Now we're waiting for another round of guards—this time Lord va'Rin's men—to show up and “escort” us to his estate.
"I'm going to shoot anyone that tries to keep me from my husband," I seethe to Dopekh and Erzah as I slam a stun cartridge into my blaster. I don't want to kill anyone, but they'd best believe I'm about to stun the shit out of some bitches if they try to stop me from getting to my husband.
"Ruth," Erzah says, frowning at my bloodthirstiness. "Straik said this was normal. They're going to make sure he's not holding you under duress and once we've established that, it'll be fine."
"I don't care," I bellow. "I'm hormonal and they do NOT want to fuck with me!" I shove the blaster into my belt and pull my hair up into a high ponytail to give myself some height. I'm wearing my black clothes that match Straik's, and I want everyone to know that he's mine and I'm coming to get him. "Just let them try something."
"Maybe they're taking you directly to see your friends?" Ruthie asks, the voice of reason. She's clearly the good twin in this relationship, the Elizabeth to my Jessica—not that I can recall who those names are, and I frown to myself, momentarily stymied by another half-baked memory.
I turn to Ruthie, frowning. "Do we know an Elizabeth and Jessica?"
She pauses for a moment. "Like…in Sweet Valley High?"
I shrug.
Kazex is stationed by the portal to the ramp. He doesn't have his weapons out, but I'm glad to see he's wearing them, at least. He watches the window carefully and straightens, his gaze moving to Ruthie and then to me. "Incoming. They're sending the welcome party."
"Who is it?" I ask, rushing to the window. "Do we need to shoot them?"
"Whoa, calm down," Ruthie tells me. "We don't need to shoot anyone!"
Before I can get to the window, Kazex looks over at me. "The yellow one from the Star and a stranger, and a few of va'Rin's guard. How do you want to proceed?"
I'm about to say that we kick everyone's ass when it sinks in just who the “yellow one” from the Star is. A quick glance out the window shows two familiar blonde topknots and a delicate human woman wearing a breezy-looking long tunic dress. She waves the moment she sees my face in the window and rushes up the ramp faster.
Alice.
I burst into tears at the sight of my friend. "It's Alice! From the Star!"
"Someone grab a bucket," Dopekh murmurs, moving to my side.
I take the bucket that they hand me, but I'm determined not to use it. I ignore the way my mouth fills with saliva and focus on the door into the ship opening. Once it does, Alice pokes her head in, fearless. She raises her hands in the air. "Don't shoot, I'm pregnant."
"Oh my god, you too?" I blubber as I move forward to hug her. "Alice, I've missed you so much and they stole my husband." I fall, weeping into my friend's confused arms.
Ruthie clears her throat. "I suggest everyone get out of the splash zone if she's going to keep crying."
Alice stiffens as she hugs me. "Is that a clone of you? And what splash zone?"
"I'm fine," I swear. "I'm fine, I'm fine. There's a lot we have to catch up on." And I lean back to smile at her…and my mouth immediately fills up. I have just enough control to avert my gaze—
—which means I puke all over her companion.
"—so that's how we ended up back here," Alice says cheerfully as I nibble on more crackers. "I'm so happy you're back. The gang's all together once more." She takes a big bite of cake. "I can't believe you have real cake here and not that vegetable shit. This is amazing."
I hmph at that, because I can't help but think of my sweet husband, who went with Kaspar, no questions asked, even after the man hit him. I hope they're being kind to him because if not, I will put my foot in someone's ass and it doesn't matter who is mated to who. "Straik let me reprogram the processors to make sure I got foods I like. He's such a good man, Alice."
"Mm." She doesn't sound convinced, but I guess it's hard when you've spent the last several months thinking I've been kidnapped by an asshole who abandoned them. Alice has had a hard time believing Straik was coming back (especially since I'm tanned from our vacation), so I had Aithar pull up logs of all the bounty hunters who came after us. That helped convince her a little more, but I know it's going to take time. Alice licks a bit of frosting off her finger and closes her eyes with delight. "Oh god, that's good. The food at Lord va'Rin's estate is nice and all, but Milly is a big believer of eating like them, and so everything's vegetarian and cultured toward mesakkah tongues. I'm going to tell Kas I'm staying here for the next while. I hope you like big cats."