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The world had never seemed to be more filled with possibilities, Aerie thought. With a content smile on her face, she snuggled further into Exton’s embrace. His arm tightened around her in response. It was harder to walk, but Aerie didn’t mind.
“This is a miracle,” Aerie said, as they continued to head over to his shuttle. The chainsword décor winked at her playfully in the light of the setting sun. She turned back to see Serena and Brock were clearly arguing as they walked several steps behind them.
“I never really believed in miracles until you came into my life,” Exton told her. “I always thought that was something more for Emery than for me.”
“You just needed a different kind of miracle,” Aerie told him. “I did, too.”
He shrugged. “We might need a couple more if we’re going to get to Petra in one piece.”
“Is that where you’re going to take us?” Aerie grinned. “I can’t wait.”
She’d wanted to see Petra before, and she thought she would never get the chance. But now, here in this place, she was safe from the General. Or at least, she could believe it.
“We’re not too far from Petra,” Exton told her. “I’m not sure what we’ll do. Your family members pose a threat to us, as does your bodyguard friend.”
“They can’t be any worse than I was at first, can they?”
Exton chuckled. “Hard to believe it, but yes, they can.”
“Why?” Aerie asked, slowing down her pace some.
“You were always a bigger threat to my heart, and by extension, the crew onboard the Perdition,” Exton said. “Down here, it’s Petra that’s more vulnerable.”
“Oh. That makes sense.”
He gave her a charming grin. “You weren’t worried I thought you were weak, were you?”
“No,” she said.
“I know you’re lying,” he told her, before he leaned down.
Aerie sighed as she reached up to meet his lips with hers again. He was a head taller than her, but he still made her feel comfortable in his arms as he held her.
There is just no one like him, she thought, before she allowed herself to be swept away, if only for the moment.
“That does remind me,” Exton said as he pulled away, “why was Brock with you to begin with? I know you’ve trained to be decent pilot. What did you bring him for?”
“Huh?” Aerie blinked, upset that her brain was full of mush already.
“Why did Brock come with you?” Exton repeated.
Aerie felt the heat rise in her cheeks again. “I actually didn’t come on my own because I could barely make it out of the Reeducation Center,” she admitted. “In fact, if he hadn’t rescued me, I would probably still be there.”
“No, you wouldn’t.” Exton looked toward the shuttle. “I would’ve rescued you.”
Aerie saw the grim shadow on his face and said nothing. She didn’t want to tell him about her time at the Reeducation Center. He would blame himself for not being there sooner. He already feels terrible about that, she realized.
Skipping over several details, Aerie told Exton how Brock had broken into the Reeducation Center and carried her to the hangar, where he had a ship set up and ready to go.
“The Ecclesia were also working to get you free,” Exton told her.
“Meredith told me about that,” Aerie said. “She’s Tyler’s sister, isn’t she?”
“Yes.” Exton nodded. “She’s a few years older than me.”
“She was very kind. I didn’t realize the connection between Meredith and Tyler until we were leaving her there.” Aerie frowned. “I wish my memory had come back sooner. I might’ve been able to convince her to come with us.”
“She wouldn’t have come, if it makes you feel better. She didn’t want to escape before, after we managed to get the Perdition into space,” Exton said.
Curiosity sparked inside of her. “Why?” Aerie thought of all the horrible things she’d experienced in the center. “Why would she want to stay in such an awful place?”
“I’ll tell you a bit about it later,” Exton said as they came up next to the shuttle entrance ramp. “Right now, Emery and I are going to need your help to calm the others down and cooperate with us.”
“I don’t know how successful I’ll be,” Aerie admitted. “Cal and Dorian have never taken me seriously, and Serena doesn’t seem to like me. I don’t know what to expect from Brock. I was surprised he even came to rescue me at all.”
Exton nodded. “I don’t want to leave them here,” Exton said. “But Petra is too important, Aerie. If they can’t agree to come to terms with me and my crew, we’re not going to be able to take them there. We’ll have to take them back to another URS hub.”
Aerie glanced back at the setting sun and sighed happily. “I wouldn’t think it would be hard to just stay here,” she said. “It’s lovely, and the URS wouldn’t see this area as a priority.”
“You don’t know that for sure,” Exton reminded her. “With the Craftcarrier momentarily crippled, the fleet could decide to send out drones or smaller ships to see if there are any nearby threats.”
“You don’t think they would attack us, do you?”
“I wouldn’t put it past them. I know, from the scouting we did when we set up Petra, that this part of the world is largely ignored, but that’s only because it is considered either easy to control or easy to ignore. If Osgood or your father see this place as a potential threat, I wouldn’t put it past them to come and attack.”
“Great.” Aerie sighed.
Exton hesitated slightly, and Aerie caught him. “What?” she asked. “What else?”
“There is also reason to believe that the URS would try to track us down and attack because of the battle at Chaya,” he said.
“That’s true.” Aerie frowned. “Why did you attack Chaya?”
“It’s another long story,” Exton said. He unlatched the entrance to the shuttle and stepped inside. “You’ll learn more about it once we get to Petra.”
Instantly, Aerie could hear her brother’s voice, as he yelled several threats and vulgarities from another room.
“If we get to Petra,” Exton murmured. He held back as Brock and Serena walked into the shuttle, before he shut them in.
Aerie gave Exton a quick smile as Cal continued to argue. “I guess you were right. It does seem like I was easier to deal with.”
She saw Brock glance at her quizzically once more, and Aerie knew she had a few stories of her own to explain to him. Serena, she noticed, was her usual surly self.
“Let me go!” Cal shouted. “I want to see my family!”
“We’re here,” Aerie said.
“Aerie.” Cal struggled to sit up straight in his chair. “You made it.”
“You should know by now that Brock’s a good pilot.” Aerie gave Brock a small smile over her shoulder, one that he willfully ignored.
Aerie groaned to herself. Please don’t let this mean he’s going to be a problem, she thought. She could only hope that Exton wasn’t going to cause her any additional problems. She thought of the surprise kiss Brock had given her on the cargo ship, and her worry only doubled.
“Dorian’s here,” Serena said, forcing Aerie’s attention back to the moment. “He just landed.”
“Can you help us contact him?” Exton asked.
“I don’t want to help you,” Cal said. “I might be stuck here, outside of the URS, but I’m not a traitor.” He stood his ground. “I won’t work with Captain Chainsword.”
“Not even after he saved your life?” Aerie asked, incredulously. “We saw him pull your parachute into the shuttle.”
“It’s not my fault he decided to save me,” Cal snapped.
“You’re Captain Chainsword?” Brock said.
Aerie and Exton swiveled around, just in time to see Brock launch himself at Exton.
“No!” Aerie cried, as Brock lashed out a punch.
Exton managed to sidestep its full impact, the hit grazing his shoulder. His retaliation was swift, as he caught Brock in the stomach with his elbow.
“Stop,” Aerie yelled again, as Brock tumbled to the floor. Exton stepped back, and Brock tried to recover from getting the wind knocked out of him.
“He’s a killer, Aerie,” Brock told her. “Don’t you care?”
“Brock, please,” Aerie said. “I’ll explain everything later, but now, you have to trust me. We can trust him. Nothing is as it seems.”
“I don’t think I can trust you, then,” Brock replied.
“He’s a good man,” Aerie insisted. “Exton saved my life.”
Exton raised his eyebrows at her statement, but he decided not to argue with her.
Aerie met his icy gaze and felt her heart melt all over again.
Behind her, Serena scoffed. “He’s already a legendary pirate. I suppose it’s not so much of a jump to assume he’s a legendary lover, too.”
Aerie felt another rush of embarrassment. “Shut up, Serena.”
“So it’s true.” Brock picked himself up off the shuttle floor. “You love him.”
The words came out of his mouth full of bitterness and bile, but Aerie nodded. “Yes, I do.”
“That’s why you wanted to go see him,” Brock said accusingly.
Aerie nodded. “Yes,” she said. “We’ll discuss everything later. Right now, we need to find a way to work with each other.”
She turned her attention back to Cal. Clearing her throat, she continued, “So, Cal, I need you to help us. We need to contact Dorian, get him over here, and then we can start moving again, before the Craftcarrier comes after us or the URS sends more people looking for us.”
“You’re going to take us as prisoners?” Serena asked.
“No,” Aerie insisted, before Exton could say anything. “And I’d rather not just leave you here, especially since the cargo ship is going to need some bigger repairs.”
Brock scowled. “I don’t want to go with you.”
“Me, neither,” Cal said.
“Come on,” Aerie said. “All of you worked hard to save me. Offering you a safe place to stay is the least I can do.” She looked at each one of them intently, silently pleading with them to accept her deal.
Cal glanced over at Brock, and then back to Aerie. She waited, pretending not to notice Exton was no longer smiling. She knew he wasn’t happy about extending an invitation, especially since he had just told her, not even ten minutes before, that Petra was too important to risk on their possible rage.
But Aerie was sure, if they were able to come and see the Ecclesia, and the many good people she’d met, there would be nothing to worry about. Surely her family would be able to see why she loved Exton and his community after seeing it for themselves.
I’ll explain that to him once we’re on our way to Petra, she decided.
“Okay, fine,” Cal said. “I’ll help. But get me out of this chair.”
“You have to promise not to hurt anyone,” Aerie said quickly. “I don’t want you hurting my friends.”
“Fine,” he repeated.
She turned to Exton. “There you go,” she said, trying to ignore his hardened gaze.
“I’ve got the key,” a familiar voice called over from the doorway.
Aerie glanced over to see Emery as she came in, her blue-green eyes sparkling with joy. “Emery!” Aerie called, rushing over to see her friend.
Emery seemed surprised as she embraced her.
“What’s wrong?” Aerie asked.
“I didn’t expect you to remember us,” Emery admitted to her quietly. “Exton told me what happened with the Memory Serum.”
Aerie grinned. “I’m surprised you didn’t hear from Meredith. She helped me jog my memory.”
“I’m glad it worked,” Emery said with a smile. “We’ll have to discuss more later. Right now, we have other things to worry about.”
“No kidding.” Aerie nodded.
Emery released Cal from his chair, and together they were able to contact Dorian.
As Cal and Dorian talked over the comm, Exton came up beside Aerie. “Are you happy?” he asked.
“I’m happy to see you,” Aerie replied innocently.
He didn’t let her get away with it. “I don’t like this, Aerie.” He glanced over at Brock, who was still simmering with anger, and Serena, who was looking around the shuttle, clearly stuck between indulging in her disdain and scouting for weaknesses.
Aerie folded her arms across her chest. “Come on, Exton. Please give them a chance. Petra will be fine, even with my family inside. You have defenses ready, don’t you?”
“We have protocols in place,” Exton replied. “But you do realize that you’re risking their fate as well as ours, right?”
“What do you mean?” Aerie asked.
“We work through a system of secrets,” Exton replied. “Petra will only survive if it’s a secret. We have strengthened our defenses since the encounter with St. Cloud, but it’s a slow process. If your family and friend can’t keep our trust or their word, we will have to take care of them.”
“By punishing them?”
“More or less.”
Aerie knew what he was implying. If Serena, Brock, and her brothers posed a threat to Petra, there would be no hesitation.
But, she thought, surely it was going to be okay. “You’ll let them come, then?” she asked.
“I don’t have much of a choice, since you’ve decided for me,” he told her.
“I won’t do it again,” Aerie said.
He frowned. “I hope not, Aerie. I love you, I really do, but this is not something you should make a habit of doing.”
A new memory stirred inside of her mind. She recalled Exton as he pushed her away from him, as he kept himself back from her, as he decided he would return her to the General, rather than risking Petra.
Aerie gripped her arm in frustration, feeling the small bumps of the metal tag that had been branded into her skin. “You’re not always right about everything,” she said.
“It’s not up to you to try to make the adjustment without me.”
“I should still have a say.”
He sighed. “I don’t want to have this discussion with you right now, Aerie.”
“Why?” she demanded to know. “Because I’m right?”
“No, because even if you’re right, the decisions are still mine to make when it comes to Petra and the Perdition. It is a useless argument and you’ll only be mad at me at the end of it.”
“You told me before I could argue with you.”
He smirked. “I also told you that it didn’t mean you would win.”
Before she could respond, he pulled her close, giving her a gentle kiss on her forehead.
Aerie softened, leaning into him. He’d told her that he had traveled all over the world in pursuit of her; she had gone through various levels of suffering to meet him. He wasn’t going to go against her in letting her family and Brock come to Petra. The least she could do was work with him.
A few moments passed. While Dorian and Cal talked between themselves, Brock and Serena exchanged irritated glances, and Emery and other members of the shuttle crew organized their plans.
As Exton held her against him, Aerie allowed herself to enjoy the moment. She could see the sun setting outside of the shuttle’s window, and she knew it was the beginning of a new chapter of her life.