8. Mia

8

MIA

We returned to our suite sometime after midnight. It had been a nice night… apart from the moment, I returned to Rivvac after Crer had taken me aside to speak in my ear.

Rivvac had hardly said a single word to me and no matter how much I smiled in his direction, how often I took his hand in mine, he turned away, his expression cold and distant.

Had he somehow overheard what Crer had said to me? Or maybe the servant who’d come out to bring us refreshments?

There was no doubt in my mind the worker must have overheard something… and who knows how long he’d been standing there, taking in the information. And if he was loyal to the Royal Family—which I was certain the majority of the servants must be whether they were human or not—there was no way he wouldn’t pass the information on.

I’d tried reading the servant’s expression, but there was nothing I could learn from it. His face might as well have been that of a mannequin. I wondered angrily where they got these people. And how did they teach them not to show any emotions at all?

I considered confronting the servant. After all, we were both human, so surely there would be some kind of loyalty between us? But I decided against it.

If I confronted him, it would make him think something really had happened between Crer and I, and seeing as nothing had, I might end up creating rumors where there otherwise wouldn’t be any!

The only other person who knew what was said was Crer himself and I didn’t think he would be so stupid to report what he’d said to me!

I wanted to tell Rivvac that whatever Crer said didn’t matter. I liked spending time with the alien prince, couldn’t he see that? But nowhere along the journey back to our suite did I find the courage to confront him.

It wasn’t even my fault! I hadn’t done anything wrong! But I couldn’t muster up sufficient quantities of anger either. If I was going to speak with him, the last thing I wanted was to create a scene in the palace’s hallways.

And so, we returned to our suite.

The silence was deafening.

Prince Rivvac began to strip off his things, tossing them in a laundry basket in the wardrobe.

“I’ll… take a shower,” I said.

He didn’t respond, not even with a grunt.

“Okay then,” I said, crossing to the bathroom and taking off the dress.

It was difficult to reach the bows on the back but I would be damned if I was going to ask Rivvac for his help! If he wanted to act like a child, then so be it, but I wouldn’t encourage him.

Free of the dress, I realized just how heavy it had been and took the necklace and earrings off too, dropping them on a side table.

I didn’t want to be reminded of the evening and washed my face clean of the makeup that caked my face. I stepped into the shower and rinsed myself off, the hot water doing a great deal to help ease my muscles that had become tense.

It always felt good to be surrounded by water, to let it wash over you. I supposed it had something to do with being in the womb, a part of our instinct, always finding it soothing.

I lost myself to it and let my thoughts wander into the ethereal darkness of my unconscious.

Everything had been going fine until Crer came up to me, taking me aside. Instinctively, I didn’t want to speak with him, but when I looked over at Rivvac for help, he was speaking with Flara, lost to her, smothered by her affections.

She was the reason I was alone in the first place, as I couldn’t face being with her while she spouted her nonsense and looked down on me.

If we’d been alone and my conduct wasn’t so important, I would have smacked the bitch upside the face without hesitation. I suspected that was the only way to get through such a dense head as hers.

Instead, I’d made an excuse and gotten out of there.

Few of the other high-class guests were interested in speaking to me. I guess they considered me part of the “help” and not worthy of conversation. I had been debating with myself whether or not to return to join Rivvac and the bitch when Crer had come over.

He was kind and asked if I wanted another drink.

“No thanks,” I’d said, raising my wine glass and finding it was already empty.

I looked over at him in shock. I’d been so nervous and uncomfortable in the ball room that I hadn’t noticed I’d downed an entire glass without noticing.

“I… should cut down,” I told him. If I wasn’t even aware of how much I was drinking, I really would end up smacking the bitch upside the face! And that would really improve things—

There was a knock on the bathroom door, interrupting my thoughts. Rivvac said, “Are you all right in there?”

I must have been in the shower for some time for him to come and check on me. The good news: it had broken the uncomfortable silence between us and better yet, it had been in concern.

“Uh, yeah,” I said. “I’m fine. Just… relaxing. Coming out now.”

I stepped from the shower and wrapped the towel about myself. I was about to head out looking like something the cat had dragged in when I thought better of it.

I wrapped a second towel around my head and opened the door. The steam was sucked out into the bedroom.

Rivvac stood towering over the doorway, blocking me from coming out. “Well? What did he say?” he growled.

I ducked under his arm and slipped into the bedroom.

“What did who say?” I said, dodging his question. Already I could feel the tension returning to my shoulders.

Rivvac was having none of it. “Did he touch you?” he asked, his voice strangely soft. But I could sense the fury edging his words.

“Touch me? No.”

“I suppose he just wanted to whisper sweet nothings in your ear then?” he snapped, turning on me with all the fury of a raging bull.

As angry as I was, I wasn’t afraid he would hurt me.

I straightened up and raised my chin. “He didn’t touch me. He was a gentleman. And he didn’t whisper anything in my ear either. Not the kind of things you’re thinking of anyway.”

“Oh?” Rivvac said, bearing down on me. “Tell me, what does a gentleman say to the Steyatt mate of another male?”

So that was what this was all about. He was afraid I had shifted allegiance and mated with Crer.

I smiled and shook my head. Rivvac snorted, his nostrils flaring. He even lowered his head the way a rampaging bull might.

“I’m not laughing at you,” I said. “Really. I’m just… surprised you would react this way.”

“We had a deal. You are to be mine for Steyatt and in exchange, you get your parents’ farm.”

I bristled at him bringing up our deal so baldly and rubbed at my arms. “The farm, I’ll have you know, is already mine. I just need to pay off the remainder of the mortgage.”

His bloodshot eyes faltered. He could see his mistake even through his temper. “Yes. Yes, you’re right. It’s yours. But I need you by my side this week. I’m vulnerable and can’t allow the Sirens to get close to me. With their skills, they can wrap me around their fizzar and make me do their bidding.”

“You silly Ulsen,” I said, reaching up to place my hand on his cheek. I was relieved when he let me. “I’m not leaving your side. Especially not to those demons. I will always be here at your side to keep you safe.”

Rivvac shut his eyes and pressed his hand into the palm of mine.

“As for Crer,” I said, clearing my throat, “he took me into the garden and made me an offer.”

Rivvac’s eyes snapped open. “An offer? What offer?”

“After Steyatt, not during it.”

“What offer?” he said, his gaze so intense it made me uncomfortable.

I tugged the towel closer so it wouldn’t unravel. “He said… He said he likes me.”

It took a moment for the comment to process and when it showed on Rivvac’s face, it presented itself as in a series of deep creases on his brow. “Like you? But I thought he liked Flara?”

I sniffed. “Not everyone likes prissy stuck-up bitches with a stick lodged firmly up their ass.”

It couldn’t have come as a surprise that I disliked his betrothed but my words had the effect of a hard slap.

I raised my chin. “He said that ever since he saw me in the garden with you, he felt drawn to me. I told him that as he’d come across us with your hands on me, and in me, it wasn’t hard to imagine what he wanted from me. I said I wasn’t interested in being anyone else’s Steyatt mate. Especially him.”

Rivvac wore a half-smile on his lips and said, “How did he take that?”

“Okay,” I said honestly. “He said he can’t stop thinking about me and that he wanted more than physical intimacy. He wanted to be my… fated mate.”

The alien prince blinked in surprise. “Your fated mate? What makes him think you could be his fated mate?”

“He said that your species, the Ulsen, have many tribes and that they have different ways to sense their fated mates. Some, like you, can feel the bond between themselves and their fated mate. Others can see it, as if it were a physical manifestation of the bond, like light between them. Others, like Crer’s tribe, can hear it.”

Rivvac glanced at me and then looked away. From that look alone, I could tell what Crer had told me was true.

I went on. “He said it sounds like a symphony… but softer, gentler, so quiet you had to be careful in case you miss it. He said the song is different from one person to another, somehow mimicking their personality. The song never sounds the same. He told me some of his tribe’s musicians have tried to recreate the music that they hear. It’s beautiful, but they are always dismayed because it’s but a poor manifestation of what they truly hear with their fated mates.”

I looked up into Rivvac’s face. I didn’t want to say this but I didn’t want there to be any secrets between us either. “He said… that when he gets close to me, me can hear that music.”

Rivvac stepped back as if I had dealt him a blow. “He hears the music with you?”

I shrugged. “Apparently. But I don’t feel or hear anything with him. I don’t even know him!”

“That matters little when it comes to the bond.” He looked over me over with a questioning expression, torn. “How are you thinking of responding to him?”

I could have lied to him but I refused. I said, “I’m not sure yet.”

Rivvac nodded. “I see.”

But he didn’t see—at least, not the whole picture. The truth was, I didn’t want to be with Crer. I didn’t care what he heard when he looked at me. My heart already belonged to Rivvac, and I wanted to be with him.

Our trip, the heist, digging holes, making love on every new planet we came to… I had never been so happy in my entire life, and I never wanted it to end.

It made me sad to think we only had two days left together. Then he would no longer have any need for me.

I had to remind myself he was betrothed to Flara. How could I confess my love for him, knowing he would immediately refuse me and embrace his own fated mate?

His real fated mate?

Especially when he had gone through all this trouble just to satisfy her lifestyle requirements and those of her father?

I was nothing but a temporary solution to a short-term problem.

Nothing more.

And I would never be anything more to him.

He didn’t need me. But I wasn’t a fool. Maybe Crer really was just saying his “hearing music fated mate” spiel out of some cruel joke concocted between him and Flara. I wouldn’t put it past her. But Crer had seemed honest when he was telling me about it.

“I’m… going to take a shower,” Rivvac said.

I nodded and said, “Okay.”

He disappeared into the bathroom and spent so long in there that this time it was me that knocked and asked if everything was all right.

When we climbed into bed that night, we were as naked as the day we were born. I cuddled up close to him. He embraced me in his powerful arms and I felt like I was home. There was nowhere else I would rather be but there.

We made slow, gentle love, and it only drew us closer together, so tight I thought I could never let go. And I wouldn’t. But by tomorrow night, it wouldn’t be up to me. It would be up to Rivvac whether or not to let me go…

* * *

Rivvac wasin deep thought as we went downstairs to eat breakfast. Sometimes he laughed, but the smile never touched his eyes.

He was still thinking about what I had told him about Crer last night. I felt sure I’d made the right decision in not telling him how I truly felt about him.

If he wanted to be with me, he could. It was strange, how differently you thought depending on the time of day. Last night, I had worried endlessly about what to say, what to do, and now that the sun had risen, it was as if the light had shone on my mind and made the decision clear.

From the breakfast buffet, I selected my favorite pastries that Chef had made before. I hardly touched them. It was such a waste as they were real works of art with their curled cream whips and melted butter oozing from between the croissants’ lips.

We were halfway through our breakfast when a figure I didn’t recognize approached and nodded good morning to Rivvac. Then he turned and smiled at me.

“I trust you slept well?” he said.

He was tall even for a Ulsen, but did not possess the same muscular frame and was instead wiry. Still, he was still far more muscular than any male human back on Earth.

He approached Rivvac and tapped him on the shoulder before whispering something in his ear, to which Rivvac nodded back. The tall Ulsen smiled again, nodded farewell to me, and left.

It was all very strange.

“What was all that about?” I asked.

“Just some business,” Rivvac said cryptically.

“What business?

Rivvac looked over at me. Initially, it was a semi-cool gaze. Then it melted, becoming warmer. For the first time that morning, his eyes glinted when he smiled at me.

“Abrev introduced a way for me to earn the money I’ll need to support Flara,” he said.

If I thought my revelation that Crer had declared his interest in me would have an effect on Rivvac and make him second guess his decision to be with Flara, it appeared I was to be sorely mistaken.

I cleared my throat. “I thought…”

A servant approached a nearby table. I picked at my food until he left and picked up right where I had left off.

I lowered my voice further. “I thought we already had the funds for that?”

“I now have the funds for Flara’s dowry—”

“Dowry? You still have those here?”

The prince nodded. “If one family demands it, yes.”

I could tell from the sharpness of his tone that it wasn’t something he was altogether excited about paying.

“And now I need to find the funds necessary to fund our lifestyle.”

I was frustrated. Couldn’t he see Flara was no good? That she was a leech? That she just didn’t deserve him?

And that I did deserve him?

I couldn’t answer that, but I thought I was definitely a much better match for him than that tart!

Then with terrible certainty I realized that telling Rivvac about Crer’s interest in me had produced the exact opposite effect I had hoped for…

Because someone else had shown interest in me, he believed I didn’t share the same feelings that he might have for me… So why bother trying to get closer to me?

Now the aloof distance that he had spoken with me since this morning made sense. He had returned to his single-minded focus on marrying Flara, no matter whether it made sense or would later make him miserable or not…

“Rivvac…” I said softly.

He placed his hand on mine and said softly, “It’s all right. You don’t have to come with me on this expedition. Abrev will be taking point.”

I blinked at his, mistaking the cause of my concern. “Expedition?”

“It’s… something that’s best if you don’t know too much about.”

Oh no…

After my introduction to the underworld, it appeared Rivvac had enjoyed getting a great deal in return for very little work. I wondered how much trouble he could find himself in if it all went wrong… and how much of it would be my fault.

“What is it?” I asked.

“It’s better you don’t know—”

“You said that before. But we’re already partners in crime, so why not partners in this ‘expedition’ too?”

He looked me over.

I really wasn’t interested in getting more money. With the farm signed over to me and my share of the stash we’d lifted from old Wyre, I didn’t think I would ever have to worry about money ever again.

But I didn’t want to let Rivvac have to do the same thing again by himself.

I leaned forward. “Tell me what it is. Maybe I can help in some way.”

He considered my suggestion before shaking his head. “You don’t need to get involved.”

“I decide what I want to get involved in,” I said sharply. “You do not decide my fate.”

When he again appraised me, he seemed surprised by my outburst, before turning back to his meal. If he didn’t tell me, there was no way I could help protect him, and that above all things, was what I desired most.

I placed my hand on his and gently rubbed the hard scales there. “Please. Tell me.”

He took a deep breath. “Smuggling. It’s smuggling.”

I blinked. “Smuggling?”

“One of the other houses has made a fortune importing goods. Nothing illegal. But he has reached the scale of his operations that he can’t do it by himself and needs someone higher up to help him grow. As a prince, I have that influence.”

This was a whole lot different from stealing money that had already been taken from the poor and needy. In his eyes, I saw an alien species male convinced of what he must do.

“You could get into serious trouble smuggling,” I said.

He shrugged. “No more serious than stealing from Wyre.”

Except that wasn’t true. It wasn’t likely that Wyre was going to alert the authorities as he himself had already broken the law in attaining it.

This was wrong.

But before I could voice another word, the male Ulsen from earlier (I guessed his name was Abrev) approached our table and nodded to Rivvac. “Are you ready, my Prince?”

Rivvac looked over at me. Whether or not he could read my fear at what might happen to him, I couldn’t tell, but he dabbed his lips and asked me, “I don’t know. Are we?”

Was I?

Was I ready to break the law—again—this time to keep Rivvac safe? Even when it was in his pursuit of marrying Flara and knowing that he would leave me behind once he secured her?

“Yes,” I said, putting down my fork. “Yes, I’m ready.”

* * *

The journey to Florizz,Grade 2, was uneventful.

The one thing I enjoyed about the whole trip was the view from the command deck. From this vantage point, space was so dark and the shining pinpricks of stars in the distance so bright and clear that I could make out the thick center of the Milky Way and the spiral arms that wound out to either side, like a flat disk of shining light.

It was amazing to me that such a view was possible in my lifetime.

An even greater surprise was the contact the human race had made with various alien races. Many extended the hand of friendship and exchanged technology that allowed us to begin—slowly—to wind our way out of our tiny solar system and toward the heavens.

But a World War had to happen first before the human race finally came together and worked toward dominating the heavens, or at least our part of it. Such things were impossible if we were not of a single mind and fractured the way he had always been throughout history.

It had been an even greater shock to me that I had found a place I truly felt at home—and that was on my parents’ farm, a million light-years from Earth. I couldn’t help but smile at the thought that soon, it would belong to me and be back in my hands.

I would hire locals to work the farm as there was no way I could hope to do all the work by myself. With the stash we’d lifted from Wyre, I was certain funding the farm would never be a problem. And if this smuggling operation that Rivvac was so intent on setting up was even slightly successful, I would never have to worry about money ever again.

I had forced myself to work with clients who, more often than not, treated me like shit, but knew that without me, they would lose a great deal more than if they didn’t.

I was a necessity, just as they were a necessity for me to achieve my dream and finally have my parents’ farm back in my possession. But now that it was close… with less than twenty-four hours until Steyatt would end, I felt strangely conflicted.

I saw the farm for what it was—a piece of property on the outskirts of the cosmos. Quiet, out of the way, easily forgotten…

A place to retire and avoid all the stresses of the cosmos behind.

I couldn’t help but see the farm for what it really was, what I had been working so hard to achieve…

A way for me to hide from the galaxy, to consume myself with the frantic running of a farm so I could be forgotten.

I looked over at Rivvac, who was making calls on his communicator to the various organizations his family looked after, redirecting the empire’s defenses so they wouldn’t pick up our ship with their sensors. We would pass through, unimpeded, to dock and unload the resources Abrev had arranged for us to pick up.

I never saw what we had on board but Rivvac had been assured it was nothing that would harm the populace.

Looking at Rivvac now, I realized I didn’t want to be on my own forever.

I wanted Rivvac beside me.

But he was a prince… What interest would he have in running a farm?

None, I was sure. And then there was the little detail of his being betrothed to Flara. That’s why he was doing all this, after all, to be with her, and who was I to get in his way?

I felt helpless as our time together whittled down one hour after another… and would soon be in the single digits.

Then I would be released from my contract and he would no longer have any interest in me.

I would become yet another of his subjects, a face in the immense crowd, and drift into the back of his mind, becoming barely even a memory. Eventually, I would become someone he wouldn’t recognize if he passed me on the street.

It was a bitter pill to swallow, and for the first time since taking him up on his offer to be his mate, I regretted accepting it.

I would get all my hopes and dreams, the farm I had prized above all other things… but in giving him my body, I had also given him a great deal more than that.

I had given him my heart.

It belonged to him and he would dismiss it, not even noticing what I offered him as his attention was taken entirely with Flara and the future he would have with her.

Rivvac ended his call and joined me at the railing.

“All done?” I asked.

“Yes,” he said, letting out a sigh.

“What’s the matter? You’re not happy that you’re going to have all the money you need to give Flara the kind of life she wants?”

He leaned against the railing as if he had no energy to stand beneath his own strength. “It’s not that. It’s just how I’ve gone about it. Tell me a week ago that I would be abusing my position as a prince of the realm and involved with smuggling…” He shook his head. “I never would have believed you.”

“I couldn’t have told you that,” I teased. “We didn’t know each other then.”

“No,” he said with a distracted smile. He wrapped his arm around me and kissed me on the top of the head. “At least there’s one thing in this past week I’m pleased about.”

It was a thought that I echoed. I couldn’t imagine my life without him now.

“And you’re going to return to your farm,” he said. “The paperwork has already been prepared and sent to you digitally. I’ve already signed it. From tomorrow, you’ll be able to sign it and everything I promised you will be yours.”

And what about the things that you didn’t promise me? I wanted to ask him. What about your heart?

I smiled and sensed it was as distracted as his. “Good,” I said.

I shut my eyes and felt his strength and warmth behind me, clutching me close. This was what I wanted to remember. This was my true prize for spending time with him.

I asked him, “During all this, I never asked you how your family ended up losing all its money in the first place.”

“There was an accounting error.”

“Someone stole your money?”

He glanced at something in the distance before turning back to me. “Hm? Oh, no. Not with our funds. With the empire’s funds.”

“Wait a minute,” I said. “I thought Flara’s father was the treasurer?”

“He is,” he said with a nod.

I frowned, trying to puzzle together what he was telling me. “You’re saying it’s his fault the empire lost all their money?”

“We’d over invested and left a huge black hole that needed paying back.”

“And that’s where your family’s money comes into the picture?”

He nodded.

“Then… it wasn’t your family’s fault.”

“The Emperor appointed Flara’s father as the treasurer, so my father took responsibility for the mistake.”

“Wait. So, Flara’s father expects you to be financially responsible when he himself is the one responsible for making this huge financial error in the first place?”

“Yes.”

I laughed despite myself. “Sorry. I’m not laughing at you or your family. I’m laughing at the whole ridiculous situation.”

Rivvac straightened up as a figure joined us at the railing. He sighed and let it out slowly. “Thank you for removing the obstacles,” Abrev said.

“It’s what I’m here for,” Rivvac said, though he didn’t sound happy about it.

“And I thank you. From here on out, with your help, our smuggling operation will run without any hitches. I can’t tell you how grateful I am to have a Ulsen of your caliber as a business partner.”

“As am I,” Rivvac said, but I knew him well enough now to know he didn’t really mean what he said.

“We’re on time and should be drawing home any time now.”

Rivvac waved him off and turned back to me.

He glanced outside and said, “Just a few hours left. Then the Steyatt will be over. You must be excited to return to your old life.”

Excited? No. Depressed.

“I… wanted to thank you for choosing me,” I said. “And I wish you all the best for the future.” I couldn’t bring myself to wish him happiness with Flara as even I couldn’t fake that, but I genuinely did wish he would be happy.

“I’ll arrange for a ship to take you wherever you want once this is all over,” he said.

I thanked him.

There was so much to say and I didn’t know how to convey any of it.

Then he looked me deep in the eyes and I felt something, a spark between us. He wet his lips with his tongue and leaned forward and somehow I knew deep in my bones that it was going to be something that changed everything…

“There’s something I need to tell you,” he said. “Through all this—”

Waaarrgh!

Waaarrgh!

The white lights dimmed and red ones replaced them, flashing in time with the alarm that blared as loud as thunder.

I clamped my hands over my ears and yelled, “What’s going on?”

My words were lost to the screaming cries over the alarm system.

Rivvac peered around but there was no one to ask. Then his eyes scanned the heavens outside and the blood drained from his face. Even in the darkness of the flashing red light, I could see the shock on his face.

There was a ship outside. And it was heading directly for us.

Rivvac grabbed me by the arm and dragged me toward a door that led into a small room with twin bunks. The stink of male living quarters hit me full in the face.

He activated his communicator. Within two minutes, he lowered it, his face as shocked as it had been when the alarm had first gone off.

“What is it?” I bellowed into his ear.

“It’s the Royal Global Defense Force. We’re being boarded.”

“I thought you told them not to come anywhere near us? You were supposed to clear the way?”

“I did. Someone has overridden my orders…” He shook his head. “I’ll worry about that later. First, we need to get out of here. Come on.”

He pulled me out of the room, up the steps, and to a long room with a series of oval doorways cut into the side. I knew escape pods when I saw them. None of the crew had yet abandoned ship but I suspected it was only a matter of time before they did.

“I can’t be found here,” Rivvac said. “We have to get out of here!”

He pulled me into one of the evacuation pods and shut the door behind us. He deactivated the alarm system in our pod. My ears rang noisy and high-pitched with the silence.

“Thank God for that,” I said.

“Don’t thank God yet,” Rivvac said. “We haven’t gotten out of here yet.”

He pressed a series of buttons and a countdown began.

5…

4…

Rivvac tugged me onto a seat and lashed me down with the restraints.

3…

2…

On “1” it launched and we flew from the ship’s underside and flew into space. It wasn’t the high-speed escape I expected but was instead slow and we gradually increased in acceleration as we rushed away from the huge smuggling ship.

“What happens now?” I said.

“Abrev is going to be pissed, that’s for sure,” he said. “I don’t understand what could have happened… but I’m going to have to get in touch with the authorities and get them to stand down and tell them the ship is critical for national security. It’s a mess. An absolute and total mess.”

The pod shuddered and we came to a halt.

“What’s happening now?” I said.

Rivvac rushed to the terminal and flicked switches and pressed buttons… but nothing happened.

“We’re caught in a tractor beam.”

“The same ship we saw earlier?” I asked.

“No. Another one.”

The underside of the ship rose into view. Rivvac peered at it, trying to identify it.

“Do you know who it is?” I asked.

“No. Its identification marks have been removed. I think it’s an old military vessel.”

“Whose military?”

“Ours.”

We entered the ship’s underside. The hatch door thumped shut and we were doused with bright white light.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen next,” the prince said, “but I’ve been trained for such scenarios. I think I’m being kidnapped. No matter what happens, you should remain calm. They don’t want you.”

He ran his finger down my cheek but he couldn’t know how terrified I was.

“Hey,” he said softly. “I’ll never let anything bad happen to you. You know that, right?”

Despite the situation and my terror at what might happen next, I reined my panic in, believing him. He would never let anything happen to me. I smiled up at him.

He said, “Whatever happens, we’re going to be okay.”

Which meant anything might happen next… and that meant I had to tell him the one thing I had been hesitant to say this whole time…

“Rivvac,” I said. “I love—”

Rivvac bent over double and pressed his hands to either side of his head. He screamed, loud and bellowing, dropping to his knees. His whole body shook.

“What is it?” I said, bending down to embrace him. “What is it?”

His eyes were clenched shut, his teeth grating so hard I was surprised they didn’t split beneath the pressure.

Finally, unable to cope with the noise that he could hear that I couldn’t, his body flopped forward onto his front.

“Rivvac?” I screamed. “Rivvac?”

I tried to turn him over and put him in the recovery position but he was too heavy.

The hatch door opened at the back of the pod and a figure stepped inside, a gnarled old figure with a glare in his eye that I recognized the moment I saw it.

Wyre.

A million questions formed on my lips. Even if I had managed to form one, it would have come out as a scream.

“Evening, girly,” he said. “I believe you have something that belongs to me.”