“I’ll wait for you out here,” Derrain said.
Cyra took a deep breath. The scan had been unnerving. Almost intimate and included being swabbed in various places for chemicals. She trailed the shadow man, the name she gave to the security officer since he hadn’t offered one, past the glass wall that had slid back to provide a narrow opening. It closed behind her. If the Kolben Mining Company decided to keep her there would be nothing she could do deep as she was into their lair, but she had to talk to the person who had hurt Dez.
“Jarn Ardkin, do you know who I am?”
Ardkin barely turned his head. With a squeak, he leapt backward. “Don’t kill me.”
“Do you know who I am?” Cyra used a stronger tone.
“Your the thief who stole Varik’s ship.”
Cyra explained how that wasn’t true and who she was. “Do you know where Varik went?”
Jarn’s blue eyes became watery. “He left?”
Cyra nodded.
“What about me?”
“What about you? You nearly killed my…a very special man.” Her mate she’d been about to say. Because that’s what Dez was to her. Her mate. And she’d been planning to leave him on this godforsaken planet like Varik had left Jarn. So what did that say about her?
“Varik told me no one was on the ship. I was supposed to place it and leave, but then I heard barking and I panicked. I ran around the entire office building, trying to lose him. The bomb exploded before I could get back to the ship, and he left me.” He stared at Cyra as if she would feel sorry for him.
“You don’t feel bad about this at all, do you?” When he didn’t respond, just blinked at her blankly, she turned on her heel. “Get me out of here,” she told the shadow man.
“What will you do with him?” she asked Derrain as he drove her and Veda back toThe Treasure.
“There will be a trial tomorrow. He’s admitted his guilt, so it’s simply a cursory procedure to get the documentation correct.”
“He’ll be punished?”
“He’ll spend the rest of his life in the mines.”
Good nearly came out of her mouth, except Dez was spending the rest of his life in those very same mines and he’d done nothing to deserve it.
The rest meal sucked. The crew was upset that Dez had been injured and was going to stay on the planet and the food was terrible. The fact that Jarn had been caught instead of Varik only added to the heavy remorse.
“Are we prepared to leave once the investigation is complete and we receive authorization?” Cyra asked.
“The fuel stores are full,” Blaize told her with no excitement in her voice.
“I have a path back to Cassan charted. We’re using a wormhole.” Rhysa crossed her arms and glared at Cyra.
“Why?” Cyra didn’t want to, but she didn’t have a good reason besides it made her feel icky.
“We don’t have any appointments to make. If we encounter a time cost, it will be irrelevant. The mining company uses this wormhole constantly. They haven’t had any adverse results.”
“Fine.” Who cared if the experience made her feel horrible, she already did. It couldn’t get worse. “Bodi, please arrange authorization to leave as scheduled.”
“Yes, Captain.”
They sat quietly for a few more moments, the air heavy with unsaid words. Cyra left the galley and went to her water chamber.
The chamber wasn’t as restorative as she hoped. Every time she let her mind drift, Dez filled her thoughts. The caress of the water reminded her of his hands on her body. Her lips tingled with the echoes of their last kiss. Her heart ached with an unexplainable pain. She would miss him deeply for a long time. She wasn’t sure when she’d become so attached to him, but it had happened. She missed him more than she had ever missed Captain Auvi and Dez wasn’t dead. It was a shocking surprise. The water wasn’t helping her. She got out quickly and hid in her quarters hoping sleep would provide the escape she was seeking.
Cyra found no rest. Her sleep was hijacked by disturbing dreams that made no sense. She dreamed of Captain Auvi dying. But it wasn’t Captain Auvi, it was Dez. He was in the Captain’s quarter and she was the one who was putting a poisonous spider in the room with him. He was lying in her bed, dead. He didn't have the injuries from the bomb. But he was an unnatural blue grey color and his yellow eyes were open and cloudy, staring at nothing on the ceiling of the room. She woke to the sounds of her screams.
Chapter41
