“Please tell me you mean that,” Nate said. Ruffling clothes and footsteps came through the line as he obviously left whatever room he’d been in. “Between you and me, Neve is planning on begging you to stay. She’s got a whole presentation with pros and cons even. She’s spent a lot of time on it, in fact, even though I told her it would never work.”
Nuri made it to the line he was supposed to be in and frowned. When she’d told him she wasn’t going to let him leave, he’d thought she was joking. Had she been serious?
“This may have started as something you had to do,” Nate continued, lowering his voice as if to keep himself from being overheard by others around him, “but let’s be real here, brother. You love your job.” He hesitated. “And you love—”
“Welcome to Ignis Galactic,” a woman beamed at him from behind the counter. “How may I help you today?”
“It’s my turn. I’ll call you when I land.” Nuri tapped his multi-slate and moved up to the counter, returning the woman’s smile as he turned his arm over to press the screen of his multi-slate to the panel set in the center of the table before him. Neon lights scanned it and then it emitted a beep.
“Okay, let’s see here…” She typed at the computer before her, her smile slowly dropping away.
Nuri shifted on his feet, suddenly getting a bad feeling. Had he forgotten anything? He’d confirmed his flight last night before leaving the office, so that should be all set, and he’d paid for one carry-on bag. A glance over at the large screens behind her showed that his flight was still on schedule.
“Is there a problem?” he asked, noting that she was full-on frowning now.
“I’m sorry, sir,” she made a few more clicks on her keyboard before giving up, “it looks like your ticket has been canceled.”
“What?” He shook his head. “No, that can’t be right. I didn’t cancel anything. I confirmed last night even.”
“Yes, I do see that,” she agreed, “however there was a call made shortly after.”
“I didn’t make it,” he insisted. “You can’t legally allow someone else to cancel a flight for me.” He was a full-grown adult, after all. Besides, who would even— He went cold. “Does it say who canceled in my place?”
“I’m sorry it doesn’t. All I can see here is that it was.”
Nuri wanted to believe he was paranoid, that there was no way Silver would have stooped so low, and yet…He’d been witness to far worse things done by the Emperor. Just because they typically weren’t aimed Nuri’s way didn’t mean they couldn’t be. And it wasn’t like their relationship was all sunshine and rainbows. Of course, he’d never overstepped tothisextent but still…
“Can I buy a new ticket then?” he asked. “I have to get on this ship.”
“It looks like we’re fully booked,” she told him apologetically. The deep purple of her crisp uniform seemed to mock him.
“The next one then.” Damn Silver. That asshole really thought he owned him, didn’t he?
She checked her computer and winced. “We’re booked through the week.”
“You can’t be serious.” Vitality was a nice planet, but it was hardly a luxury resort-type place. Sure, people from Ignite might go for a reprieve from the cold, but there was no way all of the flights were booked right when Nuri needed to take one. “Fine. Give me a ticket to Essence.”
He could land there and then immediately book a trip to Vitality. It would add another five hours to his trip, but the planets were all close together, close enough that they could sometimes be seen in the night sky.
“Of course, sir, I’ll—” She stopped abruptly, eyes widening on her screen before she went a little pale. “Forgive me, sir, but it seems like that won’t be possible either.”
“What do you mean?” He leaned onto the counter, though there was no way for him to catch a peek at her computer with the way it was angled. “You can’t be saying everything off this planet is booked?!”
“It’s not that, sir,” she cleared her throat, obviously uncomfortable with having to tell him what she was about to, “you’ve been flagged, I’m afraid.”
He pulled back. “What?”
“Your name has been added to the No Fly list. I’m sorry, but there’s nothing I can do.”
So long as his name was on that list, he couldn’t leave the planet. Ever. No station would allow him to. Hell, he might not even be able to get on a plane to another city.
“That fucking psycho.” The harsh words slipped past his lips before he could help it, but he hardly noticed when the woman flinched. Grabbing the handle of his bag, he dragged it behind him as he stormed away. For the first time in a long time, the anger swelling within him was strong enough to drown out everything else, including logic and self-preservation.
Nuri, who was usually so put together and calm, saw red.
* * *
“Mr. Narek,” Marta stood from his desk when he appeared, “what are you—”
