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“The Citadel,” Merrik told her. “Laidon is hoping to negotiate an alliance with Zevon.”
“If today is any indication, it’s a damn good idea.” She collapsed back into her seat and closed her eyes, but she was smiling.
Anias was sobbing so hard that Cylex turned over the controls to Tov and went back to calm her down. He wrapped his burly arm around her and pulled her against his side. “You’re safe, sis. It’s over. You are safe.”
The tender moment made Cara smile. She hadn’t realized Cylex had it in him. He’d seemed so cold and distant while he was standing guard.
Merrik reached over and intertwined their fingers. “I believe your first mission was an absolute success. You took every complication in stride and saved the asses of your teammates in the process. When Zevon hears about this, he just might give you a medal.”
The ship basically flew itself in hyperspace, so Tov turned around and faced them. He dropped his voice, not wanting to disturb the others. “It all felt a little easy to me. I can’t shake the feeling that we are missing something important.”
Merrik glared at him. “You have always been a pessimist. What could we possibly be missing?”
“I know what he means,” Cara said. “Jevara was screwing with Cylex. It was obvious in his tone and expression. The emperor knew something that we didn’t.”
“I sensed it too,” Cylex interjected, his tone calm and conversational. His sister was more or less asleep. He was trying not to upset her. “I kept waiting for him to order the guards to drag me off to the detention level. I still don’t know why he didn’t.”
Disconcerted by the conversation, Tov checked in with theAgitarri. Laidon assured him that everything was fine, that the Torretians had never given any indication that they were aware of the warship’s presence. “We are just being paranoid,” Tov concluded. “We spent so long anticipating complications that we can’t accept victory.”
“What were the mission objectives?” Merrik asked, challenge clear in his tone.
“Rescue the hostages,” Tov obliged.
“And did we accomplish that?”
“Check and check,” Shalia perked up, pointing at herself and then Anias. “Not only did you get us out of that hellhole, but the rescue was accomplished without significant loss of life.”
“I don’t think we killed anyone,” Merrik clarified.
“And none of us were hurt,” Cara added. The mission looked pretty damn good in retrospect.
“Then, no more pessimism. Let’s decide how we want to celebrate instead,” Merrik suggested.
“All I need to celebrate is the two of you,” Cara told them, tenderness and anticipation filling her heart. “But I’d like to go to Tov’s estate. Then we can take a nice long bath. Just thinking about that monster makes my skin crawl.” Her gaze shot to Shalia as she heard her own words. The poor woman had been Jevara’s plaything for weeks. Cara wasn’t sure if she was emotionally strong enough to survive that sort of abuse.
Shalia was staring out the window beside her. Hopefully she hadn’t heard Cara’s careless comment.
“We’ll have to make a quick stop at the Citadel, but we should be home long before bedtime,” Tov promised her.
“Sounds good. I’d like to say goodbye to Raina anyway. Our departure was really sudden.”
“Anything you need, my love. It’s yours.”
The statement would have been sweet if Merrik had said it. Coming from Tov, it brought tears to her eyes. They had all come so far, had grown so much. And their journey together was just beginning. They were a bonded power triad now, field tested and proven effective. More important, at least in Cara’s opinion, they loved each other deeply and would fight like hell to make each other happy.
She relaxed back into her seat and finally allowed herself to enjoy their first victory.
The End
