Chapter Twenty-Seven
Juliette
“I’m never going to be made a raider,” Baru whispered. “Not after this.”
“Shhh.” I put a finger to my lips as we huddled in the dark storage area. The transport ship was considerably smaller than the ship I’d originally stowed away on, and the storage unit barely held me, the Neebix boy, and Furb. “I told you that you didn’t need to come.”
“If I let you sneak off to Carlogia Prime alone, I’d be put out an airlock.” He sighed in the dark. “At least this way, I can make sure you don’t do anything else foolish.”
“I told you, I’m going to the planet to find my sister. It’s not foolish.”
“Leaving the Raas without permission is a bad idea.”
I didn’t reply. He was right. I shouldn’t be running away from Raas Vassim, but I couldn’t bear looking at him after I’d discovered his betrayal. Even thinking about it now made my throat thick. How could he have been in communication with the bounty hunter ship and not told me? He knew how much I wanted to see my sister, and he’d kept her from me.
Did he think I would have gone back on my agreement with him? I would have been happy just seeing her on the view screen like I’d seen Corvak. But was that true? Even as I thought the words, I knew they were lies. Even if I’d agreed to stay and fulfill my promise, Sienna never would have allowed it.
She would have insisted I be returned to her and probably would have hijacked the bounty hunter ship and flown after the Vandar to do it. She might have been angry with me, but I was still her baby sister. Sienna never would have allowed me to be kept by a Vandar Raas, especially one known as the Deranged Warlord. And especially once she’d heard about the curse and the deal I’d made.
It didn’t matter, I told myself. He’d still kept secrets from me, and I despised secrets. The one thing I’d actually believed about Vassim was that he would keep his word. But he’d been keeping me in the dark, all while pretending to care about me. Tears pricked the backs of my eyes. All he really cared about was breaking his stupid curse and keeping me with him long enough to do it. How could I believe any of it had been real when I knew what he’d been willing to do to keep me clueless?
“Are you okay?” Baru whispered.
I swiped at my nose, glad that it was pitch dark, and he couldn’t see the tears snaking down my cheeks. Before I could answer, the transport jostled roughly. We’d snuck onto one of the ships in the back so we wouldn’t be seen, but it was clear the warriors were now boarding it. My heart raced, fearful that we’d be discovered and maybe even more fearful that we wouldn’t, and I’d fly right off the warbird and from Raas Vassim’s life forever.
Shouts went up outside our closet, the booming voices rattling the metal door. Then the engines rumbled under our feet and the entire vessel vibrated. The Neebix boy muttered some version of a prayer next to me, and Furb had woken, his fur puffing up in my hands.
“No turning back now,” I said to myself, feeling the slight drop as the ship lifted off the floor of the hangar bay.
This was only my second trip in a transport ship, and although I’d been living in a huge spaceship, I was reminded that flying was still new to me. And it still made my stomach roil. I pressed my lips together as the sharp tang of bile tickled the back of my throat. The last thing I wanted to do was vomit all over myself in a closet. Even though it was too dark to see anything, I closed my eyes and concentrated on taking deep breaths. I also concentrated on not thinking about the fact that I was currently flying through space.
Think about Sienna, I told myself. Soon you’ll be able to see her and apologize and explain everything.
After everything that had happened, I had to remind myself that my sister was most likely upset about what I’d done back on our home world. Considering the crazy turn my life had taken, I had to remember that me betraying her was probably fresh in her mind.
Was what I’d done to my sister the same as what I was now furious at Vassim for doing? No. I shook my head, then my shoulder sagged. What I’d done had been worse, and it had almost gotten her hurt. The only thing Raas Vassim had hurt was my pride and my trust in him.
Before I could second-guess my plan of a joyful reunion with my angry sister, the ship jolted hard. Baru grabbed my arm, and Furb’s tail swung out, the spikes snagging on my dress.
“What was that?” I asked. “Is that how these things land?”
“Not as far as I know,” Baru said, his hand trembling.
Another jolt sent us both against the wall hard, and then we were falling toward the ceiling. I lifted my free hand over my head to keep from hitting but then we were falling back down again.
“We’re flipping,” Baru said. “We must have been hit and lost nav controls.”
Now I grabbed his shaking hand. I hadn’t even considered the possibility that taking a ship down to the planet during a battle with the empire might result in us dying. I’d never get a chance to see my sister or see Raas Vassim again. As furious as I still was with him, the thought of dying without seeing him made me feel even sicker.
Shouts came from outside the door as the ship continued to jerk, but it finally stopped spinning. Just as I was about to tell Baru that the worst of it was over, the ship slammed to a sudden stop and we were both knocked to the floor.
I
