Page 33 of Her Lawless Prince

Suddenly air hissed, and then warning tones drowned out everything. Orange light illuminated their faces. None of them spoke as the pod jerked violently. They were ejected into the deep black. She felt them moving, but the metal walls blocked any view of the outside.

Fear tried to invade her senses as she thought of the airless space surrounding them. She searched the pod for any sign that they were not secure within the depths.

“Yevgen, are you flying us?” Payton asked, trying not to panic. She hated these confined spaces.

“No,” Yevgen said. “I am sitting on the floor. The payload should have the chair.”

Her heart beat faster. She had no time to deal with a cyborg’s pouting.

“Payton,” Nyle said, staring at her. “Look here.”

She met his gaze.

“Torgan will catch us,” he said. “Just hold on.”

She nodded, feeling better as she stared at him. He parted his lips and breathed slow and steady, encouraging her to match his rhythm.

When she started to calm down, he nodded in approval. “Expect turbulence. This one is always a rocky landing.”

She kept her gaze on Nyle as the pod began to shake.

“Do not worry, my wife. I will protect you. This is my plan.” Yevgen’s hand rested on her knee. His metal skeleton added weight to his touch in stark contrast to Nyle’s gentler hold.

Payton ignored the guilt that tried to surface. Her body seemed to recognize Nyle’s blood inside of the cyborg, more so now that her Roane heritage had shown itself. Maybe she had always sensed a connection to Nyle through Yevgen, but she wasn’t attracted to the cyborg, not like she was to Nyle. Yevgen wanted to have feelings toward her, and sometimes she thought he might achieve it, but was Nyle right? Was the yearning Yevgen felt all a machine’s programming? Was it some primal attraction inspired by Nyle’s blood? And did it matter when Nyle’s blood was now Yevgen’s?

The pod jerked violently, bouncing them in their seats. Her hair reached up from her head as it turned upside down. Yevgen lifted off the floor, and she pushed her foot against his thigh to try to hold him steady.

Payton considered herself to be brave. She’d fight anyone she had to. Spiraling through space inside a small metal ball was not her idea of a grand adventure. Payton closed her eyes to picture the open Var forest and tried to attribute her quickening heartbeat to running through the trees.

“If the gods wanted cats to fly, they would have given us dragon wings,” she whispered, willing the ride to end.

12

Torgan Black Market

Marketplace City of Madaga, Planet of Torgan

After seeing the giant dust ball of a planet from the high skies, Payton didn’t expect much from being on the surface. Although there was some comfort to the sand shifting beneath her feet as she paced around the pod. The cylinder had landed none-too-gently in the desert docking lot on the outskirts of Madaga. A series of adobe structures spread out of the desert as if serving only to showcase the impressiveness of the main complex. It reminded her of Qurilixen’s shame, of the ruins of Shelter City beneath the metal gaze of the Federation stronghold lording over them. She’d spent years in the city, hoping for the day to finally eject the Federation’s dictatorial rule off the planet once and for all.

That was what they were doing here. That was all that mattered. They needed to get Yevgen home.

“Payton?” Nyle’s concern filled his words.

She felt an invisible thread pulling her toward him. She resisted.

Yevgen did not move as he sheltered close to the pod. He didn’t appreciate the bright sunlight.

Sand pelted her exposed skin, stinging her hands and neck even as the breeze was light. The desolate environment held a subtle beauty when showcased by a hint of rings arching in the planet’s sky, but she was too preoccupied to fully appreciate it.

As the breeze picked up, she covered her nose and mouth. She coughed the inhaled dust particles and turned her back to the wind.

The sand was made worse by the intense heat. She felt the sweat-adhered granules coating her cheeks as she held her hand against her face. The open pod would have offered a little shelter, but she’d rather be out in the elements than return to the small space.

“Should we walk toward the complex?” she asked.

Shifted, she could make the trip faster, but after hearing stories of how they wanted to sell her caged father, she felt it best not to reveal her natural abilities. The last thing they needed was to be hunted by opportunists looking for a pet.

“No, they’ll send a retrieval team, and we’ll sign over the pod in exchange for space credits,” he said. “Yevgen, I need you to take ownership of the pod. If they insist that you sign, make sure their electronic clipboards glitch. We don’t want a record of our being on-world.”

---