"I'm fine," my mate tells me, and takes one of my hands and presses it on her stomach. "Feel that?"
I go still, my eyes wide. "You can feel something already?"
She nods, pressing my hand against her abdomen. "It's gas." At my disgusted face, she bursts into giggles. "Quit freaking out on me. I swear I'm not going to break, babe. Everything is fine." She tilts her face up for a kiss.
I obediently lean in and peck her lips. At least she is happy and laughing. That relaxes me a little. "Forgive a male if he's anxious over his mate," I grumble. "You have eaten nothing but cake for the last standard day."
"Cake is delicious," she tells me, and moves into my embrace. She wraps my arms around her waist, leaning back against my chest. "So which one of the ships out there is your uncle's escort?"
I point at the small, unassuming craft landing next to ours. "It's a good sign that he's sent an escort…unless that's part of the trap, too." My voice is sour, and Ruth lightly taps my hand in a chiding gesture. "I just don't know. I feel like we're missing some piece of the puzzle," I say as the Eye slowly glides forward and pulls into the long dock. Another ship takes off as we settle in, but it all looks normal. So very normal.
I don't trust normal. In my experience, normal is only there to lull you into a false sense of security.
Ruth clenches my hands and as we glide parallel next to the large stock transport in the dock next to ours, she gasps. "Did you see that?"
"See what?" I watch my mate's face instead of the ship's window. "Is it more gas?"
She slips out of my grasp and presses her face to the window, her breath fogging the glass. Her eyes are wide and she's gone pale. I wonder if I need to get another container for her to vomit in when she makes a strangled sound in her throat. "Oh my god. Am I seeing things?" Ruth grabs my hand and pulls me forward. "Is that the Star?"
The what?
Now I'm the one pressing my face to the glass to see. The stock transport in the way is rusty-looking and long, an older model that's blocking most of our view of the rest of the port. But as the Eye carefully glides forward, I catch a glimpse of sleek, massive hull and a familiar house symbol etched on the starboard side.
It's the Buoyant Star all right.
Somehow, they've gotten her flight-worthy once more and taken her here, to Risda. To my uncle. Is that why we've been invited now? I run a hand over my mouth, trying to work through all the changing scenarios in my head. Does my uncle know I left the others behind? Does he blame me? The va Sithai won't be thrilled to see me, either. They're going to think I've stolen Ruth and run into hiding. "This…is not ideal."
"Are you kidding? Jade and the others are here! It's fantastic!" Pure joy shines on Ruth's face. "Oh my god, I can't wait for them to meet Ruthie! And to tell them we're having a baby?"
"Perhaps you should lead with the first part," I tell her as the Darkened Eye settles into her dock-space and the AI chimes with alerts. The moment we dock, I see port workers scrambling into maintenance vehicles, heading for us so they can look after our ship (and charge us for whatever work they can squeeze out of us). An air-sled pulls up even as our dock lowers, and I watch as a pair of familiar faces emerge from the sled.
Mathiras va Sithai and his brother, Kaspar.
If they try to take Ruth from me, I'll burn this entire port to the ground. "Stay behind me, love," I say as I move away from the window and flick the safety off my blaster. "If this gets ugly, my larger bulk can protect you and the baby."
"Protect me from what?" Ruth asks, a frown on her face. "What do you think could possibly happen?"
Moments later, that question is answered when the doors to the Eye open up and Kaspar va Sithai steps in, looks around, and then immediately slams a fist into my face.
I…suppose I deserved that.
90
RUTH
I am so pissed off right now.
Here I've been anticipating the reunion with my friends for months now, and the moment we land on Risda III, my husband is arrested and taken away from me by the same dipshits who swore they were going to rescue us. Some fucking rescue. Straik assured me that it was fine, that no one would harm him because of his family name, and left with the va Sithai brothers after making the crew promise to watch over me.