She shrugs. I can see her in my periphery. “He is loyal. He even thought he might be Bonded to me.”
I don’t let up on the accelerator. I’m pushing the ship to its very limits, but it doesn’t whine or shake like my old, barely-held-together Wayward Scythe did.
This alien technology is designed for moments of intense pressure like this. None of us might have wanted to go to war, but we’re in no better vessel to face it in.
I think back to what Sawoot just told me. “So, you weren’t Bonded. That must have broken him.”
The poor man. Once Sawoot left, he’d known she wasn’t his Fated Mate. More than that, he’d known she’d betrayed him.
Then, Sawoot breathes raggedly. She shakes her head.
“Tasha… I couldn’t take my own advice. I distracted them, but I couldn’t go through with… it.”
It?
Oh – she means sex.
Which means she didn’t have sex with Garrick or his triad, which means…
“I couldn’t do it, Tasha” Sawoot almost sounds apologetic. “I know if I did – and if I found out I was Bonded to them… Well, I couldn’t have left him – not even for you guys.”
I tighten my grip on the controls. I’m not angry with Sawoot for saying that, because I was plagued with the same dilemma. The only difference was that I’d known I was Bonded to Aelon, Vinnicus and Iunia – and I betrayed and abandoned them anyway.
“I thought once we’d got you two to safety,” Sawoot continues, “I could go back later, if I still wanted to. But I just kept thinking about my friend from that harem – who’d wanted so desperately to be Bonded to her Aurelian triad, and then just ended up another woman in their harem.” She takes a deep, ragged breath. “I didn’t want to feel that.”
I realize now that Sawoot might be Bonded to Garrick, but she’d chosen not to find out for sure, because that way she knew she’d be able to choose to help Theme and I escape. She understood the dilemma – of having to choose between your Fated Mates and your most trusted mates.
I turn and glance at her – filled once again with incredible gratitude for my fearless, compassionate, brilliant friend.
Then, I turn back to the controls.
Sawoot might not have mated with Garrick and his triad, so she’d keep a level head and be able to leave The Instigator – but now we’re going back there.
Everything has come full circle. We’d started this by running away from Toads and stumbling into Captain Aelon’s lap. Now, we’re going back. It might be by choice this time, but the circle is complete.
I just don’t know what reception we’ll get when we arrive back at The Instigator. I’ll have no one to blame but myself if Captain Aelon drags us in with his tractor beam again and throws us in the brig.
The Instigator may be our demise.
But I couldn’t have left without giving Aelon, Vinicus and Iunia a chance – just as Sawoot wanted to give Garrick that chance.
I know the pain that lurks in Aelon’s mind. I know he has a death wish, and he sees himself as an angel of destruction to the Toads – but I just hope he can change…
I hope he can change for me.
The calm before the storm is deadly. We have an hour of travel ahead of us to get back to The Instigator. I just hope we can evade the signal jammers in the meantime, so I can communicate with Captain Aelon and convince him to run.
“We’ll get out of range. You’ll see.” It’s like Sawoot can read my mind – although perhaps she can. Who needs the Bond when you have friends like her? She and I grew up together, worked together, and went into business together. Her hands are shaking on the triggers of her Orb-Beam, but I know she’ll be with me to the end. She tries to sound confident, so I ignore the fear in her voice.
If Captain Aelon choses to fight, we can only hope to be blown into atoms. I remember what Aelon told me about the human women he’d encountered on that Toad ship – being hurt for the entertainment of the Toad Captain. Death would be preferable to that – especially for me.
After all, most human women could stand weeks of torture at best – maybe years of abuse.
But me? Thanks to the Bond? I’d have thousands of years of torment to look forward to as one of their slaves. I’d be the heirloom one generation of Toad pass down to the next; to be tortured in the most horrific ways that my stronger, healthier body could now withstand.
I shudder. I won’t let that happen.
The voyage back to the Instigator seems to be taking forever. This calm is a dull terror. Our vessel is faster than the Toad Mothership, but as I cover the distance I have to wonder how much of a difference it will make.
What good will a warning of a few minutes be? How could even a brilliant commander like Captain Aelon turn defeat into victory with just seconds of warning?
I dial down our life support, diverting even more power to the engines. Our air is slowing thinning, and we have no shields, but we’re making incredible speed.
Theme and Sawoot might have their fingers on the triggers, but the Orb-Beams are now useless. I diverted all power from them to the engines.
Without shields we’re defenceless. If there’s a Toad reconnaissance ship ahead that we run into, it could land a single lucky shot that tears right through the armor of our Reaver.
I’ll have to risk it, though.
Every second we outpace the Toads is another second I can use to warn Aelon.
I just have to hope Aelon doesn’t snap. I can’t imagine what it’s like for an Aurelian to lose his Fated Mate. I certainly can’t think what it’s like to suddenly have her reappear.
I’m half-expecting Captain Aelon to handcuff me, throw me into a
