“Buckle up,” she tosses over her shoulder. “This might get rough.” There’s a grin on her face, like she likes it rough, and that sends a frisson of something shivering through me.
Or maybe it’s just the wet robe.
My hands are trembling, and I’m fumbling with the harness as Merrick runs through the door, closely followed by Gage. Merrick stops dead at the sight of me, relief flashing across his features. He looks so different without his robe, sort of tough and dangerous and…admittedly very handsome. I’ve never thought of him like that before—I’ve never thought of anyone like that before.
It’s as if this whole trip, from the moment I first saw Kali and especially now, thanks to my time with Beckett, has awakened something new inside me—something that makes me think about a lot of things I never did before.
“You’re wet,” Merrick says, giving me a funny look.
“I went for a swim.”
“You don’t swim,” he deadpans.
“I was born on Askkandia, remember?” I tease. “It must be in my blood.”
Merrick just huffs, then glances at Beckett and frowns, probably because of her wet hair.
There’s nothing in the Book of the Dying Sun against priests and priestesses having relationships, even with those outside the faith. Though, from what I’ve gathered, it is unusual for a high priestess to have a relationship with an outsider—unusual for her to have any relationships, actually—because usually we don’t leave the monastery and it’s hard to meet interesting people stuck in there. Not that I’m saying those of us in the Sisterhood are boring, but Merrick’s pretty much the most interesting person in there, and he’s a verified stick in the mud.
I glance at Beckett. “Boring” is definitely not the first adjective that comes to mind when I think of her.
Sexy. Smart. Fascinating. Definitely not boring.
I clear my throat. “Where are the others? Are they okay?”
At that moment, Kali races in, still dressed in Merrick’s robe and clutching a bunch of bags to her chest. She drops them on the floor and runs to where Beckett is prepping the ship for takeoff.
“Where are the others?” I ask.
“They’re coming. Max is picking up the final supplies, and Ian went to meet up with him to help.”
I let out a sigh of relief that no one’s been shot. But then I take in Kali’s expression. “What’s wrong, then?” Because clearly something is—she looks like she’s in shock.
“There was a solar flare behind us,” Kali says, breathing hard. “Just as I got on the ship. And I’d swear it came straight from the Starlight.”
Beckett glances over her shoulder and frowns. “Unlikely.”
“I thought so as well, at first,” Kali says. “But I know what I saw. Can we see what’s happening behind us? Ian and Max are in trouble.”
“I’m yours to command, Princess,” Beckett replies in that snarky tone she always uses with Kali. It’s obvious she doesn’t like her, but then again, Beckett is an admitted member of the Rebellion, so I guess it makes sense. Kali’s family would be her number-one enemy.
A screen above Beckett’s head lights up—I didn’t even know there were screens on the ceiling, and from their expressions, no one else did, either—and then it flickers to reveal the view from the back of the ship. I lean forward against my harness to get a better look.
“Holy crap,” Beckett mutters. But she’s grinning again. “Looks like you might have been right about the flare. Though I really don’t think it came from here. A ship can’t do that.”
I don’t want to doubt Kali, but I’m kind of with Beckett on this one. We might be on the far edge of the spaceship docking area, but the screen zooms in enough to show that the whole town of Rangar is suddenly on fire. The buildings are a mass of flames reaching up to the sky with people running everywhere. I watch in pure horror as townspeople run out of burning buildings, carrying children, pets, their life’s possessions.
And then, from the middle of the conflagration, emerge Ian and Max. They’re running as if their lives depend on them getting to this ship.
Then again, they probably do. I watch as one of the buildings collapses behind them, sending waves of sparks and flames shooting across the lake.
“We have to help those people!” I start, but Merrick stops me with a light hand on my shoulder.
“This is Askkandia,” he says, then clarifies: “They have plenty of water. They’ll be able to put out their own fires.”
We watch, our hearts in our throats, as the two guys leap for the ship’s ramp. Beckett doesn’t even wait for them to make it to the top of the ramp before she presses a button. And then we’re rising, the ship shuddering violently as she lifts away from the planet.
My heart rate slows a bit as I see people working large hoses full of water, shooting toward the buildings and starting to put out the flames, before the ship shoots forward without Beckett touching anything else—almost like the ship was waiting for the men to get on board.
It moves so fast and hard that I’m flung back in my seat. Kali goes slamming against the wall, and Merrick just topples over, crashing to the floor with a resounding, “Fuck!”
I don’t think I’ve ever heard him swear before. I don’t think I even knew he could swear.
Beckett just laughs, so wildly and freely that it gives my heart wings to hear it.
A minute later, Ian appears in the doorway, a grin on his face. “That was…something.”
“You’re horrible,” Kali tells him. “You burned the place down.”
“We had nothing to do with that.” Max appears behind him. “It was an act of fate. Or, more likely, an act of the Dying Sun. Did you pray for us, Rain?”
“It doesn’t work like that,” I answer. Though every once in a while, I wish it did.
“Were you worried about us, Princess?” Ian teases.
She looks straight at him as she answers, “Yes.”
His eyes widen, and his mouth goes slack. And then the shock is gone, just as quickly as it came. “Get used to it, sweetheart. There’s never a dull moment when I’m around.”
She shakes her head, sinks into the nearest chair, and closes her eyes. “Just tell me the food got here,” she says to the room in general. “I’m famished.”
“It did,” Max answers with a grin. “I’ll go sort it out. I think we could all do with a little something.”
“A big something,” Kali mutters. “Huge.”
He smiles at her, then puts a hand on her shoulder and murmurs something quietly to her that I can’t quite hear. Whatever it is, it has a wide, surprised grin flashing across her face.
He winks at her in response, then walks out of the bridge, whistling a song I don’t recognize under his breath.
And now I’m really, really curious about what he said. I’m not supposed to be—high priestesses aren’t supposed to care about anything as mundane as simple human interactions—but I’ve never been a very good high priestess. At least not on the inside. And the longer I’m out of the monastery, the more I think I might not want to be a good one on the outside, either. If being good was in the Light’s will, then why would I have such a strong urge to be bad?