Chapter 20 #2
“Why does your scowl look like that?” Lydia demands, standing on her toes to give herself another inch of height as she examines my face. “What’s Atakis done? Where are Harlee and Briar? I don’t understand what’s happening.”
“He came back.”
“And he took them?”
“Abducted them.”
“Holy shit, Killan.” The color drains from her face. “What the hell are we going to do?”
“The Guild.” I launch the InGal search function and type Interplanetary Guild. The first result is a contact button, which I press, and the speaker of Roan’s datapad crackles into life.
“Thank you for contacting the Interplanetary Guild. All our lines are currently busy. Your call is important to us. Please hold for the first available officer.”
“Useless fools!” I toss the cracked datapad onto the damaged bed and direct Lydia back to my house and the transport tunnel.
There is a rail track between my house and Sorin’s cottage.
There are empty carts waiting for passengers on the track, but when I check the records, I can see no signs of Briar having left Sorin’s.
I race upstairs to the mudroom and peer out the window. The transport Freighter is still parked several yards away. My relief is palpable. If the Freighter has not yet left, then there is still hope.
I rake my gaze over its hull, searching for anything information that might be useful. It is covered in a thick layer of dust, meaning it has remained stationary for at least a full day and night. That timing aligns with the last time Roan checked his datapad messages.
The question is: what are they waiting for?
“Move over.” Lydia tries to shove me out of the way so that she can look through the window.
I refuse. “Keep out of sight. Atakis might not yet know about you.”
“Perhaps…” She sounds unconvinced.
“Sorin and Roan will not have told him about you.” I move toward her, forcing her to step back and away from the window. I should close the shutter, except that I worry such movement will draw the attention of the Freighter’s external scanners, which are surely trained toward the house.
“Neither will Harlee or Briar, if that’s what you’re implying,” Lydia snaps, but much of the anger in her voice is tempered by the way she tugs at the hem of her shirt, twisting the fabric between her shaking hands.
“They won’t betray us. They could torture…
” Her voice shudders. Her breathing is too shallow.
“They could torture Harlee and Briar, and they wouldn’t tell Atakis about me.
But, um, the first time Atakis was here, I was watching him through the window”—she gestures at the window behind me—“I don’t think he saw me, but I can’t be a hundred percent sure.
Maybe that’s why he’s still here. Maybe he’s waiting for us to return so that he can abduct us too. ”
“If he has not already killed Sorin and Roan.”
Her mouth drops open. “You think—”
“My brothers would not let their Mates be taken. They would have fought.”
Which might explain why Atakis has not yet left. He might not know about Lydia, but he most certainly knows about me, and he will not want to leave any witnesses to his crime.
“You must return to the cave.”
“What? No way!” Lydia crosses her arms over her chest.
I take another step, forcing her even farther from the window. “If Atakis sees you—”
“Haven’t you been listening? He might’ve already seen me.”
Frustrated, I shepherd her back downstairs to the kitchen.
The moment she reaches the fallen table, she turns to glare at me. “
I’m. Not. Leaving,” she says, a decisive pause between each word, as if to strengthen her argument. As if her repeating what she has already said is enough to change my mind.
“Lydia. This is not the time for one of our arguments. You must go back into the caves.”
“I agree. We shouldn’t be arguing. We should be thinking of a rescue plan.”
“No—”
But she speaks over my remonstration. “We need to get onto Atakis’s spaceship somehow. Better yet, we need to get everyone off his ship. Maybe we can create a diversion—”
I cross my upper arms, too. “You cannot expect me to risk your life when there is a chance you could be saved.”
“Killan.” She releases a long breath. “For a second, think about this from my point of view. Say the worst thing happens, and you’re all captured. What does that mean for me? I’m not living on Ril II by myself for the rest of my fucking life filled with the guilt of knowing I didn’t try to help.”
“But—”
“Don’t you dare ask that of me, because if you do, I won’t forgive you.”
I clench my jaw. Of course I would ask that of her. At least then she would be alive and safe. And alone.
Silence stretches, my heart thumping painfully hard in my chest. I want to hit something. No, not something. Someone. Atakis.
“It would be safer for us all if we could convince the crew to disembark,” I eventually say, hating that I am the one breaking the silence, but not going so far as agreeing to accept Lydia’s help.
“I do not want to board unless we can be certain that Atakis will not launch into outer space as soon as we set foot on his Freighter.”
“So we’ll lure the crew outside,” she said, relaxing her arms. “If you’re the one who creates the distraction, I could creep onto the Freighter and rescue the others.”
“No.” It is a command. I am being unreasonably abrupt. I do not scudding care.
It is my responsibility to keep her safe.
As it is my responsibility to protect my young brothers and their Mates—and look what a scudding terrible job I have done! I knew Atakis was behaving suspiciously. I should have guessed he was planning on returning the moment he started asking questions about Briar and Harlee.
“I know you’re blaming yourself.” Lydia takes one of my hands between the two of hers.
Her fingers are cold, and she is trembling.
“You always think everything is your fault, but blaming yourself is another waste of time. Right now, we need to stay focused on thinking of a rescue plan, not assigning blame. If you want to blame yourself—”she scolds in true Lydia fashion—“do it after we’ve gotten the others back home safe. ”
I bow my head, unable to stop myself from burying my face in the crook of her throat. Without hesitating, she hugs me, squeezing me so tightly I think she will never let me go.
“I am going to kill Atakis for daring to think he can hurt my family,” I tell her, my lips against her cool skin.
My words are muffled, but she evidently heard what I said, because I feel her nod. “I don’t doubt it for a second. And I’m going to help.”