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I sucked in a sharp breath, my heart sinking into the pit of my belly in an instant. An explosion? Of a ship? I didn’t want to think the worst. But somehow, I already knew. It was Malik. It had to be. Or one of the other Vaclan brothers. But my mind would not accept that. Could not. Because deep down, I could feel the connection between Malik and I, contentious as it was, severed.
“Cosma? Are you there?”
I jammed the transmission button down too aggressively and answered, although my mind was still in a fog.
“Yeah, I’m here. Can you hang tight for a bit? I need to go speak with someone. I’ll be right back, okay?”
“I’m not goin’ anywhere until these guys are long gone,” he assured me.
“Promise?”
“You have my word.”
Heh. The word of a space pirate. My mind conjured some kind of quip about honor and thieves, but I was too distracted to give it any attention. If a smuggler’s word was the only thing keeping hope alive inside me, I wasn’t about to disparage it.
“I’ll be right back. I swear.”
I was tearing the headset off my head before I had even finished speaking, spinning around in my seat and breaking into a run by the time I reached the door.
As I sprinted down the hall toward the infirmary, I already knew I wouldn’t find Torgus there, but I didn’t want to miss him, so I shoved the door aside just in case. The door had barely cracked open before I pressed my face to the space and scanned the room quickly. Then I was off again, trying to remember my way back to the middle of the Vaclanheim and Nivek’s office.
I ran so far and so fast, I feared I’d lost my way in the circular halls, but finally I turned a corner and recognized the dim hall that led to Nivek’s quarters and I sighed with relief. Plunging forward, I hit the door with my shoulder, bursting through into the quiet room and nearly stumbling straight into Torgus’s lap where he sat in front of Nivek’s broad desk.
Both men leapt up in an instant, drawing weapons and leveling them on me. Instinctively I raised my hands over my head, gasping for breath as I took in their wild-eyed expressions.
“What the hell are you doing?” Torgus snapped, shoving his weapon back in its holster in frustration. “You’re lucky you don’t have two new holes right now.”
“Something’s wrong. There’s been some kind of explosion. The Sovann’ash are out in full force. There are patrols. They’re close by and getting closer.”
“An explosion?” Nivek asked, lowering his own weapon as his expression changed from one of shock to concern.
“A ship, I think. I-it might be…”
I didn’t have to finish my sentence. The men exchanged a look that said it all.
“Where did you get this information?” Torgus demanded, but beneath his words I heard a certain shakiness.
“I… don’t know, exactly. Let’s just call him an associate of my crew?”
“And you want us to trust this intel?”
I stiffened, my eyes skating from Torgus to Nivek and back, pleading with them to listen to me.
“You have to believe me. They might have Malik. They could be heading here next! We have to do something!”
“Malik would never give away our location,” Nivek spoke up, his voice dry and certain.
“Maybe not, but if they’re already this close, they might find the Vaclanheim, anyway.”
“And what would you have us do? If they come for us, our defenses are strongest from inside the Vaclanheim. Going out to meet them will only ensure we are easy to pick off.”
I growled in frustration, balling my fists at my sides. Why were they being so stubborn? I was just about to storm out of the room and go in search of a ship that I could take, when Torgus’s voice stilled me.
“You really do care for him, don’t you?”
“What?”
“Malik. You love him.” He said it as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, but I could not hear him over the thundering beat of my heart in my chest.
