Page 34 of Into The Rift

The absolute fury the king was feeling as he glared at his consort was almost palpable in the small room. His ferocious stare would have quelled most men, but the small blond stared steadily back at him without a hint of fear. I began to think I’d badly misjudged this man. There was more here than just a pretty face, though I could see who Rakkur and Jago got their good looks from.

“I insist, Davos.”

The king made a savage, disgusted sound like “Pah,” at the back of his throat and turned on his heel to storm out. He threw open the heavy door with such force that it rebounded and struck the wall behind it. The consort turned to follow him, first putting back his hand to squeeze Jago’s and whisper to him. Jago sat back down and glanced over at me. The consort gave me a long, piercing look before he followed the king boldly out of the room.

My grandmother clutched my arm, pulling me down to hiss in my ear. “What’s wrong with you? If that man of his hadn’t intervened, he was about to attack you.”

“You weren’t exactly conciliatory yourself. I’m not going to beg that fucking, bad-tempered bastard for my life.”

We were speaking in Touzian, but some words—curse words—seem to translate into any language. Prince Mikol looked up sharply at my tone as I’d cursed his relative. He wasn’t as angry as his grandfather had been, but he wasn’t far behind him either. Well, fuck him too.

As for Jago, he looked even more worried, and I wondered why he was even there to witness this. I shot him a dark look, in case he was there to revel in my shame, but he didn’t look as if he was there for that. He looked upset, and I found myself wanting to reassure him, which was ridiculous. I turned away, but not speaking to him, not even acknowledging him only served to make me more aware of him, and I was very aware of his every move. He was still wearing the blue robe, which clung lovingly to his form. I heard him sigh—a slight sound but it pricked my attention. It was an anxious sound, and irrationally, I wanted to say something to comfort him, though what that could have been, I had no idea.

Anton was drumming his fingers on the table and Itaka was practically twitching with nerves and anger. I had no idea what the little blond man had thought he could say to the king, but I didn’t think it would make a bit of difference. I fully expected him to return any second and pronounce my sentence, if not actually carry it out. The door opened abruptly, and Davos reentered. His consort was right behind him, but he peeled away and went over to Jago to sit down beside him, giving him a sidelong glance as something passed between them. Jago still didn’t look happy.

Davos came back to glare at us across the table, visibly angry despite or maybe because of whatever had gone down in the hallway. “I need time to think about your offer and how we might ensure that you don’t just use it as a means of escaping,” he said. “Your crew has no part in this, you understand. They’d remain in prison regardless. This only concerns you.”

“I can remain as your hostage as guarantee against his return,” Itaka said, despite her husband’s furious glance at her. “If that would be satisfactory.”

Davos didn’t respond, and Mikol murmured something in his ear. They both stood up and Davos repeated his earlier words. “I need more time to think.” He bowed shortly in Itaka’s direction, gave me one more feral look, and he and Mikol headed toward the door. He got all the way to it before he seemed to recall himself and stopped, looking back at his consort.

He held out a hand to him. “Nobyo, please join me.”

His consort seemed to think about it for the briefest moment, and I actually thought for a brief second that he might refuse. Then he rose, nodding toward us on the other side of the table and joining his husband at the door, but he ignored the hand Davos held out to him. I didn’t have any idea what had transpired between them when they stepped out, but whatever it was, it had been short and apparently not particularly sweet. He made to pass by his husband, but Davos slipped his arm around his consort’s slim waist and pulled him backward, pressing him to his side. He took his hand in his and escorted him out the door. Jago stood too and gave me a long look before following them both out.

Chapter Ten

Jago

Blake was pacing and I sat on a soft chair in his room, watching him. It was evening, and I’d worried and fretted over Lord Dominiko all day since that disastrous meeting. So had Blake, apparently, because the minute I brought up my grandfather, he went off like one of the fireworks he enjoyed on his Earthan “holidays.”

“Irritating, insufferable man. I did the best I could, baby, and I’ve been talking to him for hours, but your grandfather is determined to see Lord Dominiko executed. He says the insult to him is far too great, and if others see him let this Pton lord get off so easily then the rest of us in the family are fair game. I got him to agree to wait until morning to make a final decision, in the hope that he’d calm down some, but that damnable temper of his has taken him over completely. He promised me he would think about it, but I believe he’s only trying to humor me.”

I grabbed his hand as he passed, forcing him to sit down beside me. “Omak-ahn, I have an important question for you. Do you trust me?”

“Do I what? Of course, I do, dear, but what has this to do with…”

“I need you to do something for me,” I interrupted. He sighed and nodded.

“All right. What do you want me to do?”

“Give me the access code to your ship.”

“What?”

“I know you have it.”

“Yes, of course I do, but why do you want it?”

“Do you want the truth?”

“Naturally, I do.”

“I want to break Lord Dominiko out of jail so he can leave the ship and get away.”

“What?”

“You heard me correctly. I want to get Niko the hell off this ship and get him to safety. I know Grandfather won’t change his mind. He’s far too angry and stubborn. You know it too.”

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