Chapter 39
CHAPTER
THIRTY-NINE
“There are three security levels in the middle of the satellite,” Rys explained, spinning the holographic model of the planet-like ship in the center of the table. He tapped the center and a large section flared red. “That means we can’t slip in through the trash hull like we usually would.”
Greabes had his arms crossed over his chest, eyes narrowed. “So we’re going to have to get landing clearance.”
“Already have it,” Asher interjected and Rys hummed.
Beside me, Zoleka studied one of the texts on the stone and Akahzyr, but she nodded absentmindedly. On my other side, Kal, with both elbows resting on the table, pointed to a small square on the schematic below the three floors. “Is that an entry point?”
“Yep.” Rys popped the p. “They’ve got a laundry chute running from the top two residence levels. That right there is the catch point. Our girl Juniper here will have no trouble getting in if we can get her to it.”
I shifted in my seat when all eyes fell on me. But Asher’s voice pulled their attention back to the head of the table. “A quara blade can cut through most metals, so you’ll be able to make a hole for yourself to slip through on the first level where the stone is being held.”
He’d put his respirator back on. It was a good reminder of our reality—the male in front of me was the captain of this crew, he was a mercenary, and soon he’d be my enemy.
Rhiaon pursed their lips. “Just wait a moment after cutting the hole so you don’t get burned.”
I nodded and Asher caught my eye. A thick moment of tension curled between us as we regarded one another.
“Anyway”—Rys pulled the syllables long and cleared his throat—“Juniper, once you get there, Asher and Hudzon will be waiting at the door for you to let them in. The stone is located close to the entrance. According to my contact there’s a simple electromag field around it for now until they get better tech installed in the next day, so tonight’s our best bet. ”
Everyone around the table nodded. Even Zoleka hummed in agreement as she flipped the page of her text.
Asher leaned on the table, gaze moving to each of us in turn.
“Once we have the stone it’ll be a quick exit.
Crux and Rhiaon will be stationed throughout our route as a precaution since I doubt we’ll go undetected.
Greabes will be waiting on the cruiser to get us back to the Kux where Rys will be set up to be our eyes and ears.
” He looked between me and Hudzon. “Leave the stone to me.”
Hudzon nodded, cracking their two sets of knuckles in anticipation. My throat went dry at the look on Asher’s face. There was a raw sort of hunger there and I wondered how long he’d been looking for the stone, what it must have felt like to be so close.
“All right, rest up. Those of you leaving on the cruiser be ready in the hangar at 1900.”
The crew rumbled their understanding and rose to leave, but I stayed in my seat, tracing the edge of a round stain. Kal lingered beside me for a moment, hand squeezing my upper arm. “You okay?”
“Yeah,” I rasped and cleared my throat. Asher twisted something at the back of his neck and the two sides of his respirator released.
He pulled off the lower half of his helmet and set it on the table.
I looked up, cataloguing the expression shifting across his face before the words I’d been holding back fell out.
“What do you plan to do with the stone?”
He blinked before something hardened behind his eyes. “Why?”
A lump formed in my throat but I swallowed it down past the aching in my chest. “If I’m going to risk my life climbing through a laundry chute in the high-security satellite of a Federation senator, I deserve to know what your plan is.”
Beside me Kal murmured something, but Asher spoke over him.
“You’re asking this now?” A rumble threaded through the words. My jaw ticked and I nodded. He stood to his full height, arms crossing over his chest, assessing me. “What do you think I’m going to do with it?”
Pursing my lips, I weighed the words carefully. I couldn’t admit what Lunastra had told me or the doubt I had. But as the silence lengthened, he gave a brittle sort of chuckle. “Let me guess: Lunastra told you I would take the stone and sell it to the highest bidder to be made into a weapon?”
I schooled my expression into a blank mask. “Will you?”
He slid a hand through his hair and looked up at the ceiling as if he might find some sort of patience there. Kal gripped the back of my chair, but he said nothing when Asher’s hands dropped with a slap and his gaze settled back on me.
“And what is it your mistress said she would do?” He hissed her title as if it was acid on his tongue. “Destroy it?” When I didn’t respond Asher gave another cold laugh. “Juniper, for someone so intelligent you are so fucking na?ve.”
Heat itched at the back of my neck and I pushed my chair away, rising to my feet. “Fuck you.”
A grin tugged at the corner of his mouth. “There she is.”
“No, fuck you, Asher. Give me an answer. At least Lunastra had the decency of telling me her plan.”
“Her plan?” He barked a laugh, arms spreading wide.
“June, her plan is to place it right into the hands of her master—the male who has owned her for the last fifty-seven cycles: Senator Kledis Torion, the Federation’s lead war general.
Why in Maker’s name would you ever think they would destroy it? ”
No. No, he was wrong. But I straightened all the same, some of the uncertainty slipping through the cracks in my mask. He pounced on my hesitation, moving toward me even as I took a step away.
“Asher, back the fuck up,” Kal snapped.
But he ignored Kal, eyes trained on me, and the expression was so pitying it made my throat burn.
“I have been searching for this stone for more than half my life and in that time, I made the mistake of sharing the secret with certain individuals, who then shared it with Lunastra’s master.
Those people are dead, but he is not. I knew the moment I came needing the final member of my crew she would know exactly what I was looking for and I knew exactly what she would do when I got it. ”
He took another step closer and I matched the step. “Then why come to her at all?”
A flicker behind his eyes, tension in his jaw that smoothed away with a breath. “Because I needed someone small and quiet who could slip into places undetected and I’d heard of you through different contacts. It was worth the risk.”
Worth the risk. Which meant whatever plan he had for the stone was important enough to risk one of his crew members betraying him.
But the ferocity in his words made me pause, allowing him to close the distance between us and cradle my face in his hands.
“Listen to me when I tell you if you somehow manage to take this stone and return it to your mistress, all of your worst fears will be realized. She is not to be trusted—through no fault of her own and every fault of her master.”
The heat of his palms wept into my skin. “Then tell me what you plan to do.”
His eyes closed for a moment and when they opened there was a hardness again, like a wall building between us. “I can’t.”
Pain sliced through my chest. As it so often was, my pain was reflected there on his face, breaking through the hard shell he’d tried to construct. He couldn’t or he wouldn’t. Though I wasn’t sure I could trust Lunastra, there was no telling what would happen if I placed the stone in his hands.
I took a step back, forcing him to break his hold. Kal moved forward enough to block Asher’s path as he tried to grab me again.
“I’m asking you to trust me, June, though I have no right to. Trust I will do what is best for us and our crew and that I will protect you from whatever happens next.”
From an early age I’d learned that no one kept promises. The universe was a fickle creature that broke words and bones in the same heartbeat. Asher was right, he had no right to ask me to trust him, and though I desperately wanted to, I knew I would be a fool to do so.
Was that why last night had happened? Had he hoped to forge a connection with me to better help his cause?
If he’d anticipated Lunastra would charge me with betraying him then that meant he’d anticipated this conversation.
Nausea curled in my gut and I fought the urge to retch.
Another mask, another lie, another thread in his web.
“I trust him, June,” Kal murmured.
And that meant I couldn’t trust Kal either. Unless he was just as in the dark as me. But I swallowed and nodded, forcing my shoulders to relax and my heart to slow.
“All right,” I said, forcing my voice to stay even. “I trust you.”
When Asher reached for me, I didn’t fight the relief at his touch or the warmth of his embrace, knowing it would probably be the last time I would ever feel such a thing.