by Lili Zander
I push down that thought for the moment. “About what?”
“I need to apologize. To you, Raven, but also to Zeke and Nero.” His gaze is steady. “Sleeping with you changed things. I owed you the truth about our mission, but I chose not to come clean. Worse, I convinced Nero and Zeke to do the same thing. I deeply regret that.”
Zeke shifts in his seat. “We all screwed up. Not just you.”
Saber shakes his head. “No. I was your superior officer. The error in judgment was mine alone.” He puts his hand over mine. It’s the first time he’s touched me since we left Boarus 4, and it feels good. It takes all my will-power to keep from leaning into him. “We’ve disobeyed Levitan’s direct orders and stolen Ragnar’s ship.” A faint smile touches his eyes. “We’re now effectively outlaws. I’m not your superior officer anymore. If, at any time, you think I’m screwing up, feel free to point it out.”
That’ll be interesting. “You want us to tell you when you’re wrong.” I do a terrible job of keeping the skepticism out of my voice. “And you’ll listen?”
“Depending on what it is, I’ll try.” He fixes me with a stern look. “I’m never going to be okay with you throwing yourself into danger. You nearly got yourself killed. If you run off again without telling us, I will lock you up myself to keep you safe.”
Ah, there’s that familiar arrogance. “You can try,” I tell him, though I know my words are mostly bravado. Saber could overpower me with one hand tied behind his back. “You’ll fail.”
“Cut it out, both of you,” Zeke orders. “Raven, Saber’s doing a piss-poor job of telling you that we were terrified for your safety. We’re not going to restrict your movements, of course.” He gives Saber a pointed glare. “As much as we want to. But in the interests of self-preservation, please don’t run off again.”
Zeke, the peace-maker. I have no idea why that’s so hot. And he’s right. It had been a stupid decision to see Ma Kaila. I’d almost died. Saber and Nero had got hurt. I’m not going to do it again.
“I’ll be good,” I promise.
Saber gives me a half-smile. “And I’ll keep my high-handedness in check. Deal?”
Gotta give it to Saber. He might be arrogant, but at least he’s self-aware. “Deal.” I take a deep breath and broach something that’s been nagging at me. “On Boarus 4, you said you were in love with a human woman.” Who was she? What was so special about her? What does she have that I don’t? “You said Levitan took her from you.”
An unidentifiable emotion crosses his face. “Marya Revit. It was a long time ago.” He doesn’t want to talk about this. “I was nineteen. Marya was, even then, an assassin. She’d been hand-picked when she was a child, rescued from the war-torn carcass of Idlib. She was… damaged.” His lips twist in a wry smile. “As you’ve figured out, I love to charge to the rescue.”
I feel queasy. Though I brought up the topic, I’m not sure I want to hear this. It might have been a long time ago, but this woman is still important to Saber. I can hear it in his voice, and I’m not equipped to deal with the jealousy that rips through me.
“I thought what we were doing to her was wrong. I was convinced that she deserved better.” His expression is distant. “I was so naïve back then. In the end, Marya chose the man who gave her destructive tendencies full rein.”
“Harek Levitan.”
He nods. “She disappeared a week before we were to be blood-bonded. For months, I thought she was dead. I looked everywhere for answers. Then I got a note. Marya decided I smothered her.” He straightens his shoulders. “She’s ruthless, she’s lethal, and she’s fiercely loyal to Harek Levitan. She’s his personal assassin now. She hides in the shadows and does his dirty work.”
“What is a blood bond?”
“At its heart, it is a promise of protection,” he replies. “I slice a vein open in my neck, and you drink from me, and I drink from you, and we are bound for the rest of our lives. When we speak, we speak with one voice. When you call for aid, I must answer. I am responsible for your safety, your security, and your happiness.”
Wow. “That’s a serious commitment.”
“I was nineteen. I wanted to make a dramatic gesture.”
“Are you still in love with her?” There must be a deep vein of masochism in me, because why else would I ask that question?
He opens his mouth to answer, but his reply is cut off by the sound of warning klaxons. A screen pops into view in front of Zeke. “We’re under attack. Zaddyth pirates. Hiram Gratvar’s crew.”
A switch flips in the three vampires. Rage blooms in Nero’s eyes. Zeke locks his jaw. Saber’s expression turns cold. Before my eyes, they transform into terrifying, deadly, lethal predators.
I shiver at the palpable sense of menace radiating from them. “Who are they?” I whisper.
Saber’s voice is hard. “Slavers. The same crew that abducted Nero’s mother. Let’s deal with them.”
2
Saber
Anxiety flays me.
I might tell Zeke and Nero that I’m not their superior officer anymore, but that doesn’t mean I’m not going to worry about them. I recruited them into the Imperial Army. I’m always going to be responsible for them.
We’d found Nero’s mother on Brome, a small, hot, dusty planet in the southwestern quadrant of the Empire. She’d been in stocks in the main public square in Maiden, the Brome capital, a punishment for disobeying an order from her master. Every day, when the sun beat down mercilessly at noon, they took her from the stocks, gave her a cupful of warm water, and whipped her back. Then, bloody and raw, they put her back in the stocks, and left, only to return the next day.
She’d been in those stocks for four days. She’d lost a third of her body weight. She was starved. Flies buzzed over her wounds. Disease ran hot in her blood.
Anais Calorio’s mind had shattered.
I am a Hafsson. The weight of generations of expectations presses down on me. I keep myself on a very tight leash. But when I saw her in that square, I knew that before the sun set that day, everyone involved would die.
We killed the man who bought her from Gratvar. We killed the manager of his estates. We killed every single adult member of his family. We killed the broker that arranged the transaction. We killed the people who sat in the benches arranged in tiers at the sides of the square and watched a woman being tortured as if it were some kind of spectator sport.
And then we went after Gratvar’s crew.
The only reason Hiram Gratvar had been allowed to live was because he had been fourteen. I wanted to give him a chance to choose a different life.
He chose poorly. He will die today.
It’s Nero I’m worried about. Nero charges into battle, reckless and brave, because something inside him died when he saw his mother in that square. Until his last breath, he will blame himself for her suffering.
Nero and Zeke sprint to the cockpit. I watch Nero go, my nerves stretched taut. This situation is fraught with peril. Nero is our best pilot. I’ll need him to steer the Valiant while Zeke and I take out Gratvar’s fleet. But given his history, I’m worried about leaving him on his own.
Raven picks up on my hesitation and gives me a questioning look. “Is something wrong?”
I’m about to reflexively reassure her that everything’s fine, and then I catch myself. I promised Raven that I wouldn’t be so high-handed. She’s smart, tough, and incredibly brave. As much as I want to wrap her in a protective cocoon, I know I’ll lose her if I do.
“I need your help.”
Her eyes widen with surprise. “Of course,” she responds. “What is it?”
“I’m not sure how Nero is going to react. The slavers… Let’s just say that we saw things we all wish we’d never seen.” I take a deep breath. “This is a situation that is designed to make him lose control. Zeke and I will operate the guns, but I'm going to leave the comm lines open. If Nero looks like he's struggling, if he freezes, can you alert me?”
“
Of course,” she says again. She stands up on tiptoe and brushes a kiss against my cheek. “Thank you, Saber.”
My nostrils flare as her scent wafts over me. My cock stirs. I can hear the beating of her heart. The quickening of her breath. I can feel her nipples harden, and it’s everything I can do to keep myself from kissing her. “Thank you for what?”
She feels good against my side. Soft, warm, curvy. It drags me back to Boarus 4. To the warm tent, to the feel of her mouth on me, to the sound of her moans as she lost control. I shake that image loose. She wants us; her body can’t lie. But after what I did, I doubt she’ll ever give in to her desires again and welcome me to her bed.
“For asking me for help. It matters.”
I should join the others. We’re under attack. Now’s not the time to linger with Raven. But it’s hard to wrench myself away from this moment of quiet connection.
3
Nero
“Incoming ships.”
I slide into the pilot’s seat. The warning alarms blare. I push a key, and the display zooms in on one of the ships hurtling toward us. It’s long and sleek, yellow and black in color, and there’s a winged serpent painted on one side.
Hiram Gratvar.
We’re not in safe space. We’re in the Uncharted Reaches, the buffer of lawlessness between the Shayde Empire and the Constellation of Jowth. Ships venture here at their own peril. It had been a risk setting this course, but we’d had no other option. We’re on the Valiant. If we travel through the Empire—the most direct way to get to Merin—we’ll be spotted. Either by Ragnar’s people or by Levitan’s.
The rest of the fleet comes into view, all seven of them. Zeke swears under his breath. “Fucking slavers. Can we evade?”
I watch the screen. There’s Gratvar’s ship, five smaller fighters and one…
My heart starts to race. The last dot on my screen is a cargo ship. And if you’re a slaver, the cargo you carry…
… Are slaves. Abducted from their worlds, thrown into holds, and transported across the galaxy to be sold.
It happened to my mother nineteen years ago. I was seven. I couldn’t do anything to stop it. I’ve carried around that feeling of helplessness for a long time.
I point out the cargo ship to Zeke. “We’re not going to fucking evade.” I turn around and meet Saber’s eyes. I’m bracing myself for an order to abort. Harek Levitan has created a deadly disease. At any moment, we’re going to have an outbreak on our hands. Our only hope is Raven. She carries the virus in her blood. We need to get a sample to Ivar Karling so that he can start working on a cure. Our first priority should be to keep her safe and protected, not to get into battles with rogue slavers.
“Colonel?”
Saber’s expression is hard. “I’m not your commanding officer anymore, Nero. You don’t need my permission. But I agree with you. We don’t retreat from slavers. We wipe them off the face of the galaxy.”
I release the breath I didn’t know I was holding.
“They’re going to try to board and take us captive,” Zeke warns. “We can’t let that happen. If they run our IDs, Levitan will be alerted to our location.”
“They won’t board.”
Saber hears the resolve in my voice and frowns. “We need to get rid of the Zaddyth vermin and get to that cargo ship. No unnecessary risks, Nero. The Valiant has the best shields money can buy, but let’s not test them more than we have to. Are we clear?” He turns to Raven. “Could you stay with Nero, please?”
I wink at Raven. “I see how it is,” I grumble. “Despite not being our commanding officer, Saber barks orders at Zeke and me. You, on the other hand, get a ‘please.’ Seems reasonable.”
Saber rolls his eyes and continues to hand out instructions. “Zeke, man the starboard guns. I’ll take the port ones. Leave the comms open. They’ll try to hail us once they’re in range. I want to hear what Gratvar has to say.”
This is battle, familiar and soothing. Saber’s orders remind me I’ve done this a thousand times before. Gratvar is no different than the other pieces of slime we’ve gone to war against in the last seven years. “Yes, Colonel.”
Saber and Zeke disappear, and Raven takes a seat at my right. “There are so many of them,” she says, looking at the viewscreen. “Can we fight them all?”
“Yes. They’re hoping a show of force might convince us to surrender.” Anticipation tingles in my fingers. “It’s not a bad strategy. It would have worked if we were the tourist ship they think we are.” I smile at her. “Our shields might take a beating, but that’s the worst that can happen. Saber and Zeke will take them out before they have a chance to inflict any real damage.”
She gives me a pensive look. “I didn't know that your mother was taken by slavers.”
“Hiram Gratvar didn’t enslave my mother. His father, Dawlish Gratvar did.” White-hot anger runs through my veins. “I thought we’d dealt the Gratvar scum a mortal blow when we killed Dawlish, but I guess not.” Resolve hardens my heart. “This time, I’ll make sure to wipe them all out.”
“Would you like to talk about it?”
Not really. I don’t want to think about what Gratvar did to my mother. I don’t want to remember the years I spent searching for her. Some wounds are too deep to heal. But Raven links her hand in mine, and the words pour from my lips in a flood. “My mother was a prostitute who plied her wares in a dusty tavern. I never knew my father. We were dirt poor. Despite that, I had a happy childhood. We never had very much money, but my mother loved me.”
I clench my hand into a fist. There’s a slight tug of pain. It’s not completely healed yet. When the fight starts, I’ll have to remember to compensate for it. “Then Gratvar’s pirates landed on Merin. They took Toram, the man who ran the bar. They took Jemina, the young cook in the kitchen. And they took my mother.”
“You were seven.”
I nod. My fingers hover over my flight stick, my eyes stay fixed on the screen. Only Raven’s touch keeps me anchored to here, now. “I swore vengeance.”
“I can understand that.”
Yes, she can. Her parents were taken from her too. We have this in common. “I joined a street gang. I think I told you that. We terrorized the local government. Everyone who had intentionally looked the other way when Gratvar’s crew landed on Merin was made to pay for it. We wreaked havoc. Subconsciously, I think I was determined to die in the most reckless, dangerous way possible.”
She makes a sound of distress. I turn to her and force a smile on my face. “I’m fine. It all worked out in the end.”
Her eyes are blue, a deep, dark hue that reminds me of a still water pond. I could lose myself in their depths. “We both know that’s not true,” she says quietly. “We function because we must. It doesn’t matter if we’re broken inside.”
Saber clears his throat, the sound coming through on the ship’s comm. “I’m in position.”
“Me too,” Zeke adds.
Raven startles. She’d forgotten the comms were open. So had I. That’s probably why Saber had spoken, to remind both of us that he could hear our conversation. Not that it matters. I don’t have secrets from Zeke and Saber. They’re family.
“We threw Merin into chaos, even more so than usual. People started to complain, and eventually, the protests reached Starra. Saber was dispatched to restore order.”
Gratvar is closing in. Any moment now, he’s going to hail us and demand we surrender.
Hiram is a fucking idiot; the father was a lot smarter. Dawlish would have realized that most people who saw the Gratvar emblem would turn around and flee.
We’re not running away.
Dawlish Gratvar would have been wary. Not so the son. Hiram’s ship is setting a direct course for us. Fool. This is Ragnar Thorsson’s personal spacecraft. The Valiant is more than capable of taking down a fleet twice this size.
“In less than a week,” I continue, “Saber’s team had retaken control of my planet. We had only one shot of survival. Send someo
ne in to assassinate him. I volunteered.”
Raven gapes at me. “You did?”
I wink at her. “What can I say? I was young and stupid. You’ve seen Saber fight, you can probably predict what happened next. He disarmed me with embarrassing ease, but for some reason, he didn’t kill me. Instead, he helped me find my mother.”
For twelve years, I’d tried to find her. Using the full might of the Empire, Saber and Zeke found her in an afternoon.
“She’s safe now? Back in Merin?”
“Her time as a slave caused all kinds of damage, but she survived. The others didn’t. It changed her. My mother used to laugh a lot. She doesn’t talk much anymore. She lives in Fateh.” Raven’s expression is blank. “Fateh is a small planet in the northeastern quadrant of the Empire. It’s…” I’m not sure how to describe Fateh. “It’s quiet, peaceful. The weather is always perfect. It never rains; it never snows. Merin is noisy and chaotic and filled with life. Fateh is monotone and sanitized. But that’s what she needs.”
Raven’s expression is sympathetic. “Do you visit often?”
I shake my head. “Fateh only permits visitors one week a year. People go there to take refuge.” Pain squeezes my heart. “I tell myself that one day, she’ll be well enough to reengage with the galaxy. With me.”
The comms flare to life before Raven can reply. I shake my head, banishing the memories. I need to focus on the present, not drown in the failures of the past.
A gravelly voice fills the small cockpit. “Hailing the Albatross. This is Captain Hiram Gratvar. You are in our territory. Prepare to be boarded.”
Albatross? Raven mouths.
“Zeke cloaked the Valiant’s identity.” I flip a switch and broadcast a reply to Gratvar. “These are the Uncharted Reaches. You have no jurisdiction here. Give up the cargo ship, and I will let you leave. Otherwise, we attack.”
The pirate laughs at that, long and hard. “There’s one of you and six of us. You’re warning me? Who do you think you are?”
