No. He wouldn’t let her die. A galaxy without Nissa was something he couldn’t allow.
He unclipped his harness.
“Justyn! What the hell are you doing?” She strained against her harness, trying to reach him. “Strap back in.”
“I need to slow our descent. I can’t do it from here.” Keeping one hand on the armrest of his chair, he let his body drift upward. He pulled his way toward her. Holding the back of her chair, he cupped her face with his other hand. He pressed a rough kiss to her lips. One filled with desperation, despair, and the love he’d never dared confess to her.
“You’re going to the engine? You’ll die for sure!”
“But you won’t.” He stroked her cheekbone, down to the point where her pattern ended.
“No. Justyn, I won’t let you—” Her voice had taken on her captain’s tone.
“You’re not the captain here, Nissa.”
“Justyn—” This time there was a wobble to her voice.
He winked at her. “I’m pretty good at getting out of tricky situations, remember?”
She gripped her harness. “I’m coming?—”
“No.” He stilled her hands. “I need you here. If I can get the controls active, you need to fly the ship.” One last caress of her jaw and he pushed away from her. “Hold on tight, sweetheart.”
And live.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Nissa woke to a throbbing head, a wet sensation down the side of her face, and a cloying heat sticking to her like an out-of-work pleasure worker.
Her vision was blurry but blinking a few times brought the world slowly into focus.
She saw a giant pink flower covered in cracks.
What the—?She squeezed her eyes closed, shifting in her chair. As aches and pains assailed her body, she stilled, and opened her eyelids once more.
The cracks were the shattered viewscreen. The flowers were part of the vegetation outside.
She’d never seen anything like it. Thick vines tangled with giant plants full of oversized leaves and huge flowers. Everything was in neon colors—greens, yellows, pinks, and blues.
Memories rushed in and hit her all at once. The attack, the Firebrands, theMercury’swild freefall, the ship stabilizing at the last minute…the crash.
Justyn!
She struggled to unclip her harness. She shot to her feet and nearly crashed to the floor as her body sagged. She gripped the console to stay upright and pressed a hand to her head. It cameaway covered in blood. A quick probe and she realized it wasn’t life threatening.
She went to leave the cockpit when something yanked on her foot.
She tripped and hit the grated floor with a hardthump. She groaned and rolled over. And spotted the dark-green vine wrapped around her ankle.
What the hell?
The vine had come in through the viewscreen. She kicked at it and it tightened. She stilled. Was the damn thing sentient? Reaching down, she gripped the thick tendril and yanked.
It tightened more and dragged her across the floor, closer to the viewscreen.
Smothering a shocked cry, she slid a hand into her boot and wrenched out her compact, standard-issue Patrol knife. She slashed at the vine until it let her go. The vine reared back and slithered out the cracked window.
Goddess. Heart pounding, Nissa got to her feet. She used the manual release to open the cockpit door and hobbled toward the engine room.
