Page 159 of Tempting Fate

“Okay,” I whispered, yet I felt anything but okay.

Kira gave me a squeeze. “That’s my girl. We’ve got this.”

We did. Or they did, at least. And I would survive—which was more than I could say if I lost the man I loved.

Airida. Captured. Taken back to his awful mother.

No, no, no. The reality of it crashed in, forcing me to confront my own fear. Yes, I was scared. But more for him than me. “What about…” I shuddered, still feeling Redtusk’s hands on me.

“Reskavi and Urula have him in the brig.” Kira gave me another squeeze. “They wouldn’t let me take him as I’d probably kill him.”

I gave a weak laugh. “Don’t do that. Airida’s already claimed that one.” My last sight of him had been his face in complete, feral kri’ith rage, and I almost believed he’d do it.

Kira held me at arm’s length, looking me over. “You’re hurt.”

“It doesn’t matter.” Airida was all that mattered.

“Are you ready to move? I’ll get you a cup of tea.”

Tea. Something normal. I took a deep, ragged breath. “Okay. Distract me. Show me around your home. And tell me how we’re going to save my mate.”

A broad smile spread over Kira’s face. “Your mate? You bonded?”

Disappointment rose up, but I pushed it away. “Not like that. But we are mates, and just as strongly bound.”

As I pushed up to standing, something dug into my leg. I reached into my pocket and my fingers closed over a rock—the gem Airida had given me before we left the caves. When he’d said we were going home.

My bones tingled with certainty. We hadn’t come all this way just to lose like this. It couldn’t end this way. It couldn’t.

Kira led me along smooth, silvery-cream corridors. Integrated light panels lit our path, and the subtle thrum of the engines took me back to the kri’ith ship that had transported us from Ceres III Station to Tathar Refuge more than three months ago. The scents of spicy ozone and hot chrya were jarring after so many days inside dank pungent caverns, and I jumped as a cleaner bot trundled past me, sweeping the floor.

This is fine. I can do this. This is how we save him.

When we reached the bridge, I barely took in the two control stations, the holographic displays, or Reskavi and his crew. All I saw was the window, displaying the trees below and a vast expanse of Vadias sky. Beyond it, somewhere, was Airida. Somewhere I wasn’t.

For the fourth—and hopefully last—time in my life, deepspace engines thrummed under my feet. The ground fell away as we shot into the sky. The lights of Vadias Town were the last thing I made out before we blasted through the cloud layer and into the outer atmosphere.

“There they are. That’s the Fanged Altair,” Reskavi barked. “Comkana, hail them.”

Against the darkness of space, a shining spot grew as we closed in on the ship that held my love captive.

Reskavi’s headspines writhed in a slow, dangerous halo, and the glint in his eye promised violence.

Never get on the wrong side of a kri’ith.

Too much emotion welled in my chest, threatening to choke me. Reskavi was our friend. All of this to help my Airida.

“On screen,” the ship computer announced, in cool, even tones.

The holoscreen flickered, revealing not a kri’ith but a nebaru, a common species who appeared almost human if not for their blue colouring. His mouth twisted in a sneer.

“Dickbeard. I’m not surprised it’s you,” Reskavi said.

Despite the gravity of the situation, I stifled a laugh. The corsair’s long goatee was bound into a thick column, the end left in a bulge. And the audacity of Reskavi to call him that to his face… The surreal, unexpected humour gave me hope.

“What do you want, Tal’garfa? How are the knives?” The enemy captain spoke casually, but behind his nonchalance, I thought he looked tense.

“You have my crewmate. I want him back.”