“It is done.” My majak clicked his heel sharply.
I hooked my axe onto my belt and swung Alana up into my arms, ignoring her protests. “Vaes. Let’s go home.”
Chapter Forty-Two
Alana
“Do I really need to be blindfolded?” I touched my fingers to the thick cloth covering my eyes.
“I know you, mate,” Bron’s velvet voice rumbled in my ear. “You are too curious not to peek.”
I huffed out a breath and leaned into him as the transport ship shuddered beneath my feet. Ever since we’d hunted down the imperial fleet that had attacked Laurinia and blown it out of the sky, our new course had been a thing of whispers. I didn’t know where Raas Bron was taking me, but wherever it was, he was excited about it.
“Is it another pleasure planet?” I asked, drumming my fingers against his chest. “We were cruelly interrupted during our visit to the last one.”
He barked out a laugh. “Before or after you drugged me and attempted to leave?”
My mouth fell open. “I explained that to you and apologized—a lot.” My chest squeezed. Even now, thinking about what I’d done and what I’d been thinking made my face burn with shame. I couldn’t imagine life without the Raas, and I was pretty sure it wouldn’t have been a long one if I’d managed to escape from him.
He stroked a hand down my back. “And I accepted your apologies. I especially enjoyed the ones that involved you spread out beneath me with your legs—“
“Bron!” I swatted at him. It might just be the two of us as passengers on the transport, but there was at least a pilot, and I didn’t need him to hear all about how enthusiastically I’d made up with the Raas.
“Why are you embarrassed? You are the mate of a Raas. If we did not spend every free moment in bed, my raiders would be concerned.”
I shook my head. “I doubt they want to hear about it. Their time on the pleasure planet was cut short, as well.”
“You make a good point. Perhaps I should order a stop at a pleasure planet once we have left here. Although they welcomed the battle, my raiders deserve some female entertainment that is not marred by the empire.”
I tilted my head at him, even though I couldn’t see him. “You don’t mind if we sit this pleasure planet visit out, do you?”
He nuzzled against my neck. “Of course not. I have everything I need with you. You do still have that pleasurer’s dress, don’t you?”
I cringed. “The one ripped and covered in blood? I asked for that to be burned.”
“Too bad. You looked very appealing in that face veil.”
“I can’t say the same about you in the white robe.” I ran my hand down the hard bumps of his stomach and teased the skin beneath his belt. “I much prefer you in…less.”
“Mmmmm.” His contented hum was interrupted by the shift in the engines, and then the jolt of the transport touching down.
I grasped him to steady myself, my pulse fluttering in both excitement and nervousness. “I can’t believe you’re making me walk off this ship with a blindfold. This had better be some tvekking amazing surprise.”
He emitted a low growl. “You keep using Vandar curse words like that, and I might have to take you against the wall before I can let you off this ship.”
I put a hand to the cloth over my eyes. “Then I’m definitely ripping off the blindfold.”
Raas Bron took both my hands in his as the ship’s ramp touched down, the metal rattling. “No more waiting, mate.”
He led me forward and then down the ramp. Even though he held my hands, my steps were tentative. Once we were off the ship, sunlight hit my face, along with a breeze that carried the scent of loamy soil. So we weren’t on another ship. It was a planet. But which one, and why was it such a big deal?
“I did mention that I hate surprises, right?”
He dropped my hands and then fumbled with my blindfold. “Only about a thousand times.”
When the fabric finally fell away, I blinked as my eyes adjusted to the light. Yep, it was definitely a planet. I spotted trees and a white sun burning high in the sky and… My breath caught in my throat.
“I know those mountains,” I whispered, my gaze locked on a craggy range topped with snow in the distance. “This is Faaral.”
“Yes,” Bron said. “It’s your home planet.”
I opened my mouth to speak but memories washed over me, making it impossible.
“Does it look like you remember it?” Bron asked quietly.
I cleared my throat. “It does.” I inhaled deeply. “It even smells the same.”
I wrenched my gaze from the horizon and peered up at Bron. “I can’t believe you did this.”
“If I had a home planet I could visit, I would want to,” he said. “Your world is still much as it would have been when you were taken.” His expression darkened. “The empire seems to have left it alone, aside from occasional visits to take children.”
As much as seeing Faaral provoked painful memories of being torn from my parents, it also made me feel happy. “I was happy here. Before. But I’ve never wanted to return. I was too scared of what I’d discover and afraid that I was too different to be recognized.”
“The empire might have taken much of your life from you,” Bron said. “But they don’t get to write the rest of it for you.”
I squeezed his hand, the warmth in my heart blooming. “No one has ever done anything for me like this. No one has ever loved me liked this.”
Bron cupped my face in both his hands. “Vandar do not do anything
