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“Don’t talk to them.”
Rylec grabbed a chair, twisted it around, and plopped into the seat. “I can’t talk to them, can’t speak to you. You have so many demands, wife.”
“Why are you here, Rylec?”
He spun his finger, and she twisted around to face him. That was better. She deserved to look into his eyes as he told her about his mission. Gods, she’d hate him.
But once she learned about Soriya, she’d understand. After all, he had promised to take care of their daughter, no matter the cost. “To take you back.”
Inez stared. Silence filled the cabin for three… two… one—
“Are you out of your right-fuckingmind?”
Rylec repressed a flinch. She had always been a screamer. “Unfortunately.”
“You piece of shit—”
Rylec pinched his fingers and his magic zipped Inez’s mouth shut. She deserved the truth, but this didn’t need to be any harder than it was. And he couldn’t tell her the truth, not in front of her charges. Once the Star Temple got their hands on them, they’d reveal everything asked of them. Their fate was sealed, but he could still save Inez and Soriya.
He stood and crossed the space before his wife. He reached out, hesitantly, gently, until his fingers brushed her face. Shivers traced through his arm. He had missed her. Craved her. Not a night had passed without thoughts of her lulling him to sleep.
Though she glared, her pupils dilated.
She had missed him too.
“I have my reasons, Inez.” He pressed the ghost of a kiss to her forehead, breathing in her scent. “For now, trust me.”
“Rylec…”
He pulled back, staring into her beautiful face. “Yes, wife?”
Her green eyes went dead cold. “Fuck you.”
Her knee jerked up. Rylec jumped back, pushing his magic back across her body. Even with a star-wife boosting his powers, he couldn’t hold four people still, levitate his shuttle off the back of theParadise, and keep the explosive he had planted in the engine room from going off. His grasp slipped, but he strained to reach, grabbing all the pieces with his magic—
The bomb ticked to 0:00:09.
Oh, well. Now seemed like a decent time to end the conversation. It’d give his wife time to process.
Rylec let go. The bomb started ticking down. Inez stumbled into his arms. Her charges raised their weapons.
Rylec wrapped his wife in his grasp. “Stab me after the explosion, will you?”
Inez froze, fork halfway to his balls. “Thewhat?”
A distant rumble echoed through the cabin before everything went flying.
Chapter 4
Inez dug her nails into Rylec’s shirt as theParadisejolted, throwing bodies and furniture in the air. The lights flickered and the artificial gravity died. She tightened her grip, hoping her nails went straight through the thin fabric to his sculpted muscles. Maybe she’d get lucky, and the cut would get infected. He could choke on some pus for all she cared. He planned to take her and her charges back to Tertia—after he blew up an unsuspecting cruise ship filled with innocents.
But Rylec had never cared about that. Rylec cared about protecting what was his—his people, his territory, his power—at the expense of everything else. If he had to set fire to this ship to get what he wanted, that was what he’d do.
And what he wanted was to bring herback? It was a ridiculous notion.
The backup generators chose that exact moment to activate. Every thought fled her mind as gravity wrapped around her and Rylec. They had floated up to the ceiling, and the floor was a long drop away. Inez knew how to stick a landing, but she didn’t needto use her training. Her star-husband wrapped those calloused hands around her waist and landed with perfect grace.
Her charges crashed to the floor with grunts and moans, the cabin a wreckage around them. The emergency lighting flickered on, followed by the blare of an alarm. But Inez barely noticed any of it, not with Rylec’s hands on her.
