Page 57 of Her Lawless Prince

“Let’s hope they don’t find out. Nyle is not a bad man, Roderic,” she whispered. “Please. Trust me.”

“I’m not the one you have to convince, but I am on your side.” Roderic put his hands on her shoulders and looked as if he wanted to hug her. “You love him, don’t you?”

A tear slipped down her cheek, and she nodded.

“Then keep faith that the gods know what they are doing,” he instructed. “I didn’t think Justina and I would ever find a way, but we did. We were written into two different stories, and somehow, we found our way to each other. The odds were impossible.”

She wished she had his kind of faith. “I’ve made a mess of everything. I don’t know how Nyle feels about me, and I have no right to ask him. I’m half mated. He deserves more than that, and the family is already humiliated by the idea of me taking multiple husbands. One half mate might be overlooked in time as a quirk, but not multiple. Multiple is a statement.”

“Don’t lose hope.” This time he did hug her. “We never know what tomorrow will bring. Once we deal with the Federation then, who knows? If you are meant to be with him, then the gods will find a way to make it so.”

21

Nyle was convincedhe could feel the world moving beneath him, as the songs of the universes buzzed in his ears. When he opened his eyes, it was to flashes of light, colors that drifted like they were carried by the wind. When his eyes closed, it was to a swirl of dreams that made no logical sense and yet conveyed everything within them that mattered.

He saw the shine coming off the tall buildings of his youth. It flashed like a smile from a pretty woman. Faltering and brief.

He lingered in a memory of being in the laboratory, holding delicate instruments in his hands as he created the most beautiful machines. Yevgen had been born there. He’d seen his eyes open and light up for the first time and heard the monotone voice repeating test sequences before they gave him a personality.

And then there was Payton. The princess reigned over every moment, present even when she was not. She was a feeling more than an image, a part of himself he could not survive without. She had been his salvation all those nights in space, alone as he watched the scraps of transmissions from Yevgen for a glimpse of her. He remembered watching her stalk down an endless metal corridor, paws moving soundlessly over the grates, turning to feet and then back again.

The soft bed he now inhabited was much better than the hard cot he had been on. At least, from what little he could remember between doses of sleep. Payton’s brother really didn’t care for him. Ryland had kept him under chemical restraint for the entire flight, and Nyle was just now starting to come out of it.

He lingered in the twilight, not ready to leave the dream world where Payton existed just for him. But reality beckoned, as it always did, to ruin the perfection of fantasy.

The buzz in his ears softened. The world settled and stopped swaying.

Nyle stared between the two open curtains. The thick material hung around him as he lay on the large bed. Closed, they would cloak him in darkness.

A gentle light came from a domed window above. Small mirrors caught the reflection, sending it around the room in oval patterns that shimmered on the walls. The furniture looked like it had never been used, and the thick white cushions were too pretty to sit on. Two dark blue banners hung over a fireplace. The silhouette of a cat’s roaring head had been imprinted on one, and the figure of an upright cat with claws extended on the other.

He slowly rolled onto his stomach and crawled to the end of the bed. His fingers dug into the silky blankets. “Hello?”

No one answered.

He searched the suite and found it empty. Across the room, more curtains hung around a bathing tub. Small sculptures decorated several surfaces.

This was not a home. It was a waystation. It was a place wealthy people came for short periods but not to live.

Nyle frowned as he made his way to his unsteady feet. He crossed to a pair of tall double doors and pressed his hands against the carved cats in the wood. They refused to open. He then ran his hands over the walls, looking for hidden scanners.

“Open,” he ordered.

The doors did not obey. He was locked inside.

Looking up at the sky, he reasoned he was on Qurilixen. The green-tinted daylight gave it away, as did the fact that was where the ship had been heading.

Where was Payton?

He had a hard time believing she would let him be drugged and detained on the ship. But this room hardly seemed like a prison.

Nyle examined his body. He remembered being in the medical booth for his knees. Had it found something worse?

No, that didn’t make sense either. He’d just been checked by the unit not long before they lost gravity.

This room hardly seemed like a prison, but then why couldn’t he leave?

“Hello?” He called louder. “Computer? Is there a computer?”

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