away from the burning shuttle to pan out around the surrounding area. It moved slowly, then stopped, focusing on something on the ground. At first there was nothing, then a body materialized as if out of nowhere.
“What the hell?” Luther said. “Where did that come from?”
“We don’t know. Some strange shit, right? We believe he was flung from the shuttle as it exploded, but no one can give an explanation as to why he wasn’t seen.” The camera was too far away to identify the man but was moving closer. Then two more figures appeared in the frame. Again, she couldn’t make out the details. One of them picked up the unconscious figure and hauled him over his shoulder and then they were running.
“The next bit is a little boring, so we’ll fast forward. It gets better, I promise.” The film whirred forward. Silas stopped it and restarted. They were in the forest now and running fast from the look of it. Suddenly a figure stepped out from behind a tree and threw something toward the camera.
Elvira’s breath caught in her throat and she jumped to her feet and took a step closer.
“That was a grenade she threw,” Silas said. “It killed one of the men, knocked out the others. You recognize her?”
She swallowed. Her lips were dry, and she licked them. Then she nodded. It wasn’t really something she could deny, however much she wanted to.
“Who the hell is it?” Luther asked, leaning forward in his seat and staring at the screen.
And she realized he’d never seen her, not even a picture.
“It’s Destiny,” she said.
Chapter Thirty-Two
“Moral wounds have this peculiarity - they may be hidden, but they never close; always painful, always ready to bleed when touched, they remain fresh and open in the heart.”
—Alexandre Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo
Destiny, please come home.
You are in the hands of mercenaries who are working to destroy our new colony. Whatever they have told you, they are not who they say they are. They murdered the Chosen Ones on the Trakis Two and took their places. Now they are seeking to take control of the Trakis system.
They will use you for their evil purposes.
You have a chance to do great good in the world. It is what you were born for. Come back and help us make the world a better, safer place for humanity.
If you’re a prisoner, then find a way to get in touch and we will come and rescue you.
I love you. You are my child as much as the children of my body. Come home, Destiny.
Dr. Yang’s voice. The message started over again, and Destiny sat and listened to it a second time. It was a recording, set up on a repeat loop to play over and over. Presumably just on the off chance that she was listening. Somehow Dr. Yang had discovered that Destiny was with Milo.
She’d been fiddling with the comm unit since Milo had left.
None of them had slept. Milo and Dylan had spent the hours going over various ideas. They had come up with the bare bones of a plan but were still waiting to hear back from Rico.
Dylan had gone off to do a patrol of the forest. Milo was checking his wards. Magic spells he’d set up to protect the place. He was a warlock, half demon. She had to keep reminding herself of that. He wasn’t fully human.
At that moment, she caught sight of him on one of the monitors, approaching the bridge, and she switched off the message then swiveled her chair so she faced the door.
Now that she knew what he was, she couldn’t quite believe that she’d ever thought him entirely human. But then, in her own defense, she hadn’t actually met that many. He’d only been the second, so perhaps it would have been more peculiar if she had noticed something amiss.
A lump caught in her throat as he strode onto the bridge, and her heart skipped a beat, then started racing. He was so big and beautiful.
She had a flash back to the feel of his hard body, on her, inside her. At the same time, she couldn’t dismiss the nagging sense that everything was going to fall apart any moment now. Milo didn’t love her—he’d told her so. And to make sure she understood, he’d told her that he would never love her, he was a loner. She suspected that he was protesting too much, but that also he was strong-willed and stubborn enough