Page 42 of Her Lawless Prince

Nyle wantedto say so much but to Payton, not her family and particularly not Yevgen. Whatever was going on with the cyborg’s programming felt like more than a glitch. He was being petty, argumentative, and vengeful. These were not traits programmed in by Yeven Genetic Cyborgtronics Laboratories. Sure, cyborgs could sound assertive when they talked about facts, but there shouldn’t have been anything behind it.

If Nyle didn’t know better, he’d have thought Yevgen actually had feelings.

Nyle knew better. It was all sophisticated—glitchy—programming. That was it.

Then why was it bothering him so much?

He glanced toward Payton. She walked in front of him beside Rick.

It didn’t take a genius to figure out why it bothered him. There was no point in his denying it. He wanted Payton. He wanted to touch her, hold her, make love to her, fly away into deep space with her. He wanted to go back to that moment when the world faded away, and it was just the two of them alone in the storage closet.

Nyle had accepted long ago that he rarely got anything he wanted.

“I don’t need to tell you that I’ll drop you out of the hatch into the deep black if you hurt her, do I?” Rick asked, not looking back at him.

“I would never hurt her.” Nyle frowned. What was it with everyone threatening to eject him into space like trash?

Pay day. Payload. Space trash.

Rick stopped and gestured toward a door. “You can rest in there. Yevgen will be hooked up for a while with Dev. It looked like the two of you had some things to discuss. No one will bother you until we are able to call the palace.”

Payton nodded. “Thank you.”

Rick gave him a small nod as he strode down the hall. He hummed softly to himself before singing,“Our birth was a hard one, or so we’ve been told, our mothers were harlots our fathers out cold. The doctor was drunk, lads, the bartender did pour, as we shot out with the thunder and came with a roar.”

“Your uncle is…” Nyle tried to think of a diplomatic word.

“Odd?” Payton chuckled. She began softly humming the same tune as she put her hand against the door scanner.

“Yes.” Nyle breathed a little easier now that they were alone.

“Rick’s always flown his own path.” Payton went inside the room.

Like the rest of the ship, the quarters appeared well kept but old in design. He half expected loud clanks to echo through the walls, but the ride remained smooth. Faded paint on the metal walls marked the outside door. He’d seen similar symbols throughout the corridors. A faint vibration came from the floor as he stepped inside, as if the engine room was close by. Someone had taken care of this spacecraft.

“Are you coming?” Payton asked, prompting him to follow her inside.

The door slid shut behind him. A viewing screen hung from the ceiling and buttons lined the wall to control hidden furniture.

“The crew seems to really care about you,” he noted.

“I’ve known Rick, Jackson, and Dev my entire life. That story I told you earlier about how my parents met. Rick and Dev were there with my mother when she kidnapped my father. Jackson was on my Uncle Jarek’s crew at the time, and they came to rescue him. It’s how they all met. You know, now that I think about it, they all have interesting stories about how they met their wives. Maybe they’ll tell you about it someday.”

Nyle liked the sound of there being a someday for them, but he didn’t see how that would be possible. “I’m sorry if I have made things more difficult for you with your family.”

“Who, Ryland?” Payton waved her hand in dismissal. She pushed a button and the wall opened. A small couch slid out and the viewing screen lowered by a couple of feet. “He’ll get over it. He’s overprotective. It’s one of his least endearing traits. But he’s also fair. I think he’s most upset about Yevgen.”

“I can understand that,” Nyle said.

Her expression fell by small degrees. “I know it’s complicated.”

He nodded.

She sat on the couch, rested her elbows on her knees, and threaded her fingers together. Her gaze trained on the floor. “I know I made a mistake.”

He could tell that was difficult for her to admit. He didn’t move as he stood in the doorway.

“I shouldn’t have let Yevgen announce we were half mates. I should have told him no. I didn’t think I’d want…” Payton took a deep breath and looked up at him. She slowly shook her head. “I didn’t think I’d ever want anything like…”

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