Either the bed started to give out, or she was just that weak, Eleanor didn't know. She darted forward to help catch Bianca. When Bianca fell back against the bed, the repulsor posts wavered, and she started to sink like she was falling to the floor in slow motion.
"I will carry her," Harbin said. "I am more reliable than the repulsor tech."
Eleanor raised her eyebrow.
Bianca wasn't going to go for that if she could walk on her own. "You don't have to do that. We have other options--"
"I can do it," Harbin said. "If I can carry you through the snow and ice, I can carry you here."
"Snow and ice?" Eleanor asked. "That sounds awful."
"It would have been if it wasn't for the heat," Bianca said, and she put her hand on Harbin's chest. He scooped her up like she was nothing. They stared at each other with such a loving expression. It was intense, what they had between them.
"I don't want to know." More intimate things that she didn't have any desire to know about.
Bianca turned to look at her, a smile on her face. "I meant the fireplace."
"I'm sure you did," Eleanor said. She jumped when the ramp started to lower, the sound jarring.
Exhaustion was creeping in. She could feel it.
She was far too jumpy over everything right now. She glanced back at the cockpit area and saw Jedriek, Veta, and Wrathin preparing to get off this ship as well.
The sooty smell hit her. Eleanor started to sneeze. The haze in the air she'd seen out the windows looked that much more intense, the scent tickling her nose. She looked to see if anyone else had a similar reaction, but no one seemed to be.
Though Harbin grinned. He whispered something to Bianca, and it made her cheeks flush.
What in the world were they up to when she'd been here last? Honestly, though, she didn't want to know. Not really.
Veta, Wrathin, and Jedriek came down to the hatch, and they all started to exit the transport. Bianca looked small in Harbin's arms, but Eleanor couldn't help seeing how happy she looked. Even in pain, she looked more comfortable than she'd ever seemed. It wasn't that fake happy she used to project to her and Caoimhe, either. This was genuine. Like it lit her up from the inside.
And Eleanor felt a pang of jealousy. For that was something she wanted as well. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Jedriek come and take position near her. His hand touched the small of her back as they started to exit the ship.
His presence soothed her.
His touch soothed her.
More than knowing he was there, feeling him next to her soothed her more than anything else she'd known in a long time. She rocked her head back and forth and stood up straight. Exhausted or not, she was still an Imperial Princess, and she needed to carry that regal demeanor down the ramp and onto this world.
As Caoimhe would have wanted, had they landed as they were supposed to.
On the ground, Rhimodian guards protected them as they walked into the building. There were Rhimodians, but she didn't see any Terrans waiting. No sister, no Lady in Waiting. It set off alarm bells in her mind.
"I thought that Freya would be here when we arrived," Eleanor said. And she'd hoped that her sister would be here. Somehow having found her way on her own.
"Freya is, hopefully, enjoying some of Kian's company," Veta said.
Eleanor shook her head. "These poor cyborgs. They are going to think all of us Terran women are after their bodies."
"Aren't you?" Jedriek asked.
"We are ambassadors here to spread peace and unity and create a treaty with your people," Eleanor said in her most diplomatic voice.
"And have sex with us when you want," Jedriek said.
Eleanor's face turned as red as the Terran flags.
"Jedriek," Wrathin said.
