“So who won the card game after I left?” I asked, settling into the chair across from them.
“Vyk and Tivek split the game that was going on when you left,” Volten said with a grin that suggested he’d enjoyed watching the strategic battle play out. “But after that, they were so focused on outmaneuvering each other that they paid little attention until Britta swept in and cleaned up.”
“When we left, she’d won the last two hands and most of the pot,” Ariana added with obvious amusement.
Volten laughed, the sound warm and genuine. “My one consolation is that I can out-fly both of them.”
“Same,” Ariana said. “Then again, none of them are pilots.”
“Doesn’t matter.” Volten winked at her. “It’s still a victory.”
The easy banter between them was charming, but I found my mind wandering to everything I needed to do before I left.
Volten stood, breaking into my thoughts as he leaned down to press a quick kiss to Ariana’s forehead. “I need to pop out to the shipyard and give Dek’s ship a final check before he leaves.”
I stiffened, my hand freezing halfway to another piece of padwump. “When is Deklyn leaving?”
“This morning,” Volten said, apparently oblivious to the way my entire body had gone rigid. “He told me earlier that as soon as he gets authorization from the admiral, he’s leaving. Says Inferno Force needs him back.”
I fought to keep from leaping to my feet. This morning? After everything we’d discovered last night, after finding proof that I’d been right about the conspiracy, he was just... leaving?
Volten kissed Ariana goodbye and nodded to me with a warm smile. “See you later, Sasha.”
I nodded and returned the smile, but inside I was seething. Deklyn’s sudden and secretive departure had to be connected to what we’d found in Admiral Zoran’s office. Why else would he leave without a word to me? Was he planning to go to Earth without me, or was he distancing himself from my actions now that he’d helped me find what I needed?
Either way, he wasn’t sneaking off without so much as a goodbye.
The memory of standing beside him in the moonlit office, his shoulder brushing against mine as we read the damning evidence together, sent an unwelcome flutter through my chest. There had been something different about him in that moment. He’d been less of the cocky Inferno Force warrior who drove me crazy and more of the guy who’d refused to give up on me in that Kronock prison.
And now he was running away. Well, he wasn’t going anywhere without me.
Chapter
Fourteen
Deklyn
Ihurried across the shipyard as the ever-present gale off the Restless Sea tried to knock me sideways. The smell of salt and fuel made my nostrils twitch, and I lowered my head and barreled forward. I couldn’t help but glance over my shoulder, half-expecting to see a familiar figure with dark hair charging after me across the cracked stone.
Getting authorization from Admiral Zoran had been surprisingly easy. I’d only felt a small stab of guilt when I’d lied to him about being urgently needed back on my Inferno Force vessel. The admiral had been distracted, probably still dealing with the aftermath of the rescue mission and whatever political complications it had created with Earth and the Drexian High Command.
As long as I could get off-world without Sasha finding out, everything would work perfectly.
The truth was, I wasn’t going back to my Inferno Force assignment. I was headed to Earth to find out who had decidednot to rescue Sasha before she could put herself in danger by doing it herself. The evidence we’d found in Zoran’s office was damning, but it was only the beginning. Someone high in Earth’s command structure had abandoned one of their own pilots, and I was going to find out who.
It was too personal for Sasha. Her anger would drive her to act rashly.Grek, she’d already made foolish decisions in her effort to find answers. What would she do now that she knew she’d been right?
The thought of her ending up in another prison, this time on Earth, made something cold and sharp twist in my chest. I couldn’t let that happen. As much as the woman drove me absolutely crazy with her reckless determination and her stubbornness, I still felt compelled to protect her.
Even if that meant protecting her from herself.
My ship sat on the far edge of the tarmac, its sleek black hull gleaming in the hazy morning light. The sight of it sent a familiar surge of anticipation through me. I jogged up the boarding ramp, passing Volten as he finished his final inspection of the internal systems. The young pilot looked up from his diagnostic tablet with a grin.
“All ready,” he said, giving me a thumbs up.
I thumped him on the shoulder in thanks, not trusting myself to speak. Volten was an honorable Drexian, devoted to Ariana in a way that reminded me uncomfortably of my growing attachment to her sister.
I hurried to the cockpit and dropped into the pilot’s seat so I could begin the familiar ritual of powering up the ship’s systems. The console came alive under my touch, smooth surfaceswarming beneath my fingers as the displays flickered to life. The low hum of the engines vibrated through the deck plates, a sound that was both reassuring and thrilling.
