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  “Ready?” He held out a hand and she took it, allowing him to help her to her feet. “You’re doing a good job, princess.”

  “Stop calling me that!”

  He grinned and she locked her jaw and rolled her eyes. Good. Anger was better than fear, easier to manage and control.

  “You’re an idiot,” she muttered, bringing a startled laugh from Andrei.

  “No argument there.”

  And they ran again.

  She must have hit her head in the passageway. There was no other explanation for why she couldn’t seem to stop thinking about the strength in his hand as he’d helped her up, the way his voice had softened as he’d told her she was doing a good job.

  Ridiculous to be excited by such a rude man. Though, she thought as they ran, he was so very masculine and imposing. Nothing like anyone she’d ever met before. The other man was handsome, too, mysterious and quiet, but she couldn’t stop looking at Daniel. He was just, so . . . something. Big. Bold. Strong. Fearless. She admired it, was attracted to it even as it puzzled her and made her breathless.

  Her muscles began to burn and ache. She killed the time and tried to ignore the fear and encroaching exhaustion by thinking of other things. But those other things were either about losing her entire life, those dead soldiers or about Daniel.

  At least thinking about Daniel warmed her, made her nipples harden against the material of her blouse. She didn’t need to change her fantasies, or even feel guilty about it.

  Whatever he was, whoever he was, he’d unleashed something inside her, sent it rushing through her veins. At least she could blame any breathlessness or flushed skin on the running. If she lived long enough to stop, that was. Good gods, she’d not done this much physically intense activity in many years.

  The first arches around the portal city meant they needed to slow down. Excitement and fear woke her up again once she’d caught her breath. She hoped she looked nonchalant as she ate up the details of what she saw all around her.

  The portal city was always awake, always working. It was one of her favorite places on Caelinus, and she took every chance she got to come out and greet visitors or see off guests. It was totally different from the compound. Vibrant. Everything smelled and sounded spicy.

  People milled around, but not in as great a number as they did once the suns had risen until midday. As such, the three people headed toward the departure decks weren’t given more than a second glance. They were just like everyone else, leaving, arriving, doing business.

  They passed an open-air fried dough booth and her smile faded as she wondered if they had anything like it on the other side. She’d miss the smell of home, miss the people, miss how they spoke, their accents, the way they looked on festival days. She would have to leave it all behind. The ache of it made it hard to get a deep breath as she struggled to hold it together.

  The portal was just ahead, and Daniel stopped, steering them into a space between two outbuildings. A nearby door squeaked when Daniel unlocked it, nearly sending her out of her skin.

  Andrei touched her arm briefly, calming her, ushering her inside after Daniel. The room beyond looked relatively unused. Dust covered the stacks of boxes against a far wall. There were no windows and no other doors but the one they’d just used.

  Daniel strode over, handing her a bundle. “Traveling clothes and some papers. It’s pretty simple: You’re my sister Rina. We’re on our way to Monteh to attend the harvest festival and to meet your intended. I figured it was close enough to your real name you could remember easily enough.”

  She’d been simmering with anger that he seemed to consider her an utter idiot, but then he turned his back and began to strip. Though she knew it was rude, there was simply no way she could stop herself from staring at the wide expanse of his shoulders tapering down to a narrow waist. Oh, gods, this was so ridiculous, but it pushed all her buttons! He stepped from his pants, and his rear was the finest she’d ever seen. Not that she’d seen a lot of bare asses in her lifetime, not on adult men anyway. But the few she’d espied over her life had given her a fair enough spectrum, and his was right at the top.

  Her gaze glued to his body, her hands fumbled, but she managed to change into the simple gown he’d provided. It fit fine, and the fabric had been softened by age. Her skin had darkened, and from what she could see, her hair was now the same shade as her eyes. No one would expect to see her in the first place, but now she felt even better about their ability to remain undetected.

  His muscles flexed and bunched as he moved. As he slid weapon after weapon onto his body. He was so taut and dangerous. Beautifully lethal and it stole her ability to think. His clothes fit his body well and even though she’d watched him strapping on all that gear, she couldn’t tell by looking at him.

  “I never thought to carry a weapon there,” she said, and then he looked up. Their gazes locked, and she felt it all the way to her toes. This was how she wanted to look at a man. There was something there between them. It wasn’t the same sort of depth of want she’d witnessed in the loft, but it was not the calculating greed she’d seen on Hartley’s face either.

  It had been less than a day, not even half a day since he’d been some fop bowing and scraping to her father. It seemed as if weeks had passed, as if worlds had slid between her and the woman she’d been before the first moonrise. Instead of Mortimer, or even the man who’d introduced himself as Daniel in her bedchamber, he was something else again. Capable. Aggressive. Hard. This Daniel was posing as a boot maker, he’d told her. Ha!

  She’d had boots made for her over her lifetime, and none of the men who’d crafted them ever looked like Daniel. She might have worn boots more if they had.

  “Ready?” Daniel, broke his gaze away from her face as he looked her up and down. He made a sound and stepped into her space, fussing with her hair. She tried to pull back, but he held on, yanking just a bit harder than he needed to, and she slapped at his hands.

  “I don’t appreciate being manhandled.”

  “Too bad. Look, you’re sheltered obviously, but common people don’t have that sort of hair, not the way you have it styled. What woman who had to work all day long would have the time to do something so ornate?” He took down the updo she’d created and began to braid it in the back.

  It felt . . . intimate to have his hands in her hair that way. Even as she wanted to be angry at him for handling her as if she were a doll or a thing, he was gentle once she held still. She didn’t get touched very often. Other than her mother and YaYa, no one hugged her tight or touched her with absent affection.

  She slammed the door on that. If she went that way, she’d only end up more upset.

  “There.” He stood back, and she patted his work, finding it more than satisfactory.

  “Do you braid your wife’s hair?” Well, that was very obvious. She fought a blush and thanked the low light of the room.

  He took a few more steps away and the distance yawned between them and then she felt like a fool, wondering if he’d misinterpreted what she’d said. Or interpreted it correctly.

  “No. My sister has very long hair though, like yours only dark as obsidian.” He shouldered his gear and motioned to hers. “Grab your pack. I can’t carry it for you.”

  “I don’t expect you to!” That bag held what little she could safely take with her. She’d hold it and keep it safe herself.

  He rolled his eyes. “Stop being so offended all the time. You’re a workingwoman; you’d be expected to carry your personal pack. If it were heavy, I’d take it for you. But you have to remember your role here.”

  It was right at that very moment when she promised herself that she would never again live a lie or use masks with people unless it was absolutely necessary. She had a big job ahead of her, and she’d be alone. She owed it to herself to be a real person, the Carina Fardelle she was when she was alone in the passageways.

  “In the first place, do you have another complaint to make? I’m bored with this on
e now.” She glared. “I’m not offended! You keep going out of your way to think I’m someone I’m not. It’s vexing. It’s like you want me to be offended. If I mess up, then do correct me, but you have no right to prejudge me. You don’t know me enough to think me spoiled and lazy.”

  “Deal with it.” He turned and fussed with something in his pack, so she was content to make a face at his back.

  She tested the weight of her bag; it wasn’t too bad. Offended! The only thing she was offended by was his assumption that she was offended in the first place. She hated that he thought she was a spoiled princess. Yes, she had grown up with things many others didn’t have, but she wasn’t so sheltered she didn’t know how to carry her own bags.

  “Carina.” He kept his back to her.

  “Yes?” she asked with mocking sweetness.

  He may have snorted; she wasn’t sure. “You’re right. I apologize.”

  Ugh! He was so infuriatingly unexpected. Before she could reply, Andrei came back into the room, and the moment had ended.

  This time he faced her. “We’re going now. Follow my lead and remember, you’re not Carina, you’re Rina, and you’re my sister. I’m hoping they don’t find you missing for a while yet. At least until after we get checked in. But if they do, if we encounter anything dangerous, you have to trust me and follow my lead. Have your papers within easy reach; you’ll need to show them multiple times.”

  She clenched her fists so her nails dug into her palms, just needing that sharp edge of pain to keep it together. Carina needed to remember that it was still some time until she’d be expected. There was no reason to go searching for trouble. They had enough already.

  “Fine. I’m not stupid, you know. I’m educated and capable. And”—she arched a brow at him, reminding him she was more than some half-witted twit who couldn’t find her way from a wet bag—“I’ve been to other ’Verses many times throughout my life. I’ve been on transports before. I’m also a qualified pilot.”

  He stopped so close to her she felt the heat from his skin. So close she could scent him. That male whatever he seemed to exude—and it made her heart beat faster, her breath catch and all sorts of wonderful things happened to her nipples and her clit. She might have been embarrassed by that even just days before, but right then, she reveled in it.

  He leaned his head down, just inches from touching her. She could almost feel his lips against her temple. How could his nearness make her so befuddled? It was as if the closer she stood to him, the more fluff-headed she felt.

  “I don’t believe you’re stupid. I do believe I know more about this sort of thing than you do. In fact, let’s get this clear right now. You will give me your complete obedience in all things. Once this is over and you’re safely on the other side, you can do whatever you want. But until then, our lives are on the line, and all my concentration will be necessary to get us out of here. If you can’t do that, tell me now.”

  She had a few things to tell him all right. “You’re such an ass.”

  He grinned, and it infuriated her. Both that he was so arrogant and pushy and that her body seemed to find those things attractive.

  “I’ve been told this a time or two. I may not have the best manners of any man you’ll meet. Then again, I’m not a torturer either. In any case, I’m the best hope you have of escaping, so let’s just get to the point where you agree, and we can get going.”

  With a barely restrained growl, she clamped her lips and nodded. “Fine.”

  “Then let’s move.”

  And they went from the quiet little room out into the city again, surrounded by noise and people. Andrei touched his forehead with a slight bow and then turned to Daniel.

  “Travel safe, friend.”

  Before she could say another word, Andrei had melted into the crowd and she lost sight of him. She swallowed hard at the unexpected swell of emotion at the loss of someone she’d only known for a short time.

  Daniel squeezed her hand a moment and tipped his chin toward the departure decks, and she took the big, scary step into her future.

  Chapter 6

  The chaos of the departure decks had provided plenty of cover as Daniel split off from Andrei to guide Carina to their transport. Andrei would head to the other side of the deck to meet up with a female operative, to spread their trail a little wider. As they moved through the outer edge toward where the transports were docked, Daniel noted the level of soldiers and security in the area.

  Just in the last short while the activity levels all around them had increased so that there were three times as many people out than there’d been before. Carina had told him it would be busy in the two hours before the suns rose as the commerce hours started before first sunrise and closed during the zenith of the heat. Normally Daniel hated crowds because it was far more difficult to see and react to all the variables of an operation. However, just then he appreciated the extra strain on attention of those soldiers. Distracted and busy personnel at the checkpoints raised their chances of getting on board and off ’Verse without any trouble.

  Their identification and destination paperwork seemed to hold up as they moved closer and closer to where the midsize transport they had booked into loomed ahead. In the time it had taken them to get through the last six checkpoints, the light was beginning to edge the darkness at the horizon.

  “What’s your purpose and destination?” The harried clerk at the base of the stairs up to the passenger decks held their paperwork in her hands.

  “Monteh. The harvest festival. I’m a boot maker. Lots of flush farmers who need new boots.” He flirted with her, and her annoyance softened. “This is my sister, Rina. I’m escorting her to meet her intended and his family.”

  A soldier approached and pushed the clerk aside. He grabbed the paperwork and grunted as he looked it over. Carina stiffened, and Daniel willed her to hold herself together and keep to her cover. This same soldier had been moving through the crowd, bullying and harassing people since they’d arrived. Best to keep your head down and not let his type rattle you.

  “Doesn’t look like your sister,” the soldier said, looking at her a little too closely for Daniel’s liking.

  Daniel moved his body, keeping between the man and Carina. He didn’t answer, it wasn’t a question anyway.

  “What’d you say you were doing on Fortuna?”

  “Monteh. We’re going to Monteh. For work and for my sister to meet her intended.” Daniel wished he didn’t have to play meek, wished he could plant his fist in this fool’s face to stop him from pawing Carina with his gaze.

  She was nervous enough without this idiot using his power to abuse her for no other reason than because he could.

  Bored that he was unable to get a rise out of Daniel, the soldier tossed the papers at the clerk. “Mind your manners, farmer.”

  The clerk stamped the paperwork and thrust it back to Daniel with an annoyed glance back over her shoulder at the retreating soldier.

  “Safe travels and good tidings on your upcoming nuptials.”

  Carina choked out a thanks as Daniel steered her up the steps to the entrance to the passenger berths.

  She’d held up well, but the strain was beginning to show on her features. Funny thing was, it made her look far more like a regular citizen of the Imperium than she did before. Most of the people he encountered had tired eyes and an air of sadness around them.

  “Here we are.” He slid the key card through the slot next to their door, and it blinked green. It wasn’t a large room, but it would serve their purpose. He hoped.

  “Why don’t you rest? It’ll be some time before we arrive, and you need to sleep.”

  With wide, startled eyes, she looked up at him from where she’d curled up on the small bed. They shimmered with unshed tears, and her mouth had that wobble Abbie’s did when she tried not to cry. Carina looked about one more upset away from weeping, but she held up. He had to give it to her, she held up.

  “I don’t know that I can sleep
right now. I feel tired, but my mind is racing.”

  Something tugged deep in his belly. He knew she must have been devastated, but he was not her nursemaid. He didn’t know how to be, and he wasn’t sure if it would send her rocketing over the edge she was already perilously balanced on.

  Usually he came in, grabbed the information or took out the target and got out. He rarely worked with people other than contacts or operatives. This was different. She was different. He felt for her, admired her even though he kept telling himself to stop thinking about her at all. She shook him, and he could not afford to feel sorry for her.

  She was the enemy until proven otherwise, though he trusted his gut, and his gut told him she was not going to play him false. He wasn’t going to take any chances until he knew more.

  He bustled around, trying not to look at her again. Talking to her to pass the time and, he told himself, to keep her calm. She made a small sound, and he turned, unable to ignore her any further.

  He looked. And found himself ensnared.

  She was so small there, lost. Every part of him wanted to go to her, gather her up and make everything all right. Since that was utterly out of the question, not to mention totally unprofessional, he found himself trying to make her smile. “If you won’t sleep, at least you can eat. Once we get started, I’ll get us some food and something to drink. Are you all right until then? I have some dried fruit in my pack if you need something.”

  She blinked. A combination of surprise to be roused from whatever she’d been thinking of and also to clear the tears she’d tried to hide from him. He was torn between handing her a kerchief and pretending not to see it. He was transported back to seventeen standard years old, the first time he’d seen Mariella, the first girl who’d truly stolen his breath.

  But he wasn’t that boy, and Carina Fardelle wasn’t some innocent merchant’s daughter either. Though reminding himself of this point wasn’t enough to make him look away from her.