They’d both started to get suspicious as time had drawn out inside the hold. Jenna had begun to worry her earlier comment might have been prophetic.
“Border security was more stringent than I thought,” Vic replied. “They accepted my fake ID but interrogated me for a while and then asked to see my logbook. After that, they had even more questions.”
Jenna’s breathing quickened at this news. “We’re through?”
The cyborg nodded. Reaching down, Vic caught her by the hand and hauled her out of the hold. He then helped Malik climb out before he turned and made his way toward the cockpit. “We’re beginning our approach … you both need to get strapped in.”
The Wayfarerbounced then as the freighter entered the planet’s atmosphere.
Both Jenna and Malik stumbled—straight into each other’s arms.
Her bodyguard’s arms went about her waist, steadying her, before he steered them across the cabin.
The freighter started to buck and shudder, pitching them both into their seats.
Jenna sucked in a relieved breath when her harness clicked into place, pinning her securely to the spot.
“Re-entry into Idral is never this rough,” she muttered, casting Malik a sidelong look.
He pulled a face. “That’s because you’re used to your brother’s shuttles. These craft aren’t as smooth.”
“She’ll get us there, all the same,” Vic called back.
Evidently, their pilot had overheard him.
“If Jidea permits,” Malik muttered. He reached up then, his fingers enclosing the small hammer he wore around his neck.
Jenna shifted her attention forward, watching Vic’s hands move expertly over the controls. Beyond the cockpit window, she spied the surface of her home planet; the swirl of rust, cream, and white.
She hadn’t been away from Idral that long, and yet it felt like a lifetime.
So much had happened in the interim; she didn’t feel the same person who’d nearly face-planted in the doorway of that shuttle.
The freighter started to shudder, so violently that Jenna’s teeth rattled. Gripping the hand rests to her seat, she focused on keeping her breathing slow and even. At least she wasn’t feeling sick. Usually, the nausea only visited her during takeoff and the jump into hyperspace. Even so, she couldn’t wait until they landed on terra firma.
And as they descended through the atmosphere, Jenna kept her gaze firmly on the cockpit window. They flew through clouds, and Idral itself hove into view.
They roared over the glittering sea and jagged coastline, before reaching the rocky, sun-burned mountains beyond. It was a brutal, but beautiful, sight, and Jenna’s breathing grew shallow.
She hated knowing that this planet was lost to her clan—for the moment, at least. It wasn’t a matter of territory or ownership, but heart. Idral was her home.
Jenna’s jaw tightened.One day, we’ll get it back, she vowed silently. She’d never thought herself one to nurse revenge, but the Mir-Ferrin treachery cut deep. It felt personal. Itwaspersonal. She’d sacrificed herself for peace only to discover everything her father and brother had worked for had been based on a lie.
The Mir-Ferrins had never wanted peace. Tian had married her knowing that.
Jenna’s fingernails dug into the armrests. Not from nerves now, but from anger.
Do you want me to kill your husband?
Malik’s offer whispered to her once more. Oh yes, it was tempting indeed. There were few people she truly wished ill, but Tian deserved a slow, painful end.
Maybe she could be the one to give it to him.
21. FOUND GUILTY
A WAVE OF dry heat hit Jenna in the face the moment she disembarked the freighter. An instant later, she inhaled the tang of iron, and a smile curved her lips.
The smell of home.
