Reina’s expression shifted from knowing amusement to shock, then to outrage. “They abandoned you?”
“Someone in Earth’s Planetary Defense Command ordered the Drexians not to mount a rescue,” I said, the words tasting bitter in my mouth. “I was classified as an acceptable loss while I rotted in that cell for months.”
“That’s monstrous.”
The vehemence in her voice was oddly comforting. After carrying the betrayal alone or only sharing it with Dek, it felt good to have someone else share my outrage.
“So you see why I need to do this,” I said. “The wedding will draw everyone here, where I can expose them.”
Reina was quiet for a moment, her round eyes thoughtful. Then she smiled. “Then we’re going to make this the best fake wedding in the history of the galaxy.”
Relief flooded through me so powerfully I had to blink away tears. “You’ll keep the secret?”
“From everyone except you and Deklyn,” she promised. “Especially from Serge—he’d never be able to keep quiet about something like this. But between you and me? I think this plan of yours might actually work.”
“Thank you.” I stood and took her bony hands in mine. “I don’t know what I would have done if you’d exposed us.”
“Found another way, I’m sure.” She squeezed my hands. “You strike me as someone who doesn’t give up easily.”
She was right. I wasn’t going to let the people who’d abandoned me get away with it. Even if it meant pretending to be in love with someone I might be falling for. The thought sent another flutter of panic through my chest, but I pushed it aside.
Right now, I had a fake wedding to plan.
Chapter
Twenty
Deklyn
The inclinator whispered to a stop, and I stepped out into a brightly lit corridor that curved around the top of the station. I tried to focus on my sleek surroundings and on the task ahead of me, basically on anything other than the memory of Sasha’s lips against mine and the way she’d felt pressed against my body.
She’d meant the kiss to prove she could fake attraction, but there had been nothing fake about the way my pulse had raced or the way every rational thought had fled my mind the moment our mouths met.
This was the problem with Sasha’s plan. I had to pretend our relationship was real while knowing it was all an elaborate deception designed to draw her enemies into the open. I had to act like a man in love while protecting my heart from a woman who saw me as nothing more than a convenient ally in her quest for revenge.
I paused outside the wide double doors before stepping forward and letting them part. Stepping inside the station’s command deck, the bright lighting of the corridors gave way to the dimmer, more focused illumination of a working bridge. My shoulders relaxed as the soft beeping of computers surrounded me, the static of incoming transmissions and the low burr of officers reporting from their stations.
A massive transparent wall dominated one side of the space, offering an unobstructed view of space beyond. It was a view that never failed to remind me why I’d chosen a life among the stars, why the vast emptiness called to something deep in my soul.
“Lieutenant.”
I turned to find a tall Drexian approaching me, his dark uniform and sash telling me who he was in an instant.
“Captain Kalex,” he said when he reached me. “Welcome to the Island.”
I crossed a fist across my chest in salute. “Thank you, Captain.”
“Serge already briefed me on your situation,” he explained, his voice measured. “Congratulations are in order, I believe. It’s not often we get to host such notable guests.”
I fought the urge to cringe and thanked him again.
“You were the one who rescued the human pilot from the Kronock prison,” he said, and it wasn’t quite a question.
“I was.” I tried to inject the right amount of pride and affection into my voice. “That’s how we fell in love, actually. Hard to maintain professional distance when you’re fighting for your lives together.”
The lie came easier than it should have, probably because there was more truth in it than I wanted to admit. Something had definitely developed between us in that prison, something that went beyond mere survival partnership. Whether Sasha felt it too was another question entirely.
Captain Kalex nodded thoughtfully. “Serge tells me he wants to make your wedding a major event. He’s quite excited about the publicity potential, given who Sasha is and the dramatic circumstances of how you met.”
