Page 50 of Her Lawless Prince

Still, as she watched the raw grief, the suffering, the heartache, a tear slid over her cheek. How could she think of her own happiness with so much on the line?

Ryland and Yevgen had made a point. It might not be the one they wanted to make. She didn’t hate Nyle or blame him. But there were things in this world beyond the desire of two people to be together. This path she was on wasn’t about her happiness. It was about the Cydgodian survivors. It was about protecting Qurilixen from the Federation occupation. That is what she needed to keep focused on. Anything else was just background static.

19

Payton determineda few things while locked in her cage of a room.

She hated space travel. The constant vibrations of ship engines and the sound of flickering lights felt like torture. She missed the dull thud of the earth beneath her feet and the wind whispering in the trees.

She hated the claustrophobic nature of spaceships. The air did not move inside a locked room. If she tried to imagine beyond the walls, her mind conjured images of the deep and endless black. If she never left the planet’s surface ever again, she would not complain.

And she loved Nyle.

Payton wanted to rewind their time together to handle herself differently. When Yevgen made his claim, she would have politely corrected him. When she’d met Nyle on the path toward Shelter City, she would have spoken to him and learned what he was doing on Qurilixen. Maybe then she could have alerted the shifter guards, and they could have fought off the mercenaries together.

Thinking of the past with longing wasn’t helpful. Not when the future needed them.

Payton stood, staring at the door as she waited for it to open. The ship had landed. She felt every jerking shake of reentry. Rick said they were home, but she couldn’t smell the fresh air or feel the heat of the suns.

“Are you calm?” Ryland’s voice came through the door.

Payton felt her claws trying to extend from her fingertips. “Yes.”

“You don’t sound calm,” Ryland insisted.

Her eyes narrowed. “Open the door.”

She heard footsteps. The door slid open. Payton pushed her way out, ready to grab hold of her brother. She managed to land a kick right above his ankle as Ryland jumped back out of the way.

“Payton.” The sound of her father’s stern voice stopped her from further attack.

She instantly retracted her claws and turned toward him. She tried to pretend like she hadn’t been caught assailing her brother. “Father.”

Commander Falke stood at rigid attention, but she saw the relief on his face. “I was surprised to receive Rick’s message. We didn’t know you had left the planet. The guards said they had tracked you into the forest. What happened?”

“Mercenaries. They wanted Yevgen.” Payton glanced back at her brother.

“The cyborg.” Falke frowned.

“He has been putting together evidence for us to fight off the Federation,” Payton explained. “The Federation found out he was going through the files and sent a team to stop him. I was collateral damage, as was a Cysgodian man named Nyle. He tried to stop them.”

Ryland cleared his throat. Payton ignored him. As Commander, their father would demand access to everything Yevgen discovered. He was the highest-ranking Var military official. If they went to war, he would lead the charge.

“Did they succeed?” Falke asked. He made no move to leave the ship.

“No. They failed their mission. Nyle helped me escape.” Payton watched her father carefully. Nothing she said seemed to surprise him, and she had the feeling her brother had already given a version of events.

“And this Nyle, he was in the newspaper chip from Cysgod’s evacuation that Nova gave the cyborg,” Ryland added. “He was one of the men responsible for the virus.”

“That’s a misrepresentation,” Payton disagreed.

“He was not pictured?” Her father asked.

“Yes, but—”

“We will show all the evidence to the family,” Ryland interrupted. “You will judge for yourself.”

“Where is he?” Payton kept her eyes on her father, but she felt her brother behind her. “Where’s Nyle?”

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