“What are you doing?”
Jenna glanced up to find Captain Malik watching her.
“Checking the newsfeeds.” Dropping her gaze, she started to scroll. A moment later, she murmured a curse under her breath. “My picture’severywhere… Ambassador Jenna Mir-Brennan, missing, presumed kidnapped.”
“Kidnapped?”
She sighed. “Since we haven’t come forward … the Aura Garrison has assumed the worst.”
Her bodyguard didn’t reply, and Jenna’s mouth thinned. She understood why he didn’t want them to go to the garrison. However, at the same time, she was frustrated not to be able to ask for assistance.
Closing the newsfeed, she brought up a list of upcoming departures from Aura Terminal spaceport. “They’ve canceled all passenger liners to Idral, I see.”
“You wouldn’t want to go there, anyway.”
“Where then?”
“Best you choose a destination as far as possible from your husband.”
Jenna's jaw clenched as she stared down at the tablet screen.
Damn it, she didn’t want to flee, to let Tian destroy her family, her clan. If she did that, she’d always be running, always looking over her shoulder.
Fire ignited in her belly.I’m a Mir-Brennan—not a fugitive.
An idea stole upon her then, one that caused both her pulse and breathing to quicken. It was audacious and reckless.
Raising her chin, she met her bodyguard’s eye, and announced calmly, “Change of plan, Captain … we’re leaving Aura Terminal, but I’m not running away.”
Captain Malik stared back at her, and she had the momentary satisfaction of seeing her protector struck speechless.
“I’m not letting them execute my brother and imprison Isla and Bea,” she continued, her gaze never leaving his face. “Instead, I’m going to get them out.”
His eyes snapped wide, and his lips parted. Eventually, he blinked. “Excuse me?”
“As Captain of the Lord’s Watch, you know aboutThe Passage, don’t you?”
Slowly, he nodded, his expression wary now.
“My grandfather built that escape tunnel under Mir-Brennan Tower for times such as this. My family has been careful to keep its existence a secret … and now is the time to use it. I’m going in through the tunnel to bring them out.”
After a long pause, her bodyguard cleared his throat. When he spoke, his voice was a low, incredulous drawl. “Let me get this straight, My Lady … you intend to somehow slip by the Mir-Ferrin blockade and land on Idral … without being caught, before trekking cross-country to Mir-Brennan Tower … avoiding Mir-Ferrin patrols along the way, of course.” His mouth twisted. “And then you’re going to sneak in, right under Mican Mir-Ferrin’s nose, and rescue your brother and his family … and make it out alive?”
Heat prickled across Jenna’s skin. In such bald terms, her embryonic plan seemed both foolhardy and flawed. However, she didn’t appreciate the patronizing edge to his voice. Captain Malik could mock her, but it wasn’thisbrother whose execution would be broadcast to every corner of the Rith sector.
Someone had to do something.
Ever since she’d seen Mican Mir-Ferrin standing in her brother’s solar, ever since the attempt on her life that had killed Mir-Barus and her security team, outrage had been slowly building within her.
She was exhausted, afraid, and overwhelmed—but she wasn’t beaten.
Her husband’s family wanted to see hers wiped off the galactic map. Once the Mir-Brennan ruling family was gone, her clan’s influence would diminish, leaving just two dominant clans in the sector.
I can’t let that happen.
A wave of sickly excitement washed over Jenna.
Ever since her eighteenth birthday, she’d worked on her father’s team of diplomats, before eventually being promoted to her brother’s ambassador.
