“I would laugh if this wasn’t so sad,” the smuggler girl said, leaning back against the wall.
Layela shook her head and pleaded again. “Just let us go, bring us to safe port, and as soon as I can find my sister, I’ll repay you.” The Malavants exchanged a glance. Layela looked down at Josmere’s yellow hair, swallowing hard, knowing she was speaking out of desperation to save her friend. “Sunrise Flowers,” she choked on the words, barely able to get them out. “I’ll give you the shop. You can sell it, and it’ll bring a fair bit of money with a few repairs.”
Ardin ran his hand through his hair as he looked at the Berganda. “It won’t be enough.” Layela’s eyes widened as he continued speaking. “We’d need about twenty of those flower shops to meet our price.”
A sharp laugh escaped Layela. “Who would pay that for me?” Ardin studied her and Avienne looked at the wall as though bored. Neither of them said anything.
Layela was about to protest again, when a thought rammed into her head. “Is it Yoma? Did my sister put you up to this?”
Avienne gave a short, bitter laugh. “Honey, unless your sister is more than two and a half meters tall, bears a sword, and, oh, is a middle-aged man, then I doubt it.”
Layela stared back down at Josmere. Yoma had pulled stunts before, but she couldn’t have promised them such a big amount. And why would she get Josmere involved from the beginning, knowing that so much space travel was involved? She felt her hopes wither. This wasn’t her sister’s doing.
It hardly mattered whose doing it was. Josmere’s life was more important. She turned to plead with Ardin.
“Then turn off at the next exit. Give Josmere a chance to heal somewhat. Please.”
“We won’t arrive at the next exit near a solar system for quite a few hours,” he said pensively, watching Josmere. Layela followed his gaze. Some of Josmere’s hair had fallen out, like a dying tree shedding its leaves in an effort to conserve energy and survive.
“Then by the Three Fates,” Layela snapped, “do the right thing, turn this ship around and let us go! You’re already kidnappers, do you also want to be murderers?”
Ardin’s eyes widened, and he stepped back as though she had physically struck him. She felt flushed and guilt rose at the pain she saw in his eyes. But she held her ground. He might have saved her life twice, but Josmere’s life remained in the balance.
“What about old, dead earth?” Avienne asked, pushing herself off the wall, acting as though nothing had been said and the tension in the room wasn’t smothering.
Layela didn’t break eye contact with Ardin as she spoke. “It might look dead to you, but it might not be for a Berganda.”
Ardin kept his gaze deep into Layela’s eyes as he asked his sister, “Think Cailan will go for it?” Layela noticed that the siblings didn’t seem to form much of a united front. Avienne hadn’t even defended her brother when she had accused him of murder. If the siblings were at odds, an escape plan might be easier to pull off.
I sound like Yoma and Josmere, she thought as her stomach turned, and she wondered briefly if she had managed to take the high road more often simply because they had been below, supporting her from lower ground. That thought did nothing to make her feel better. She took a deep breath and stared at the siblings.
Avienne shrugged. “We should be reaching an Easy Exit soon. Cailan might be willing to exit the tunnel there.” She pushed herself off the wall and walked out of the room, calling behind her, “I’ll talk to Cailan, you take them there.”
Ardin didn’t call out after his sister, but picked up Josmere in his arms instead, the Berganda whispering a remark Layela was certain had been intended to make Ardin blush, had she had the strength to form all the syllables.
“This way,” he said, casting a stormy look at Layela as he easily carried the light weight and started down the hall.
Layela hesitated for just one moment before quickly trailing after them.
i
“Where are we going?” she asked when she caught up to him.
“Just down here.” Then, with a tentative grin, “Don’t worry, no ladders to climb.”
Seeing him search out her eyes made her feel even guiltier for her comments. This is ridiculous. They’re the ones who kidnapped us! But as she thought of the coldness of the ship and its meagre supplies, she understood them far better than she wished she did. The Destiny was in dire need of supplies, and any contract, especially one that paid so much and didn’t involve too much illegal activity, would suffice.
She wondered again who would pay so much to have her brought to them, and felt a chill at the thought. Could it have been that colonel? That he had wanted anything to do with her didn’t make sense, either.
Within seconds they had reached the large doors that marked the end of the corridor, and Ardin gently put Josmere down to punch the code in the keypad. The room inside was completely dark, the slight light from the corridor too weak to even cast shadows.
“The power was shut inside. Hang on a sec.” He stepped into the darkness. She heard a bang and swearing, and couldn’t help but smile.
She felt the ship jolt, the strong sound of the engine, always a low, constant hum in the back, fading until she no longer heard it.
“You got lucky! Avienne convinced the captain to leave the tunnel for a bit!”
He re-emerged from the dark room.
“Why don’t you use your light?” Layela pointed at the small square instrument neatly tucked in his belt. She realized she was trying to dissipate some of the tension she had created, out of fear for Josmere. She wished Ardin and Avienne weren’t so bloody human. It would make things easier.
“Because you have to come see this,” Ardin replied.
