Page 17 of Stealing the Star Stone
“No, thanks.”She came around to the other side of him, hoping to rush him out the door.“Your ten minutes are up.”
“It’s like silk,” Thorne mumbled, pressing his fingers to the artefact, “and these marks… I can’t feel them.”
“Indeed,” Orien chuckled, but leveled a glare at her.“They’re on the surface yet not detectable by any other sense but sight.Despite the tests we’ve put this thing through, only the vibrations have been recorded.We’ve blasted it with everything, from fire to electricity to water.Not even sunlight has an effect on it.”
Nova studied the egg-shaped rock, it’s myriad of colors blurring into each other, and yet, if she peered deep into its heart, something lay just beyond her understanding.Shapes or words she couldn’t decipher.They seemed familiar though.She didn’t know when she’d decided to stretch out her hand, but the stone’s heat soaked into her fingers almost mirroring the placement of Thorne’s.
“Who said you could touch?”Orien demanded.“Only those I invite can meet my stone.”
A spark pulsed into her.She gasped, trying to wrench away.She couldn’t budge.
“Um, a little help?”Panic gripped her voice.She glanced at Thorne, only to find him in the same predicament.
“What… What have you done?”Orien squeaked, yanking on them both to no avail.
The pretty colors leached out, like the emptying of a water tank.The rock became transparent, and that strange tingling intensified.
“Security,” Orien hollered.“You!”He pointed at Nova.“This isyourdoing.Nothing happened when Eli and I touched it.”
Nova gawked at him.“Are you insane?”she asked, her mind reeling.“And getting me arrested is so clever when my hand’s stuck to your stupid rock.”
Orien’s face mottled.He unsheathed his blaster, murder in his eyes.“The stone’s not stupid.Do you have any idea how many years of my life I’ve spent trying to find something this worthwhile?It’s my…legacy.”
Nova blinked at him, not knowing what to say to that load of bullshit.“Well, Lord Orien,yourlegacy has me locked to it.”
At that moment, the artefact’s last bit of color faded.It shattered, sending shards of crystalized stone everywhere.She flew back from the blast, flung away by an unseen power.Along the polished floor she slid, hitting people’s feet before slamming into a wall.Pain radiated outward, her head throbbing, her chest tight.It wouldn’t surprise her if she’d cracked a rib.
Thorne was on the floor on the opposite side with Orien dancing between them.His arms were raised in what looked like a rain dance.
That was silly.She giggled, hysteria bubbling to the surface.Tarnis used aqueducts from the planet’s vast lakes.
“See how she laughs.This mad woman destroyed my star stone,” Orien babbled.“I want her arrested, questioned, find out what she did, how.”
Two burly men approached, their black clothes and aura menacing.When station-sec hoisted her to her feet, she offered them a grateful smile.Going with them seemed the safest.
“Eli, do you know her?”Orien asked, fury twisting his features.
Thorne stared at her, then without blinking, said, “A nobody.”
Horror sealed Nova’s throat.Pain not from the fall consumed her mind, and she let the guards lead her away.Her ears rang, a deafening roar that mimicked the tingling in her fingers.It was minutes later before the realization of her situation sank in.By then, she was in a service pod on her way to jail, no doubt.
“What happened?”she asked no one.“Like I knew his stone would break?”She shifted on the spot and faced the closest guard.‘J.Newman’ in gold stated his name.“I get a call, right?”
“Yes, miss.”
“Good.”She’d reach out to the captain.He had to help her unravel what the hell she’d done to deserve this treatment.But what she truly wanted to do was throw Thorne’s belongings off theValianceand leave him stranded.And to do that, she needed to get to the captain first.Thorne with his silly charm and bewitching eyes would claim this was her fault.
Newman pulled on her arm, ushering her into station-sec’s central base.
“Now what?”the desk guard asked.“We’re full.Damn gallery has ruined my morning.”
“Bill them,” Newman said.“This one gets her own cell.”
“And I’m supposed to find that where?Up my ass?”The man punched his console, moaned, then pointed at any loitering guards.“Go, shift prisoners.I want C7 cleared.”He glanced around the crowded control room then settled a beady gaze on her.“Whatya do, little lady?Kill someone?Steal anything?”
“Broke the artefact.”Newman nudged her forward.
“Shit,” the desk guard muttered.“A murder would’ve been preferable.Lord Orien’s not going to let you off with a hand slap.”
