Now warriors were silently moving away from us, while Baru’s nubby horns flamed red.
“It is not all that is needed,” I said.
“The Raas should tell me the truth,” she said to Baru. “He never intended to tell my sister that he had me because he knew she would come for me, and then his plan to bed me long enough to produce mating marks would be ruined.” She swiveled her head to me. “Was I ever more than that to you?”
All the fight drained from me as I watched her heaving in ragged breaths. “Juliette—“
“It doesn’t matter,” she snapped, turning and stomping off, her small feet kicking up dark granules of sand behind her.
The apprentice let out a breath, clearly glad he was no longer in the middle of the argument, but the Gerwyn scampered after Juliette.
I hated that she’d been right about my intentions. I had avoided revealing her presence to the bounty hunters because I did think her sister would insist on her return. Not only did I not want to have conflict with allies like the Dothveks and their crew, but I also hadn’t wanted to risk losing Juliette. At first, it had been because of the curse. I’d needed her if I was to have any chance to break it. But then it had become about her. I couldn’t stand the thought of losing her.
I’d grown used to her greeting me when I returned to my quarters and sharing my bed. Having someone to fuss over my wounds and surprise me with sweet breads had been much preferable to returning to an empty room that held only memories of restless sleep and promised only tormented nights, or time spent subjecting myself to painful torture to keep me awake. And being inside her had been like nothing I’d ever experienced before, her warm heat like a home I’d never known I’d wanted so desperately.
She was also right that I couldn’t give her up now. Even if she never took my marks. Juliette was a part of me, and I needed her by my side. I just had to explain it to her and hope she felt some small measure of what I did.
I tramped off after her, not knowing exactly how to deal with a furious female. I couldn’t challenge her to battle, even though in her current state she might very well accept and try to kill me.
Before I’d gotten very far into the sparse woods edging the beach, there was a blast behind me. I looked over my shoulder and saw red laser fire pelting the exposed hull of our sinking transport. The Zagrath knew our ship had fallen and they now knew where we were.
“Off the beach!” I called out, waving for my raiders to follow me into the woods where it would be harder to track us. Within moments, heavy boots were crunching through the underbrush as my warriors ran away from the weapons fire coming from above. Baru was in the thick of the group, being hustled along by two raiders on either side of him.
I resumed tracking Juliette, although now I was running. When I spotted her stomping angrily ahead of me with Furb under her arm, I didn’t slow to explain anything. I bent low and scooped her up, throwing her over my shoulder and barely breaking stride as I continued to run away from the blasts, which sounded like they were no longer focused on the sinking ship.
She slapped my bare back with one palm. “Hey! What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
“Saving you from being shot by the empire.”
“You can’t just carry me around like a sack of grain.” She hit me again. “I can walk, you know.”
“Not fast enough.” As I said this, an explosion to one side of us sent half of a tree flying into the air and the other half was scorched black from the laser.
Juliette shrieked, and the Gerwyn’s tail flailed, stinging my shoulder with its spikes.
“They’re shooting at us?”
“That’s what I was trying to tell you,” I said, more to myself than to her.
I didn’t stop running until the woods had thickened, and the firing had stopped. The air was cooler, and the scent of scorched wood no longer followed us. I couldn’t see any other Vandar, and even the pounding of their footsteps was hard to hear. It might take some time to reassemble my raiders, but at least I’d gotten Juliette away from danger.
I swung her down from my shoulder and placed her in front of a wide tree covered in pale, curling bark. “We should be safe—”
She interrupted me with a sharp slap across my face. “That’s for keeping secrets from me.”
I wasn’t as startled by the pain of my stinging cheek as I was the hurt in her eyes. They glittered as she glared at me, and her chin quivered even as she obviously fought to keep from crying.
“I only did it because I couldn’t lose you.”
“Because of that stupid curse.”
“No.” I put a hand on her waist and jerked her to me. “Because I cannot bear the thought of being without you.”
Her mouth fell open, and a tear slipped from the corner of one eye. Then she snaked a hand around my neck and pulled my mouth to hers.
Despite being shocked again by Juliette, I sank into the kiss, wrapping my arms around her waist and lifting her feet off the ground. When I put her down, a throaty chuckle made me jerk away. It hadn’t come from her.
“You remind me very much of another couple I knew,” the small creature with nut-brown skin and colorful horns said as he stepped into the clearing.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Juliette
“Who are you?” As
