I need to get me one of those.
Eluni, who’s taken the pilot’s seat, gets up and starts toward the back. “Denarso need their cores punched out to properly die. I’m going to assist. Allele will keep you safe if you stay onboard.”
A bolt of electricity arcs between the ceiling and the floor, stopping her, and catching the males’ attention.
“No females on Denarso missions,” Allele says. “It’s too dangerous.”
Eluni staggers back into her seat. “Why?”
“Aura’s rule. No females on Denarso missions. If the males do not return, I will get you out of here.”
I take the copilot’s seat as Fieri and Blaize clomp into the airlock in their rocket boots. Jorusk frees a band from his wings and shakes them out. He turns to us. “We will be right back with your friend, Jovie. Promise.”
His chest lights up with crags of light like lava, and a leathery mask crawls out from behind his ears and swallows his face, leaving only his glowing red eyes visible. Then he joins the others, and the airlock door shuts.
We watch them onscreen upfront as they jump and soar across space to the Denarsoan ship.
“Can you please tell me what’s going on?”
“Trade deals went south with Denarso,” Eluni says, like she’s annoyed with the whole mission. “They took Talros, who we agreed to guard via Aura’s request after Denarso appeared on Catalyst Five. From what we know, they had a drone tech working for them from Ominous Artifacts who has recently been incarcerated. So they’re likely looking for a replacement that will allow them to crack future security systems. Which is why we need to get himnow.”
“How are you more worried about him than Aura?”
Eluni covers her mouth with a hand, looking deep in thought.
“I know where they have taken him,” Allele says.
“Allele,” Eluni growls in warning. “We don’t know that for sure.”
“He is under arrest,” Allele states. “I registered a significant drain to Aura’s Storm before he requested com-break.”
Eluni sways in her seat. “Prison ship Ermaea then.”
“I’m afraid so,” Allele replies.
“Why Talros over Aura?” I reassert.
“Aura’s already asleep in stardust.” Eluni shivers and looks like she’s about to cry. “By now, they’re draining his Storm. But we can’t just yank him out. There’s a procedure. If we don’t do it right, it will rip him apart. Have you ever seen a soul torn from a body?”
“Only in movies.”
“They did that to my mate.” Eluni curls her lips inward and nods.
Even Allele is quiet this time.
“What in stars for?” I ask.
“I was supposed to Bond to an official from another ship. He found out I had carried a child with another male, the oneI loved, the one who ignited my Storm as you do with Aura. So he killed my mate to punish me. And make me an example. I tried to hide our son. But our motherships are limited in space. Rylorn and I were planning to take a transport to Anurra the next week. We were going to start a new life. They took my son, too.”
My body suddenly feels heavy in my seat. I’m starting to regret picking Aura. Not because of who he is but who his people are.
Eluni clears her throat, taps a screen, and pulls up a scan of three males moving through a hallway toward a cell with someone inside. “My son did not die by accident either, even though Royals will frame it that way. They say I called it upon myself because I was abandoning my duty, being selfish.”
“For wanting to protect your family?”
She leans over a different screen. “For choosing myself over the honor of serving the Royal stratum.”
I fear what happened to her son, but by the shimmer in her eyes, I dare not ask and make her relive it again.
