Page 7 of Archlord of Exile

Inez’s fingers itched for a knife. If only she had grabbed Rylec’s blade off the floor first. But she wasn’t used to having Rylec’s magic. He only had time to teach her the basics before their escape attempt. On the other side of the galaxy, they weren’t in close enough proximity for the tether to work. She lacked his instincts, honed since birth through brutal training.

Inez could, at the very least, thwart his attacks. But would it be enough to walk out with all her charges alive and well?

No, it wasn’t.

She needed to take this fight elsewhere.

Rylec gestured gracefully toward the door, like the gentleman he clearly wasn’t. The unnerving smirk still hadn’t left his lips. Had he guessed her plan? Probably. Did he care? No. Not one bit. And that was what bothered her the most.

Inez glanced at her charges. “When you arrive on Earth, there will be someone waiting for you.”

None of them replied, but she knew they had heard. They didn’t trust her anymore, but once they arrived on Earth, they’d have no choice but to go with whoever the Star Network sent. There was no place for them back on their home planets. Any decent Sollirian hunter erased all memories of a star-maid from their family and friends’ minds.

Inez straightened her shoulders and marched from the cabin.

Rylec followed behind her, his presence at her back sending a shiver up her spine.

This wasn’t going to go well at all, was it?

Chapter 5

Inez remained silent as they entered the hallway. The lights flickered, throwing the catastrophe of a cruise ship into occasional darkness. Rylec stepped over broken glass, overturned vases, and an unnatural quantity of throw pillows. The haphazard furniture provided more of an obstacle course, but it didn’t stop him from keeping pace with his wife.

Who still wasn’t speaking to him. “What’s the plan, wife?”

A vein in her forehead throbbed, but she didn’t react otherwise. “What do you mean?”

“You have no intention of coming with me. I’m trying to figure out your plan.”

She snorted. “I’m not going to tell you.”

“I suppose not.” Rylec linked his hands behind his back like they were on a casual stroll. “Perhaps you don’t have a plan.”

Inez stopped. “Rylec—”

He continued walking. “The nearest escape pods are right up ahead. Don’t stop on my account.”

She huffed, but a second later, was at his side again. “And what’s your plan?”

He raised a single pale eyebrow at her. “My plan?”

“To get me to come without a fight?”

Ah. That. He pursed his lips. Rylec hadn’t exactly had a plan when the Tertian Council dressed him in an Earthling suit, shoved him in a shuttle, and told him to be a good boy or else. He hadn’t planned to fight his wife or leave her charges behind. But now that he had time to think, the answer was obvious. “The truth.”

“And that is?”

They turned the corner to the stretch of hall before the escape pods. Three staff members in their gaudy red uniforms stood before the open doorways. Two of them calmed the line of impatient passengers, while the third walked from pod to pod, closing each set of doors manually. TheParadisewas dead but the feeble-minded creatures of the Intergalactic Alliance thought this was uninhabited space. With nowhere to go, staying put and awaiting assistance was the best course of action if the ship wasn’t going to explode immediately.

How annoying that it provided Rylec with yet another obstacle.

One of the staff spotted them pushing through the crowd and put on the galaxy’s fakest smile. “I know this must all be scary, but there’s no reason to panic—”

Rylec snapped his fingers. His magic jabbed out, applying pressure to all the right places in the neck. The man’s eyes rolled into the back of his head as he collapsed to the floor.

Inez grabbed his arm. “What the fuck, Rylec?”

He didn’t hear the rest of what she said. Someone screamed. The second staff member stared, wide-eyed. The surrounding crowd hadn’t realized what had happened, but everyone was already on edge. Voices raised and elbows flew as humans and aliens in various stages of undress pushed forward. Nothing distracted like the panic of a crowd.

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