Page 16 of Into The Rift

Lord Dominiko

I knew Jago was serious, and the little firebrand would no doubt try to kill Linnius if he touched him, which only served to endear him to me that much more. I’d already seen what he could do with a knife. But he might get himself hurt or killed in the process, and I found that I really didn’t like that idea too much. I didn’t want to think about why.

Linnius surrounded himself with personal guards, too, and even though, in my opinion, he, himself, had no real intelligence, he had an animal-like cunning that had so far stood him in good stead. He had thwarted several assassination attempts on himself to date. He would easily see Prince Jago’s contempt, and he wouldn’t be pleased by it.

But if someone—like me—were determined and skilled, and wanted Linnius’s death badly enough, then they might just be able to achieve what others before them hadn’t been able to as yet. I needed to think about how I might use Jago to my own advantage. I hadn’t survived in the Pton world as long as I had by doing otherwise.

I had some time to figure it out before we arrived back on Pton. But first things first. I needed to get the Tygerian colonel off my back long enough to slip into the rift and locate the wormhole that would take us home. That meant opening the channel back up and talking to him. Making a deal for just Rakkur.

I nodded toward a door to the bridge. “Out that way is the bridge, where my captain has been trying to evade your colonel’s ship, thus far without success. I imagine your colonel is getting more and more agitated. Would you like to go with me to speak to him?”

“Yes. But I’m afraid I don’t know him all that well. He and Prince Rakkur got married on Loros, and I didn’t meet him until just before we embarked on the ship back to Tygeria.”

“I still think it’s a good idea if he sees you.”

“All right then.”

We went out onto the bridge, and I spoke briefly to the captain, having him open up a channel to the Tygerian ship. A few seconds later, the screen winked on and Tariq, a big, handsome Tygerian with the typical red beard of the Imperials and the same color eyes as I had was staring back at us.

“This is Tariq. Are you calling to surrender to us, or do you only want to insult us again?”

“I’m here to present you with my best offer. A chance to see your mate alive again.”

Tariq snarled at us alarmingly before saying something sharp and harsh to someone standing near him. He turned back to us, and I saw his gaze scan quickly over Jago, lingering on the bruises along his jaw.

“Your Highness, you’re injured,” he said, not making it a question.

“I’m fine, Colonel. I got into a little fight with the Pton soldiers when they brought us onboard.” Loud growling started up, and Jago had to raise his voice to get above it.

“But Rakkur is good—completely unharmed.” I thought Jago was wise not to mention the bump Rakkur got on the head when he’d fought the soldiers too. Surely the man knew how volatile his own relations were.

He made a grunting sound but didn’t look at all happy. He’d be even less so once he heard what I still had to say.

“Your mate is uncomfortable on my ship, I’m afraid,” I told Tariq. ‘Our information about him didn’t indicate that he was quite so…so far along in his condition.” There was more snarling, which I ignored.

“That’s why I’m making you an offer. I’ll let you send a shuttle craft to dock with my ship for a very brief window of time, so that you can retrieve him yourself and take him back with you to your ship.”

“What kind of trick are you trying to pull?”

I lifted one shoulder. “No trick as far as your mate is concerned. However, Prince Jago will stay aboard our ship and go back to my planet to become a hostage of the Pton.”

Tariq began to curse rapidly in Tygerian, and I could hear a chorus of loud arguing behind him. Finally, one clear phrase came through loud and clear, and it came from the Colonel.

“It’s out of the question! Surrender them both now, or I’ll destroy your ship and everyone on board!”

Dominiko shook his head. “You’d better start to use your head, Colonel, as this is your last chance. I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt now that you’re upset over the situation, and I’ll give you some time to think about it. But my patience is limited.”

I glanced over at the captain, who quickly cut the audio, amid the numerous curses.

I smiled over at Jago. “I think that went pretty well, don’t you?”

He looked back at me like I’d lost my mind. “Are you serious? He was furious. He’ll never go along with this idea.”

“He’ll come around.”

“How do you figure that?”

“Because he has no other choice, princeling. He will either take the offer, or I’ll go into the rift and do my best to lose him there. It might be a bit difficult, but remember I’ve been in the rift before, and he hasn’t. I think I’d have a decent chance to elude him and get away, while he would more than likely never find his way out again. If he won’t take this offer, he’ll risk losing both of you, along with his unborn child and maybe his ship and his own life. He can bluster all he wants or needs to if it helps make him feel better, but the outcome will be the same. He’ll come around. Now I’ll have someone escort you back to your cell, and you can try to prepare the prince. Later, we’ll go back and speak to the colonel one more time. This time I’ll try letting him see his young husband. We’ll see if that will change his attitude.”

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