The thought gave me pause. My life as a Raas had been all about taking things and imposing my will, but now I didn’t want that. I didn’t want her like that.
"I'll be fine," I assured my battle chief, closing the subject
The ship's engines changed tenor, a subtle shift from idling to acceleration as we pulled away from Lexxona's orbit. Then the wide doors behind me swished open and Venik was by my side again.
I lifted a brow in question.
“Your guest is awaiting you in your quarters and dinner is being sent there.”
I nodded. “Good.” I noticed his pinched forehead. “There’s more?”
"We've picked up signals," he said, moving to the nearest console and pulling up a holographic display. "Imperial convoy. Three supply ships, two escort frigates. Standard transport configuration, heading toward the inner systems."
My lips pulled into a grin, and it was the first genuine smile I'd felt in hours. My hands tightened into fists, anticipation singing through my veins.
This. This was what I was made for. Raiding. Fighting. Taking from the Empire what they'd taken from so many others. Not diplomacy or negotiations or trying to figure out what to say to an angry human woman who probably wanted me dead.
I raised my voice, letting it carry across the command deck. "Vandar! Are we ready to do some raiding?"
The response was a roar of approval that shook the walls. My warriors were hungry for this. We'd been playing nice, making alliances, and being civilized, but we were Vandar. We were raiders.
I headed for the doors, my stride long and purposeful. At the threshold, I called back over my shoulder to Venik. "Call me when we're close. I'll be debriefing our new guest."
I didn't wait for his response. Didn't need to see the knowing look he was probably exchanging with Kolt. Let them think what they wanted.
The corridors of my warbird were familiar territory, my feet finding the path without conscious thought. Warriors stepped aside as I passed, heels clicking in salute. I reached a wide flight of steps and didn't slow, leaping from the top landing and hitting the next level in a controlled crouch that absorbed the impact. The metal rang under my boots as I straightened and continued.
My quarters were a few levels down, isolated enough for privacy but close enough to the command deck that I could respond to emergencies quickly. The door recognized my biometricsignature as I pressed my palm to the surface, and it slid open with a soft hiss.
I paused before entering, suddenly unsure. Behind me, the warbird's systems were ramping up for combat. I sensed the subtle vibration through the deck as weapons came online and heard the rumbles of approval welling up from the bowels of the ship. But the blood wasn’t tearing hot through my veins because of the impending raiding mission.
It was an unrelenting drumbeat because I was about to have dinner with a woman who’d promised me she’d never like me. How had I possibly thought this was a good idea?
Chapter 11
Jasmine
The door slid shut behind the Vandar who’d escorted me to the Raas's quarters, leaving me alone in the warlord’s private lair. I stood still, almost afraid to move deeper into the room, afraid to disturb the silence.
Then I took a step, my foot tapping on the shiny, black floor. Everything in the enormous room was dark and glossy and hard, and it could not feel more foreign.
I’d grown up living above the bakery in cramped rooms that were warmed by the rising heat from the downstairs ovens but boasted plentiful cracks and leaks that let frigid air needle its way through the walls. My bedroom was barely large enough for a narrow bed pushed against the wall and a small dresser huddled across from it. The drafty window was constantly stuffed with rags in an attempt to plug the gaps, and well-worn blankets handed down from my mother were piled on the bed until I could barely move under the weight. My sisters shared a slightly larger room, but there were two of them in one marginally bigger bed, along with constant grumblings about who stole the covers.
Here? One Vandar had a suite bigger than all our rooms, and even the bakery, combined. Even if he was the Raas, it seemed indulgent.
I took another tentative step, eyeing the floor-to-ceiling windows that comprised an entire wall and looked out onto the star-filled expanse of space. It was a view that should have been beautiful, but instead just reminded me how alone and far away from home I was.
A massive bed dominated the center of the room, and it was easily three times the size of my narrow cot back home. The dark furs and silky fabrics looked casually tossed aside, with crimson and black pillows scattered at the head.
Jerking my gaze away, I tried not to imagine the Raas sleeping in the tangle of sheets. The last thing I wanted occupying my thoughts was the Vandar and his golden eyes or his hands that were huge and warm and gentle despite their obvious strength.
"Stop it," I hissed at myself, my voice sharp in the empty room. "He's the enemy. He kidnapped you. He's using you as leverage. He's?—"
Hot. He was objectively, undeniably hot in a way that made my traitorous body react even as my mind screamed that I should hate him.
"No," I said firmly as I started to pace. "Absolutely not. He's a raider. A criminal. A?—"
A warrior who fought the Empire. One who'd apparently been defending settlements like mine from Imperial reconquest, and one who'd looked at me with something that almost seemed like regret when my name was called.
