Epilogue
Idreamed fitful dreams about going to space, a monster-like woman who could shift into anything and everything with but a thought loving me, and being carried around by a dragon, before I was chasing down evil foxes who threatened me and mine.
But I had a fox, and mine was good, and she had a whole array of fluffy tails that made her perfect. I wondered if she'd let me brush them.
The fitful dream came to a sudden end as I blinked and looked up into beautiful, glowing pink eyes.
"I went to space, Lily," I said with a goofy grin. "And a dragon carried me. Oh, and I met this woman who's just perfect. She's so incredibly beautiful, especially those pretty pink eyes. They're just like yours."
Lily had a massive smile on her face. "Melgara said you'd be quite out of it when you woke up. I do find this part endearing." Lily kissed me on the cheek. "But don't worry, I'll make sure you get plenty of time with that perfect pretty girl with pink eyes."
"You're the best, Lily," I hummed and tried to return the kiss but found myself very uncoordinated. I frowned.
"Just rest, Captain. We've got everything handled for now," Lily told me.
I hummed. "That's good because I'm really tired." I was really, really tired despite just waking up. I lifted a hand to try and stifle the yawn, yet my arm fell off the side of the medical bed instead.
That didn’t seem good.
I panicked and tried to get out of the bed, but nothing was working right. "Lily, what's wrong with me?"
"You're fine," Lily said, but I didn't believe her. I tried to move more, struggling with each movement even more so than I had with lifting the hand. Lily glanced at her captain's stress-o-meter. "Melgara, he's panicking," Lily said.
I tried to turn to find the doctor. Instead, my gaze landed upon a large dragon in human form.
"I guess it wasn't a dream," I said as machines beeped wildly behind me.
"I'm going to have to put him back under, Lily. I'm sorry." Melgara sounded truly sorry for that. “We were supposed to do a checkup.”
Lily was upset. "You said I'd have some time with him."
"I'm sorry. But he needs to go back under while he heals," Melgara told her.
Before I could do anything else, several hands grabbed me and forced me back onto the medical bed. They were Lily's, and she was clearly frustrated but doing what Melgara wanted for me.
"I'll see you soon, Captain." Lily did her best to put on a big smile, but I could tell it was pained.
And then another needle pierced my skin, and lethargy rushed through my body, making me even more tired. I let out a contented hum as I settled back on the bed and drifted off into blissful sleep.
***Lily put her hands on her hips and glared at Melgara. "You said he would be awake."
"I said he would wake up, not for how long. I can't control that, and I told you he was not going to be well. We needed him to answer some questions, but…" Melgara shook her head.
Lily scowled at her and then sat back down at Rayden’s bedside. "I will wait, then," she said and crossed her arms.
"It could be a while," Melgara cautioned.
"I will wait as long as it takes," she said firmly.
Melgara looked up at the dragon in the room with them, who only shrugged.
"He is resisting the pull of the void. He must be exhausted," Minnie said.
"Of course he's exhausted." Lily gestured at her man, sleeping on the table.
"But he'll wake up soon, and then everything will be better," Lily said, as if she were certain it would come soon.
Sitting down, she settled in, seeming to refuse any other reality.
Eventually, her captain would wake back up.
He had to.
***
One of Calise’s administrators rushed into her room, and she scowled at him, running a hand through her golden curls as she kept down her temper at being interrupted.
The baron and baroness's finances were an even greater conundrum than she would have thought possible, and she had just felt like she was getting through the thick of it, finally beginning to understand what might lie underneath the problems she had found.
“The Griffin pinged,” her administrator cut to the point.
And Calise sat up straight. "Well, that is good news. How long ago?" she said quickly.
"About seventy-four hours ago." He blushed.
"Why did reporting this take so long?" Her nostrils flared in annoyance.
He hesitated, not meeting her eyes. "Lost faith that we would get a signal."
"Wait, you had stopped tracking this signal?!" Calise scowled and leaned forward, bracing her elbows on the desk and lacing her fingers together, letting her eyes rest just above her knuckles as she fixed her gaze on the administrator. "How was this missed for three days?
“There's been no signal from the ship for over two weeks." He chuckled nervously. "It may have been refiled under a dead communications folder."
Calise pinched the bridge of her nose, massaging it to ease the headache that had been sitting there since she'd started dealing with the baron and baroness's assets.
"Fine," she said sharply. "I do hope we can avoid such unsightly delays in the future.
Now, it's been seventy-two hours. Has he at least responded? "
The administrator's discomfort at the question was answer enough. "No, ma'am." He saluted.
Calise resisted any urge to show how stressed she was at that answer. Even if she was comfortable here among her people, that wasn’t something a duchess should show.
"Send another. There are times when all ships are offline, and communications don't fully register."
"We did that," he said. "And then this came in." He set the tablet down and hit play.
It was an announcement of a kikai being labeled a terrorist. At the small furrow of her brow, the administrator quickly explained, "This is one of Baron Valcrest's crewmates aboard the ship.
" He swiped several times to bring up a video.
It focused on the kikai, but in the background, Baron Valcrest was being carried into a shuttle for medical treatment, a shock blanket thrown over him, and enough blood soaked into it to cause concern.
Calise let out a heavy sigh. "His death must be confirmed or denied.
Send one of our ships. I understand his crewmate is wanted for terrorism; however, it does not appear that our baron is—and even if he is, we can turn this into a diplomatic incident rather than a criminal one.
The bloodlines of the empire are not to be interrupted.
" She narrowed her eyes at the administrator.
"Send one of my ships. Find out exactly what the baron has gotten himself caught up in and extract him. "
She said it with a finality she hoped would get the job done sooner rather than later.