“My home is on Telluria,” I sniffle, feeling ridiculous.
Her dark eyes widen. “Of course, I’m sorry—long night. Would you like me to book you a hotel?”
“No, I want to see my son.”
Maybe after a nap, I’ll be able to get my shit together. Long night, indeed.
We push out into the dusky day, and a tiny figure peels away from a nearby car, barrelling into me. The wind’s knocked out of me, but it’s Vee, and who cares about breathing anyway? I bury my face in his hair and let my body relax for the first time in hours. His gangly arms hold me tight, and I try very hard not to sob all over him.
“Captain Sekmith said they wouldn’t send you to jail, but I didn’t believe her.” He sniffles. “And then Mae said you were one tough mama bear, and she’d like to see them try.”
Amazingly, a laugh bubbles out of me. I squeeze him like a teddy bear. “Facts.”
A gentle touch on my elbow draws my attention, and Hina meets my gaze over Vee’s head. Her eyes crease in the corners. “I’ll be going. You have my number if you need me, and I’ll call you as soon as I have an update.”
“Thank you,” I say with feeling. She went above and beyond and kept me calm when, by all rights, I should have been in a heap on the floor.
“Yeah,shukran,” Vee says, beaming up at her.
Hina blinks down at him in surprise before chuckling. “Impressive accent,tavrisaan.”
I go to ask her what that means, but Vee beats me to it, shooting me a knowing look. “It means ‘little one.’ Dev called me that once.”
He’s managed to charm a complete stranger, and Hina leaves with a warm smile for him.
Vee leads me to the car he’d come pelting out of, where Tanisira waits with narrowed eyes. She opens the passenger door but stops me from getting in with a hand on my waist. The heat of it shouldn’t make my stomach flip, but it does. Stupid—and exhausting—when my body’s been through so much already tonight.
“You didn’t mention that your plan included being arrested,” she hisses under her breath.
“Please don’t, Tee. Not right now.”
She gives me a prim nod and steps aside. I miss her hand on me as soon as it’s gone. As she pulls out of the parking lot, Vee immediately slots his face between the two front seats. “Where are we going now?”
Tanisira glances at me. “It’s up to you. I have a ship, so we can go there, but the whole crew is onboard and I figured you might want somewhere quiet.”
That sends a jolt through me. There’s a lot to unpack there, but later, when I don’t want to faceplant. She’d mentioned a ship earlier, but thecrew? “You’ve been busy. A hotel?”
“Don’t you live here?” Vee interrupts. “Like, in a house?”
“Vee.” I shake my head.
But Tanisira laughs under her breath—a little huff of a thing—and spins the wheel, turning the car in a tight 180 on the empty streets. “He’s somewhat right. Plus, I didn’t exactly tell anyone Vee was leaving with me, so it might be best we avoid public places for now.”
It takes a full minute for my sloggy brain to process her words. “You kidnapped him again?”
When she laughs, it’s deep and infectious, and I can tell she needed it—as did I. A layer of anxiety sloughs off me.
“I snuck Vee out using the secret doorway in the dining hall before things really kicked off. Dominik was talking to the officers about going to find him when we slipped around the side of the manor.”
“I’ll let the police know he’s with me when we get to your—” I raise my eyebrows. “Mum’s house?”
She nods. “Both she and my sister live in the Solari Terraces, which is at the very edge of the Domeheart. Traffic will be picking up around now—the working day here starts earlier than you’re used to—so it’ll be around an hour’s drive. You should sleep.”
Even the prospect of seeing the Domeheart in passing can’t compete with the idea of a nap. My last remaining brain cell turns itself off. I flatten my seat and curl up on it, out within seconds.
I wake up not in the car but on a bed. After several attempts, I manage to get my eyelids to stay open. A brief turn of my cottony head reveals a small bedroom in dim lighting, but no details beyond shadows. Sitting up is an exercise in willpower, but I eventually get out of bed, acknowledging every single aching muscle in my body—which is most of them.
My feet, most of all, are killing me, and I have what feels like a thousand blisters from those shoes. I fumble in the dark for the switch to the blackout blinds and hiss like a vampire when they flicker open. I have to turn my back to the blinding daylight, and I take stock of where I am.
