Chapter 4

“You want to come with me?” Dante spoke the words slowly, as if he couldn’t understand her words.

“I want to help,” Tinsley replied. “We can take my ship.”

“I would prefer to take mine.”

“That may be so, but mine is ready to go now. I was just going to leave anyway.”

Dante looked her over. She was staring at him intently. Her copper eyes were beautiful, he realized, but it was more than that. The way they pierced him made him feel she could see him for who he really was, and not just an empty vessel whose sole purpose was to bear a coat of arms. Or as the middle child in a crowded line that got lost in the mass of his family.

“Think about it,” she said. “It’s kind of fate. I mean, you could have gotten on any wrong ship, but you got on mine. We were meant to go on this mission together.”

He didn’t mention how he’d had fate on his mind earlier with his storming out of the hall putting him in a position to find his sister. It also didn’t escape his attention that bringing her home safely could be an opportunity to earn the approval he so craved from his family.

Now, though, he had fate on his mind for another reason. Something about her from the start had affected him in a way that he’d felt with no one else before, but the possible significance clicked into place when he heard the word in Tinsley’s voice. When she just said the word “fate,” he did a double take because he heard “fated mates” at first, and he couldn’t shake the thought.

“Okay,” he said. “Get us in the queue for liftoff.”

She connected with launch control to share information about the ship.

“Great!” Tinsley said. “We’re thirty-seventh. Not bad.”

Dante groaned.

“Well, at least that gives us some time to do other things. Like shower—I’m filthy. Where are your water facilities?” he said.

“Down the hall on the right,” she replied. “Hey, where are we going anyway? We’ll need to share with launch control before they give us clearance to leave.”

“To be determined.”

On his way to the shower, he punched in the code for the secure channel, and he asked launch control to move the ship up in the queue.

“Put us fifth,” he said.

“Not first?” the agent on the other end asked.

“We need a little bit of time,” he said.

A few minutes later, Tinsley yelled down the hall, excited. “Hey! We got moved up to fifth.”

“Coming,” Dante called out.

When he got to the bridge, she was busy at the controls. He gave her a once-over more clearly now, more able to take in her appearance without her knowing how fiercely his urges compelled him to look.

From the side profile, her suit hugged her body closely, and he could see the curve of her waist swoop into her hips and bust. He imagined what it would be like to touch her there, instinctively feeling that her supple body was made for his touch.

He quickly looked away to keep himself from growing, but he couldn’t shake his thoughts about fate as he grew more attracted, not just to her body but her spirit.

“Right there. Sit.” She spoke, all business, pointing to the spot beside her.

“Start systems check,” they said together.

“Jinx!” Tinsley cried out.

“Jinx? Is this a child’s game?”

“Oh, no. Just a silly Terran phrase,” she said, patting his hand.

She left her hand on top of his for a second. Her hand was so much smaller than his and very soft. He shivered thinking about how soft the rest of her skin must be, kept pristine underneath her clothing.

“Ready?” Tinsley asked, pulling her hand away.

Dante filled the role of copilot. He was used to the role although he usually bristled at it since inevitably one of his older brothers was at the helm. With Tinsley, that aggravation was gone. He could feel her respect for him as an equal.

“So, I hate to bother you again, but where exactly are we going?” Tinsley questioned him just as his comm pinged with a notification.

“Delta Gamo Midpoint space station,” Dante read.

Tinsley nodded and began punching in the destination.

“Your sister is there?” she asked.

“No, just a lead,” Dante said, scanning the rest of the message.

It was from Trigg. Dante could only hope he would get some more information before they arrived. He didn’t have much to go on.

“Lead from who?” Tinsley asked.

Dante said nothing, staring forward stoically.

“If we’re going to do this together, I want to know what’s going on. I’m not just the pilot here. This is my mission, too.”

A feeling of frightful elation swept through him as he sank deeper into the realization that this was what it felt like. They had just met. She didn’t know him at all, yet she had taken on his cause as if it were hers. Every time they connected more closely, everything felt even more right.

He realized he could trust her. Not only that. He wanted to tell her.

“It’s from PAPS,” Dante said. “Probe and Pursue Services. The private investigation agency that…”

“I know PAPS,” she said, turning back to the controls. “They’re supposed to be the best.”

“That’s what they say about us, yeah.”

Dante could glean by her unfazed reaction that she was impressed. Her nonchalance gave her away, he thought, because someone who was indifferent would have feigned excitement. As a royal, he was a student of figuring out true motives, never knowing if someone showed respect out of genuine admiration or out of a desire to curry favor.

Tinsley’s candor was refreshing—another sign this being was right for him.

“We’re up for launch,” she said and maneuvered the controls as Dante took the copilot seat. They coordinated a smooth, seamless liftoff, working well as a team.

Once they were out of Lorr’s orbit, they set it on autopilot and double-checked that they were on the correct course. Then they went to the galley for a meal.

“What sorts of food do you like, Dante? You can ask Jeeves for anything, and he’ll make it.”

“Jeeves?” Dante said.

“Oh, the AI. You know, it’s Iris, by default. But I renamed it Jeeves and programmed a male voice.” She grinned. “On Earth, rich humans have assistants called butlers who attend to their every need. In literature, the most famous butler in history was named Jeeves. It’s a snooty name, and I thought the joke was funny.”

He laughed, and she looked up to the ceiling, as if talking to the ship, even though microphones were arrayed all throughout.

“Say hi, Jeeves.” She spoke to the AI.

“Hello, Mr. Lorrz.”

The voice had an accent Dante had heard only a few times, hailing from a once-great Terran island kingdom.

“It’s an English accent. British. You don’t hear that dialect much nowadays,” she whispered. “My accent is Indian, but it’s inflected with some British. They used to run my country once.”

“How did the ship know who I am?” Dante asked, perturbed.

“I should reprogram it to have less sensitive audio detection,” Tinsley said. “I programmed it to be a little bit of a kiss-ass, though, so I’m sure it’ll like you just fine.”

“It is my delight to kiss your ass as much as you like, Master Tinsley and Prince Lorrz,” Jeeves replied.

“Oh, Jeeves, you’re a true friend. What do you recommend for dinner?”

“Some pasta with pesto I believe might be pleasing to you.”

Tinsley looked at Dante, who nodded. Once the dishes materialized, he instantly recognized the cloque—a bland food staple that could be dressed up in other flavors. The sauce was unfamiliar to him, but when he tasted it, he found it delicious.

“I worked up some human recipes with various local ingredients,” Tinsley said.

“This is wonderful,” Dante said.

“More, sir?” Jeeves piped up.

“Yes, please.”

“And drinks, madam?”

“Oh, I forgot to ask you, Dante,” Tinsley said. She patted Dante’s hand again, and he felt an even stronger jolt of electricity shoot through him. “What do you want to drink?”

“Why don’t we leave it up to Jeeves,” he said. “He seems to know what he is doing.”

“Two beverages please, Jeeves, of your choosing.”

He took his second plate out of the alcove when the door slid open. Tinsley retrieved two large stemmed glasses and set one before him. It was a silvery drink from one of Noxxa’s moons with restorative, relaxing properties.

“We should toast. Shouldn’t we?” She raised her glass.

“What are we toasting to?”

“To a successful mission?”

“On Lorr, we have a superstition. It might be silly, but we don’t toast to a successful mission until after it’s succeeded.” He felt like a buzzkill, and he worried that she might get offended at his rejection of her toast.

But instead, a huge smile grew on her face, and she got excited.

“Ah! I get it. On Earth, that’s another definition of ‘jinx’! To be afraid that being optimistic about something will keep it from happening.” She wrinkled her nose in thought, which made Dante find her even more irresistible. “All right, then. Let’s toast to not jinxing things.”

They looked each other in the eyes and clinked glasses before taking a long sip.

Dante wanted to stare into the fiery intensity of her copper eyes forever. He was thrilled when she didn’t look away, even after it would have been normal to. Her look raced through him, through his blood, coursing in his veins, connecting every cell in his body with her. And while he had been close to certain before, with that look, he knew.

They were meant to be together. He had always had some skepticism, but it was real. He was sure of it with more certainty than he’d ever felt.