“It looks like jewelry. Don’t get it wet.”
She nodded and he caressed her lip before giving her a tender kiss. Raesa expected her body to kick into overdrive, but her heart rate was the only thing racing.
Na’varr ended the kiss. “If we’re going to claim diplomatic immunity, I have preparations to make. Brom will come to you. Until then, work on that plan.”
“Send me that document.”
“I will.”
He smiled and walked away.
Every time he touched her, something strange happened in her chest. Raesa shook her head.
***
Brom held a slim bag clenched in his hand as he strode down the passageway. Na’varr had sent Brom to Raesa again. Didn’t he know how much it killed Brom to be this close to her?
We have less than an hour before they come and take me. Change into the Andovian body slave gear. Give her this. She’ll have a plan already. What did Na’varr mean by that? What had happened between them to make Na’varr so confident in her? Should he be worried?
He shook off his doubts and reached the door to her room. Brom knocked lightly on the door.
It opened and Raesa’s worried expression lightened the moment she saw him. “Brom.” Her shy smile unraveled the tension coiling in his stomach. Without hesitation she brushed a kiss on his cheek.
Shock hit him with a sledge hammer while warmth radiated from her touch. Would he ever get used to her open affection?
“How long do we have?” She pulled him in and shut the door.
His gaze narrowed. “Until what?”
“They’ll come for Na’varr. I heard the command order.” She gestured toward the wall and he realized the security panel was open.
Wires were attached in a worrisome spread. “Were you listening in?”
She grinned. “On Na’varr’s orders, actually. What do you have there?”
“A gift from the Captain. He said you’d have a plan. We’re to dress up like body slaves.”
Raesa’s cheeks flushed with pleasure. “I do have one. Let’s see what he was able to get for us.”
He handed her the bag.
“Thank you.” She took it and opened it up. “A body etching kit.” She handed it to Brom. “You’ll need to check it for everything you need.”
Brom stared at the metal container without comprehension. “What am I doing?”
“Paint me up. Make me look like you.”
What is she thinking?
“I need to get on their station to break the stasis chain keeping us grounded.” She rifled through the bag with a single-minded determination that surprised him.
“How do you plan to do that?”
“If they follow protocol, Captain Na’varr has to appear before the registration officer or site supervisor. We’ll go with him.” She yanked out a pair of trous and a dark shirt. “As an Andovian diplomat, he gains special treatment.”
So she knew Na’varr was Andovian? How much had the captain told her?
Brom watched her shimmy out of the tunic. His mind stuck to her words but his gaze traveled an appreciative caress over her curves. He cleared his throat. “What does that have to do with making you look like a hybrid?”
“By law, all Andovian diplomats of the royal family are authorized two body slave escorts.” She slipped the shirt on and began buttoning it up. “The escorts can carry no weapons, only comfort items for the diplomat.” The dark material shone brilliantly against her pale skin, enhancing both.
Raesa tugged on the trous. They were too long and a bit too loose around her waist, but he liked the way they hugged her ass and thighs.
“How do you know about this stuff?” Brom shrugged on a shirt. He caught her warm gaze and grinned at her appreciative smile.
Her emotions were like an open book. That’s why this idea of hers was worrying him.
“I spent many years studying from whomever would teach me. My father taught me protocol and self-defense. I picked up languages with ease from whomever he could wrangle to spend time with me.” Sadness seemed to well up in her eyes and he fought the urge to comfort her.
If he took her in his arms, he’d never let go, and that was dangerous. “Is that where you gained your hacking skills?”
“Among other things, yes. I had an affinity for machines from an early age. When I dove into programming, it was just another language.”
If her speculation on the body slaves were right, they would be able to get on the ship. So that was why she wanted the hybrid etching on her skin.
“What are we going to do about your Isis collar?”
She shrugged. “I haven’t made it that far, yet.”
Raesa took a slim silver case out of her black bag and opened it. She held up a gorgeous, carved stiletto. It shone matte black in the light. No shine. Where did she get that?
“A very beautiful woman showed a set of these to me once.” She pulled out another one. “She said beauty must be deadly in the world we live in. They are designed to be worn as hair ornaments. Weapons hiding in plain sight.”
“You want to become a pretty plaything.” A hybrid body slave would be easier to overlook than a human one. With her delicate face and build, she’d be considered harmless by most men. Brom knew, however, just how deadly she could be. His jaw still ached to think about it.
He opened the cosmetic etching kit and stared into her eyes. “What makes you think I can make you look like a hybrid?”
Raesa licked her lips and took in a slow breath. “My father told me a story once. It was about a mining colony on an unregistered asteroid.”
Brom’s chest tightened. The unwelcome twist in his gut unnerved him.
“He said a man successfully smuggled forty-eight hybrid children out of captivity there.”
Memories of that hellish existence rushed into his mind. The children were broken, used, and then left for dead when the ore dried up. Brom cleared his throat and injected the first color into the etcher. “He probably sold them into slavery.”
“That’s the strange part. None of the children showed up in registration.”
Brom stared at Raesa. How did she know any of this? He was careful to cover his tracks. “Get to the point.”
“The children were split up and sent through different outposts. Ten of them came through mine.” She wrapped her hair in a fascinating knot. The first stiletto slid through her tresses, somehow holding it place. “The kids told me something very interesting. It seems a majority of them weren’t hybrids, but you painted them that way. Why?”
He sat on the edge of the bed and added a carmine dye capsule to etcher. “What happened to the kids?” He’d never asked, never wanted to know. If they met again, he’d bring them back into danger.
“They were all placed with good families.”
“Naive.”
“No. Who do you think created their identities and found them new homes?” She sat beside him. Her stunning blue eyes captivated him. They were rare in this universe and perfect for his little hellcat hacker.
“A hybrid is less than human to the Andovian Republic and their Imperial allies. No one cares about a bunch of hybrid brats. It was easier to slip them through the system that way.” He held out his hand. “It appears you know me a lot better than I’d anticipated.”
“I’ve been following you and Captain Na’varr for a long time.”
Why? He wanted to ask but knew he wouldn’t. “Tell me your plan.”
She slid her fingers against his. “It seems like you and I did this once before.” Her expressions were fascinating. The joy in her eyes matched the smile on her face. “You held out your hand like this in the cargo bay, too. Thank you for trusting me.”
Warmth spread from her touch. To trust her would be the most dangerous thing of all.
***
Raesa’s skin tightened and ached where his etcher did its magic. It was a temporary pigment adjustment. Three weeks and it would be back to normal. No matter how many times
she’d talked to those kids, it had never occurred to her to ask how uncomfortable it made them.
With guilt she realized her irritation was selfish. Of course, they were used to hell. What was this to them? She pinched the bridge of her nose while he injected a new cartridge.
“I’ll keep it to your face, neck and shoulders. There’s no point in going any lower.” Brom seemed uncomfortable, almost angry.
“You don’t like the plan.”
“I don’t like putting you in harm’s way.”
“Do you have any other record-breaking hackers on your ship? If so, I’d be happy to step aside,” she snapped at him and hated it, but he’d been poking at her plan for the past forty minutes.
“It’s not about your skill level, Raesa. Do you know what happens to hybrid women in captivity?” His jaw clenched.
Raesa’s anger deflated in an instant. “Yeah. I know.” Their brutal deaths were burned into her retinas along with the broken female children who’d been brutalized on the mining colony. “Don’t think being fully human makes us immune to it, Brom.”
He put in a new cartridge and started it up. “I know that. One more stripe and we’ll have enough to fool my own mother.” His smile was grim.
No, he didn’t like the plan, but they were limited in resources and trust until their mole was caught.
Their. After it all went down, she wanted to take them to Sakura and let Brom see the children he’d saved. The records for all the kids were buried in a safe away from their home. Unless the Outpost had a major cleanup of their ship graveyard, it was waiting for her.
There was another side to this plan. If they managed to get free, their traitor would still be able to compromise their mission. She needed to create a communication deadspace. The only way to do that was from the border satellite. It was black crystal. Four years ago, she’d seen what shattered black crystal could do to a site. Every sliver would create a dissonance with each sound, effectively destroying the possibility of sending or receiving messages until it could be replaced. It would take an Imperial vessel five days to be within range of the next satellite system.
They would be on Sakura and on their way long before then.
Raesa wondered at what point she’d decided to stay with Na’varr and Brom. It didn’t matter if they thought it was a bad idea or not. She’d convince them to let her remain by their sides. Once she had her father’s legacy, she’d have one last mission and then she was free to travel the stars.
Chapter Seven
So far so good. They’d managed to make it past initial security with her tools mostly intact, though there was a rough moment where a pat down grope nearly cost the bastard his life. Na’varr had kept Brom in check, but just barely. He still fumed beside her while they stood in a corner of the waiting room. With his hair pulled back in a tight ponytail, you could easily make out the stripes on his skin.
“What do you think?” Brom pitched the question for her ears alone. They’d chosen the mercenary speak as their primary language, but it didn’t matter.
“We’re being recorded. Voice and visual. I don’t know the quality, but the set up stinks of it. They’re waiting for someone.” She could make out one camera, but there could be dozens and she wouldn’t know it.
“Who are they waiting for?”
“Whoever wants Na’varr dead or captured.”
Brom nodded. She’d likely confirmed his own thoughts. Even though they were in a life or death situation, it felt like the hybrid was testing her. Worry ate at her, but she tried to keep her doubts stuffed away.
She’d gone over the plan in detail. According to Na’varr’s navigator, the standard operating procedure of these hustlers involved separating officials from their body slaves as soon as possible. So far Na’varr had managed to keep them together, but it wouldn’t be long before they’d be split up. When that happened, things would move at lightning speed. Otherwise, Na’varr’s life and those of his crew would be in danger.
The door opened and an annoyingly chipper official walked in. “Sorry for the delay, Mr. Varrian. Our supervisor is on leave so we had to wait for our commander’s call. We have him on satellite in the other room if you’ll follow me.”
Na’varr gestured toward them and Raesa pushed away from the wall.
“I’m sorry sir, we don’t allow pets in the conference room.”
Pets? Raesa moved and Brom caught her wrist. She caught the negative shake to his head.
Na’varr stared down the little man until he fidgeted. “Show me to the conference room. If something happens to my slaves, I’ll ensure the replacement compensation will come from your pay.”
The man laughed. “They’re just hybrids.”
Anger burned through Raesa, but she kept it in. She glanced at Brom and found him completely relaxed with a bored look on his face.
Na’varr glanced in their direction. “They’re highly trained pleasure slaves. It took years to mold them to my needs.”
“No one will bother them.”
“Both of you stay put,” Na’varr commanded and both she and Brom bowed in acquiescence.
They left. “Stay safe,” she muttered.
She ignored Brom and walked around the room. There were two maintenance panels and nothing else on the smooth walls.
Brom watched her every move. She paused in front of the door and pressed her palm against it. Surprisingly, it opened. A guard turned to face her. Raesa glanced back at Brom.
“He told us to stay here,” Brom warned.
“I’m a cat. I do what I want.”
“You can’t leave,” the guard glared at her and pointed back into the room.
She smiled and leaned close to his face. She eyed his chest where the name Monarch was stitched in perfect Imperial script. “Take me for a walk, Mr. Monarch. I need to use the lady’s room. Unless you’d like to clean up the mess in here…” She let it trail off and he sighed.
“Fine. Both of you with me, then.”
“Why me? I don’t need to go.”
Monarch drew his firearm, it looked like a nasty thing, old metal and gunpowder. They really were living on the fringes out here. “Just move.”
Brom’s hands went up. “You got it.”
They left the room with the guard several paces behind them. “Where do we go?”
“Straight ahead to the end of the corridor, and then you take a left.”
She nodded and flounced ahead. They turned the corner and she ran into a broad chest. She looked up and found jade green eyes assessing and immediately dismissing her as insignificant. Who the hell is this guy? Another person walked with him but she dipped her head and let them pass with a quiet apology. They turned the corner and she heard a scuffle.
“You,” Brom’s growl came over her earpiece. “You were the one.” He dropped into Arnek. “Go, Raesa. Now.”
Her heart thundered with fear but she sprinted down the hall. The communications closet was tucked in a room close to the wash rooms. She needed to send the command for their ship to be released and then shatter the comm crystal.
Two shots fired behind her. “Brom.” She hissed his name.
“I’m fine. Go.”
He didn’t sound fine, dammit. She reached the comm room and ripped open the control panel with the stiletto she’d put in her hair. In a heartbeat she bypassed the security code and entered the room. Every second lost was precious. Raesa set the stiletto next to the keyboard. She loosened her fingers and let them fly on the central computer.
Was Brom—
She cut off that thought before it crippled her. Her mind dove into her job. What felt like eternity only took a few minutes, but she broke through. A bulletin alert came on the screen. She and Na’varr were on the announcement. A quick scan of the details jerked her to a complete stop. Prince Naesha Varrian, public enemy number one of the Andovian Republic.
Na’varr was the man her father had admired above all others. The pirate and the prince were the same man. Fuck. S
he scanned further.
Her part of the bulletin, however, listed her as a kidnap victim.
Kidnapped? She snorted. Obviously kidnapping didn’t work so well when it came to her. She ignored the rest of it and focused on her job.
It was laughingly simple to send a command order to release the Crimson Star. Once it went through, she changed the main system password and locked out admin controls for all users. That would mess them up for a while. Now the communications crystal. She opened the maintenance program. She’d had to tweak the crystals so often on stolen equipment that she knew every weakness in the software.
With a few tweaks she adjusted the calibration to dangerous levels. In a few minutes it would shatter and then they’d be good to go.
The door opened and she spun around in time to take a full-bodied tackle. She slammed down on the ground and her breath crushed out of her.
She noticed two things at once. Blood poured from a wound on his forehead and she realized the man on top of her wore the uniform of the Crimson Star. “The trai—”
A knee to her side shot agony through her body. “Shut your mouth, bitch.”
She curled in on herself and focused on breathing. His voice was familiar.
He gripped her hair in his fist and hauled her head back against his shoulder. “What the hell is it with you and escaping? Twice now you’ve cost me a fortune.” The barrel of a gun pressed under her chin.
It was hot but not searing from the guard’s previous shots.
She racked her brain trying to figure out where she had heard his voice before.
“I found you on Sakura.” His hot breath hit her cheek. “It took me almost a year to arrange for your old man’s death. You were supposed to be my retirement fund.”
With dawning horror, she realized where she knew him from. He was part of Crimson Star’s supply pick-up crew. The guy had asked her a ton of questions about Sakura and her father. Guilt and anger warred inside her.
“Why would you do this?”
“My mission was to take down your lover and his dog. You were a bonus.”
Silver Tongued Devils Page 6
