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Atlas reaches for me and takes me into his arms.
“Be safe, wife,” he says. “I want you home when all this is over.”
“I will be,” I say against his chest. “And I’ll bring Layla home with me.”
He draws back just enough to plant a steady, soft kiss on my lips. I lean into him, losing myself in his scent, in the way his strong arms wrap around me.
“We’re ready to go,” Corvus says from behind us, interrupting the moment.
“More than ready,” Zaire adds. “Let’s get in the air.”
I nod back at them. “Okay,” I say.
But there’s one last thing I want to do.
Keon is standing somewhat awkwardly next to Atlas—the first time I’ve seen him look like that. We exchange a look, then the corner of his mouth curves up as he glances at Atlas.
“May I?” he asks.
Atlas groans.
“Say your goodbyes,” he mutters.
I don’t think my husband is all too happy about it, but before I can really process what’s happening, Keon has pulled me into his embrace. He dips me and presses his lips to mine as dramatically as he possibly can, sweeping me right off my feet. At first, I’m embarrassed. But then I decide to just let myself fall into him, too, getting a taste of what might be waiting for me on the other side of all this.
After all, I’ve known since I met the three of them that I wouldn’t be satisfied with having to choose.
Corvus takes me delicately by the arm as I step backwards, and I glance up at him. For fuck’s sake, all we’ve done is grind a bit at the club that one night…but I feel close to him, too. And he’s going to help me save Layla.
Unless he betrays me, I guess.
Which he still might.
I’ll hold off on forgiveness until Layla is safe.
“I’ve got this,” I say, shaking him off.
Then I get on the ship with Zaire and Corvus, hoping this won’t be the last time I see Joya.
?
The flight to Vahar is about ten hours, all the way to the other side of the planet. I don’t bring anything with me—no tech or anything, other than that pesky chip that Corvus injected me with when I first got to Aelydon, and the stealth dagger from Marina. And because I don’t have anything to distract me, I spend the whole time talking to Zaire.
I ask him everything—about how he and Layla met, what they did together, how she was doing the last time he saw her. He tells me the pregnancy was hard on her, but it was all normal stuff: morning sickness, sore back, that kind of thing. Still, he says she’s been tough as nails, even going so far as to fight their way out of more than a few sticky situations.
Until they were captured, that is.
After that, we go quiet again, and I pass the rest of the flight looking out the window. The ship is on autopilot, and Corvus joins me as we catch sight of the Diavolo coast, about an hour out from our destination. He sits down on a crate beside me, resting his elbows on his knees.
“I don’t think I’ve told you I’m sorry,” he says.
“For what?” I ask. “You’re helping me get back my friend.”
“For lying to you,” he says. “For trying to play you when we were supposed to be partners.”
“I mean, it isn’t like I would have worked with you if I’d known you were just trying to use me and didn’t plan on helping me find Layla,” I say.
He chuckles. “See?That’swhy I need to apologize. You’re obviously mad.”
