She shook Milo’s arm. “Wake up.” Nothing. She gritted her teeth and slapped his face. “Wake the fuck up, Milo.”
His eyes blinked open and he focused on her. He sat up, rubbing the back of his head and looking around. “My wand?”
“There.”
She pointed to where it stuck out from under a huge lump of red rock. He reached for it, tugged, but it was stuck solid. He opened his mouth, no doubt to do some clever magic thing, when a click sounded behind her and she turned slowly.
Silas stood there, a rifle in his hands, aimed at Milo. “You should have just gone,” Silas said. “Why the hell couldn’t you have just gone?” His finger tightened on the trigger.
“Hold on, baby,” Milo murmured from beside her.
Her eyes widened, then she gripped his arm.
And the world disappeared.
Chapter Forty-Two
“‘Farewell kindness, humanity, and gratitude! Farewell to all the feelings that expand the heart! I have been heaven’s substitute to recompense the good - now the god of vengeance yields to me his power to punish the wicked!’”
—Alexandre Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo
They were in the cavern beside the spaceship, Destiny gripping his arm so tight he thought his bones might snap.
The nuke lay on the sand beside them. It hadn’t blown up. Thank fuck.
Unfortunately, his wand had been left behind in the rubble. Damn. He had an idea he would be needing it before this was over.
“We’re safe,” he said. For now. He wasn’t sure how long that would last. As he spoke, Rico and Dylan emerged from the tunnel, still carrying the nuke between them.
Rico halted in front of them and grinned. “Impressive. Let’s get these on board and then decide what to do next. Will your wards hold?”
“They should. We’re safe for now.”
“They’re going to keep coming,” Dylan said. “Any moment and the place will be crawling with Kinross’s men.”
Rico sniffed the air. “Well, it’s too close to dawn to leave. We’re going to have to sit out the day and make a run for it under cover of darkness.”
“A run to where?” Milo asked.
“The shuttle from the Trakis Five,” Dylan replied. “We checked them out and one of the representatives is sick and confined on board. He can fly the thing, so we don’t need to override the biometrics. We’ll be cutting it close, though. We have another twelve hours while the planets are in alignment and after that the shuttle won’t make it back to Trakis Two.”
They carried the last two nukes into the ship and stored them with the others. Destiny was going to attempt to disarm them. But there was no rush now. They had the whole day and he hadn’t slept in…a long time. He was exhausted and his head hurt. He had an overwhelming urge to lie down on an actual bed and hold Destiny while they both slept.
She looked as tired as he felt. Shadows under her eyes.
“I’m going to go check what’s happening out there,” Dylan said. “You two…don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”
Rico snorted. He’d found some whiskey and was swigging straight from the bottle. “I’m going to see if I can contact the Trakis Two. We might need them before this is over.” He left as well, and they were alone.
“Let’s go to bed,” he said, holding out his hand.
She looked at it longingly. “I have to…” She waved a hand at the nukes.
“They’ll wait. And you’ll work better after some rest.”
With a quick nod, she slid her hand into his, then led the way, taking him to a small circular cabin on the other side of the ship. This was obviously where she had been sleeping as her clothes lay over a small stool, and the huge bed, which took up most of the cabin, was rumpled and unmade.
He undressed her slowly, then stripped off his own clothes.
This time they made love slowly and sweetly, and afterward, he pulled her naked body close and stroked her back until her breathing evened out and she slept.
Sleep eluded him, though.
Milo couldn’t shake the feeling that they were making a huge mistake by leaving Kinross alive. They couldn’t rely on the bastard to do the convenient thing and die. And while he was alive, he would keep coming after Destiny. She was his one hope of life. She would never be safe until Kinross was dead. Kinross would pursue them across the universe. She would spend her whole life looking over her shoulder.