Without a word, I moved to her, putting a hand to her waist to keep her from falling.
She glared up at me, and I could see her desire to jerk away.
“Would you rather fall or continue to accost my raiders?” I asked in a low rumble meant only for her.
Her cheeks flamed, but she didn’t pull away from me. I turned so I was behind her, bracing my legs wide as we rose rapidly through Lexxona's atmosphere. Through the front glass of the vessel, the colony fell away, the stone buildings melting into the colorless landscape and becoming smaller and smaller until they were just smudges in the endless expanse of snow and ice.
I realized she was watching too. Watching her home disappear and watching everything she knew shrink to nothing while I carried her toward a future she hadn't chosen and didn't want.
Regret twisted in my chest again, sharper this time, but alongside it was something else.
She'd challenged me. Looked at me with fury instead of fear. Pushed past me like I was nothing more than an annoyance rather than the Scourge of the Outer Rim. I'd spent so long being the Qeth’rex, but she’d jabbed her finger into my chest and told me exactly what she thought of me without a single tremor in her voice.
Part of me recognized this was a disaster in the making. Bringing her aboard when she clearly hated me was the last thing I needed. But another part of me was exhilarated.
There was nothing like the thrill of a true challenge. That is, unless she killed me first.
Chapter 9
Jasmine
The raider ship banked and rolled through space, and I was buffeted between massive warriors who clung to bars too high for me to comfortably reach, their movements synchronized and easy while I struggled to maintain my balance. The only thing that kept me from falling was the huge hand circling my waist.
His grip wasn’t tight. It was just enough to keep me steady and just enough to remind me that I now belonged to him. Even though he stood behind me, the heat of his body was nothing compared to the weight of his gaze on me. I didn’t need to turn to know he was watching me. I could feel him, just like I’d felt his gaze on me during the assembly.
The ship banked again, and he steadied me, his hands warm through the fabric of my dress and gentle despite their size and obvious power. The word "thank you" was halfway to my lips before I remembered.
He was the reason I'd had to leave my sisters and my home. He was the reason I was on this ship, being carried away into afuture I hadn't chosen, to serve as some kind of living insurance policy for an alliance I'd had no voice in negotiating.
I pressed my lips together hard, swallowing the gratitude and squaring my shoulders. If I could have shaken him off, I would have.
Don’t piss him off, Jasmine.
Despite snapping at him when I’d arrived at the transport—a momentary lapse in good judgment—I was very aware that I was at the mercy of a Vandar much bigger and much scarier than me. It also wasn’t lost on me that he’d shown mercy to my friends when he could have done much worse than disarming them and sending them away.
Thinking of Skye and Meg and Zara coming after me armed with blasters we’d stolen from imperial soldiers over the years made my chest swell with pride. For rebels that dwelled mostly in shadows and cover of darkness, they’d been incredibly brave. Of course, it never would have succeeded. Not against the Vandar. But the fact that they’d tried made tears burn the backs of my eyelids.
Knowing that my friends cared enough to risk everything for me somehow made going with the Vandar easier. I had also meant what I’d said. I would see them again. I didn’t know how, but Iwouldget back to them and my sisters.
The transport passed through an energy field and then we were inside a massive ship. Correction, a Vandar warbird. I’d heard whispers about the cavernous ships that appeared to outsiders like a tangle of walkways and bridges and floating stairs, but I’d never believed such a thing could be real. Now that I was peering out the transport’s glass at a web of dark metal that stretched upfarther than I could see, I realized that the stories had been true. And none of them had been exaggerated.
We touched down with a thud that rattled my teeth, and then everyone was moving toward the lowering ramp. The Raas guided me forward without a word, and I walked beside him off the smaller ship and onto a significantly larger one.
Even though I’d gotten a glance from inside the transport, now I tipped my head back to take in what was something plucked from a fever dream. Open space towered overhead in a massive cylindrical shape, so vast I couldn't see the far end. The crisscrossing walkways, hanging bridges, and floating staircases were a web that echoed with deep shouts and the thundering of boots.
Everything was harsh and huge and overwhelming. It was nothing like the quiet bakery or the simple homes of the colony, and for the first time since I’d decided to defy the Vandar, my courage wavered.
This wasn't a ship. This was a flying war machine combined with a city. There were warriors everywhere I looked, all of them massive and armed, with technology I didn't understand. How was I supposed to fight against this?
My knees wobbled. The brave face I'd been maintaining since the lottery started to waver, and the desire to go home slammed into me so hard I had to bite the inside of my cheek to keep from crying.
I wanted my bakery. My sisters. My small, cold, familiar room where I knew every crack in the walls and every muffled creak from the stairs. I wanted to be anywhere but here.
The Raas stopped walking, and I nearly collided with his back, catching myself at the last second. He turned, those golden eyes finding mine immediately, and I tried hard to be stoic again, lifting my chin and gritting my teeth. But his gaze seemed to peer straight into my soul, and just for a beat, my chin quivered.
Just once, and just for a second, but it was enough. I cursed myself inwardly, but the Raas's expression didn't change. He didn't smirk or look satisfied or show any sign that he'd noticed my momentary weakness. He simply flicked his gaze to one of the officers standing nearby. “Take her to my quarters.”
My heart stopped. His quarters? Then I remembered the part of the lottery I’d barely paid attention to. War bride.
