She slid off the cot, her feet hitting the cold floor. Her knees almost buckled, but she caught herself against the wall. The ship shuddered—worse than restraints or nausea. They were moving. Time was running out.
No, no, no. This can’t be happening.
A sudden burst of panic tore through her. She shoved it down and forced herself toward the barrier. If she could find a seam, a weakness?—
It wouldn’t get her home. It might not even get her off the ship.
She tried anyway because escape wasn’t the immediate goal. Audrey was in a brand new world now and needed to gather information if she was going to truly get away and find her sister.
When her fingers skimmed the blue field, it flared, sending a violent shock through her. A warning tone chirped overhead. Pain cracked through her arm. Audrey cried out and pulled back, hitting the cot and rattling it. She bent over, holding her wrist, breath shaking.
Good. Great. Fantastic. The ship bit back.
It sure does.
She froze. The male voice entered her thoughts, followed by the scrape of chains over steel somewhere to her right. He must have been a powerful telepath to break through the restraints. Or maybe it was because they were so close together. She didn’t understand how the technology worked.
Audrey straightened slowly and turned toward the adjoining partition. This time, she saw him.
Emerson stood in the next compartment, wrists shackled above his head to a metal track, ankles spread to keep him upright but not comfortably. Dried blood trailed from one wrist to his forearm, with the cuffs digging into him. He wore only black boxer briefs. Muscles rippled under the barrier’s glow, scars and bruises livid in the cold light. His cracked lip was swollen, and his face was bruised.
They’d beaten him, but she struggled to find any pity. He looked more dangerous than she’d ever seen. Not diminished or broken, but contained. As if captivity had only clarified what he was.
His gaze, half-lidded from sedatives, caught hers. Neither spoke. She wanted to growl at his smirk, wanted to break something. Rational thought slipped; all that was left was the fire to fight—somewhere, somehow.
The engine droned underfoot. The ship shifted slightly, sending a rush of dizziness through her. She steadied herself with both hands against the wall and clenched her eyes shut until it passed.
“You gonna make it?” Emerson asked.
“They drugged me just like you. I’m just half your size,” she muttered. “I’ve survived worse.”
“Good.”
“Why do you care?” she slurred.
“Because your mother is gone, and they kept you alive. They want something from you—from a Simas—so we’re goingto Nepra.” His eyes trailed up her body. “Your family's name still gets attention in places you don't want it.” Then he smiled, predatory. “If I had to bet? You’re about to meet the man everyone here is trying not to disappoint.”
“Ryker,” she whispered.
Audrey put her fingers to the bridge of her nose. Scenes flashed—her mother’s hair, tangled and covering her face, forced themselves in. Guilt ate at her, angry and loud.
“And that,” Emerson said, “makes you my new best friend.”
Disgust rolled through Audrey. How could she have been so naive? She went over every conversation with him, remembering his half-answers, the way he’d dodged truths. He knew more than he let on. Not all secrets, but always enough to pull her farther. Enough to dangle her mother barely out of reach, risking her life with every step.
Traitorous asshole. She was so stupid. Her lips twisted into a snarl. “How much did you know about these risks? About the possibility we’d get captured?”
“Doesn’t matter.”
“That’s not an answer.”
Emerson looked up at the ceiling, somehow managing to look bored out of his mind despite their situation. “It’s the only one you’re getting until you stop thinking like prey.” After a long pause, his eyes focused on her again.
A fierce glare overtook her face. “This was your plan all along, wasn’t it? You lied.”
“Outsiders don’t get onto Nepra unless you’re with the Separatists.” He shrugged. “First, they move us through the system. Then they decide what we’re worth.”
That was enough for her to know she was right. “Not even intelligence officers? Hunters?” she sneered.
