All that I truly regretted was leaving Vince. He would never know what had happened to me, and I couldn’t imagine Agk being kind about one of his slaves wandering off. What would he do to Vince?
“Where?” the new drakcol demanded, voice deep.
“Sent you my coordinates.”
“Why are you in Xionian space? You should not be there.”
“I found a human,” my kidnapper said.
“What?”
But there was no time to answer. A purple vortex appeared in front of us.
My kidnapper shouted, “They opened a slipstream. I can’t veer out of the way.”
“I will come for you, Serlotminden,” he said. “We will always come for you. You must hold on. Promise me.”
“I promise,” Serlotminden replied right before we went through the vortex and everything went dark.
The ship stretched and creaked. I couldn’t scream. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t move. Everything was happening and nothing was happening, then I released a huge breath as space returned to normal.
“Slipstream. Not comfortable,” Serlotminden said. “My first time.” His fingers tapped on the buttons and screens, then he yanked on a yoke. “I have no idea where we are, but we need to leave. Now. Because the other ship is right behind us.”
“You need to take me back. I did not ask to be saved.”
“We can’t go back.”
“I left Vince.”
“Vince?” he asked with a growl.
“Another human.”
He didn’t respond, because the ship lurched as our pursuers continued to attack. I grunted, struggling to stay seated. The stool didn’t have a back for some weird reason, making it difficult to stay on, but it did have arms that I clung to like a cat confronted with water.
The ship veered as Serlotminden did his best to flee the xoi who were hell-bent on pursuing us.
“Why do they want you?” I asked.
“I’m a prince, and this is a very nice shuttle. Newest model. My brothers gave it to me.”
“So they plan to ransom you back?”
“Maybe. Or this is simple theft.”
“Perfect,” I said.
Speaking wasn’t possible any longer, because the ship kept jolting and bumping from the barrage. One of Serlotminden’s hands flew over the controls as the ship moved in a nonsensical pattern while the other controlled the yoke with practiced motions. I kept falling out of the seat, even as I braced against the console in front of me, trying to stay on.
Suddenly, everything went red, and a blue silhouette of a drakcol said in a monotone voice, “Engine failure is imminent. Shields are at ten percent.”
Serlotminden glanced at me, and I recognized the expression. We were going to die. I sighed, terrified and yet oddly relieved. I was tired and the weight of everything I’d done was like rocks strapped to my back. Finally, it was over. I didn’t have to carry anything any longer. I didn’t have to hear the screams anymore.
He angled the nose of the ship toward a planet, sending us into a death spiral as flames licked the metal. “I’m going to try to set us down.”
“My name is Bartholomew.”
“What?”
