“Except now you are hot.” He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

Hara laughed. “Only you would think that will calm my fears about going to court.”

Gideon stopped her and turned her so he could look at her. He was taller than her by almost a head. He desperately needed a haircut. It flopped over his forehead and hid his eyes. But even she knew he looked at her with a golden, heated look behind his locks. Hara blushed.

Gideon said with conviction in his voice, “You are in my collection now and dragons look after those in our collections.”

“Somehow being reminded of being owned is not very comforting.” Her old concepts of ownership bothered her sometimes but she started to see that it was about connections rather than ownership.

“Not owned. Belonged. We are together. Bonded. The same. Not one above the other. Part of a collection.”

Hara didn’t want to admit it but it made her feel better. Even though her father was related to her by blood, they had never really been in the same collection. Gideon reminded her every day that they were family. Together.