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Cryons stopped to stare but nobody approached us. Appalled, I noticed more of the Cryon ships unloading hapless humans just like they had me.
"Ryggs, take one of their loads and bring them aboard theVyper," Garth ordered.
"Vra, Lord Protector," Ryggs rolled his fist in the air and several warriors circled him, waiting for their orders.
Garth didn't stop. We walked toward another ship that looked different from the Cryons' transporters.
"Is this theVyper?" I asked, staring at the ship's black shimmering hull.
"Nocc, this is just a ferry that will take us to her," he answered, walking up the extended ramp and making the metal floor underneath us shudder.
We entered a spacious area designed to transport goods as well as people, with benches that popped up out of the ground.
Garth carried me to one by the wall, where a narrow strip of glass running the entire length of the ship allowed a glance outside.
"How are you holding up?"
His voice was deep and raspy, it ran down my spine and reminded me of the intimate moments we shared earlier, making my face flush and heating my body from within. I was thankful to him for not asking me if I was okay, because I was anything but, and he seemed to understand this.
"Hanging in there," I told him honestly. "By a thread though."
"Our medtechs will check you out, to find out what these bastards did to you and if it is reversible," he vowed.
At that, a small sob hiccupped in my throat and he pulled me a bit closer. "You are not alone Silla."
Dismayed, I stared at my silver-grayish arm. "Will this kill me?"
"I don't think so, but if it is meant to, I won't let it."
It was stupid really, there was no way in hell he could make a promise like that. And yet I believed him, clinging with everything I had left to those words. He was arrogant enough for me to believe that nothing in his life ever went any other way than what he demanded. I managed a weak smile. "I will hold you to that."
Something happened to mewhen she said that, or maybe it was in the way she managed a weak smile while she looked at me with so much trust it nearly undid me.
This strange, delicate merrily was worming her way into my heart in the most uncanny ways.
My protective instincts had always been strong, as was expected of a lord protector, but never had they homed in on a singular person. Not like this.
I liked how her body felt pressed into mine, her slight weight on my lap, and most of all I liked how her little heart beat against my chest. No merrily had ever roused the kind of emotions in me that she did.
I remembered the red haze that had surrounded me all too well when I searched for her, or the blind hate when I found her and saw what they were about to do to her. At first I had assumed my anger stemmed from the Cryons attempting to harvest a Pandraxian's DNA, but after further analysis I came to the conclusion that, as outrageous and audacious of an act this might have been, my fury directed at the Cryons was about what they were doing toher.
The ferry slowly filled and I had half a mind to tell the captain to take us up to theVyperfirst and then come back for the others later. Silla needed to see a medtech, now.
My responsibility to the empire and my crew stopped me though. By now the Cryons would have rallied and I wouldn't put it past them to hold my crew hostage before they took their complaints to the emperor.
When I felt her small body relax against mine, it soothed my unrest as well, but my worry about her seeing a medtech as soon as possible was still on my mind.
Finally, I recognized Rygg's ugly mug coming through the hangar door, followed by a bunch of the strange new alien race Silla belonged to, and the rest of my crew members.
"Did the Cryons give you a hard time?" I asked Ryggs.
"They tried, but they won't be able to complain ever again," he replied with a wry grin, understanding full wellthat I would have to answer for the Cryons' deaths to Daryus.
What was done was done. I had found out before that most of the time it was easier to ask for our emperor's forgiveness than his permission anyway.
"Lord Protector, the Cryons have placed a magnetic hold on our ship," my captain called out over the comm.
With a sigh I rose, reluctantly placing Silla on the bench seat.
