Your Highness?
Aiden froze mid-step. Darren Howewasthe Valrais heir? Sara’s brother, the boy from that painful memory he wished he could forget.
“Howe?” Aiden said, his fingers coiling around Darren’s forearm before he’d even realized he’d done it. “What is going on?”
The world closed in on him as he turned everything he’d learned over in his head. Then he frowned, because it clicked. Fell right into place if he considered that Darren Howe was the heir and not just a knight looking for him.
His initial suspicion had been correct; he should’ve examined it more no matter how tired he’d been.It made so much sense. It explained so many things, giving Aiden the entire picture now. The proceedings, Darren’s arrangement in prison, the fact that Marcus had kept him mentally unscathed. Darren was the key to all of it. He didn’t simplyknow how to locate Sara’s hideout; Marcusneededhim to get his hands on the Valrais Legacy, whatever it was.
Aiden had known Sir Barnaby Albus II was a codename, so why hadn’t he pieced it together earlier? White Raven was a codename too, and while he’d assumed it referred to another person, it didn’t have to. He’d had so much on his plate, true—he was barely functioning—but in retrospect, there really wasn’t anyone else who could be the heir. Sara’s roundabout explanations had just confused him, but that had been the point. A way to protect the heir’s identity if the hideout was ever found.That was why she didn’t know who Darren Howe was. That was why there were two aliases.
Still, Darren hadn’t corrected Aiden when he’d brought it up. He could have cleared up the confusion but had chosen not to do it.
“When were you going to tell me?” Aiden demanded, a sense of disappointment washing over him. He wasn’t really sure where it came from or why, yet it did, along with a feeling of being betrayed somehow, of being wronged even if it should’ve made no difference to him whether or not Darren Howe had been honest.
Darren’s face closed up, his eyes straying from Aiden’s. “I tried to when you came back from the hideout, but you wouldn’t listen. We haven’t exactly had much of an opportunity to sit down and talk since then,” he shot back, shaking Aiden off. “With Marcus and everything else, it wasn’t a priority, so I decided it could wait.”
Sure. They’d had a lot bigger problems to worry about since Aiden’s return from Mars, yet some of the bitterness he was feeling remained.
“Bea, where are we headed?” Darren asked when Aiden couldn’t come up with anything to say.
“The Moon. We’ll pick up some supplies, then head back to the belt. I’ve got a hiding spot in mind.”
Darren rubbed the place on his arm that Aiden had been gripping. “Those supplies include a decent engineer?”
Bea grinned. “No. Only one of thebest.” She held up her tablet, the file of a dark-haired man loaded on it. “Kristen Tiverich. I recruited him half a year ago while your ass was enjoying prison.”
“And you trust him?”
“Who do you think helped me get this baby up and running?” She knocked on the light gray wall. “ETA is twenty-eight hours since we’ll be taking a less direct route. The GN’s already got a shitton of checkpoints up.”
Darren chuckled, though it sounded a little forced. “I’m sure there are plenty of hiding spots, even if we were to get boarded.”
Bea rolled her eyes. “Yes, but it’s a pain in the ass having to fake credentials and ship data every time that happens. And knowing your luck, they are going to stop us ateverysinglecheckpoint.”
“Ah, I could probably help with that credentials issue,” Nyle volunteered, raising a hand as he rocked back and forth on his heels.
“Who says I’ll let you anywhere near the ship’s systems?” Bea challenged, planting her hands on her hips.
“I’m already in.” He waved his tablet at her, batting those long blond eyelashes. “Would be easier if you gave me access though, so I don’t have to tiptoe around your security. Also, I could really use a shower and a bed.”
Darren shoved his hands in his pockets. “Bea, show them both to the crew quarters. I’ll meet you on the bridge.”
“Roger,” she mock-saluted as Darren marched off. “Alright, you two. Let’s get you settled in.”
Bea took Aiden and Nyle to the lower deck, showing them each to a room. There were five in total, with hers being nearest to the elevator and the other four lined two by two further down the hall. Nyle was given the first one on the left side and Aiden the last one on the right.
“What about Darren’s room?” Nyle asked as he let the bioscanner at his door record his face. “Which one is his?”
“His quarters are separate.” Bea cocked her head toward the bottom of the corridor. “They are on the other side of this wall, but that section can only be accessed via the cockpit elevator.”
The bioscanner dinged and Nyle faced them again. “Good to know. And about that ship access…?”
“I’ll talk to Darren about it first. Don’t do anything funny in the meantime.”
Nyle sighed, but it didn’t sound like it was in defeat. “Fine, fine. Can I at least have the network ID? I was gonna catch up on some series.”
With a snort, Bea keyed in the passcode on Nyle’s tablet, then gave him a not-so-gentle push. When the door closed behind him, she turned to Aiden. “Kesley, you want it too?” she asked, holding her hand out expectantly.
