Between Burning Worlds (System Divine #2) - Jessica Brody Page 0,101

absolutely no reason to be scared.”

“No one is scared but you,” Cerise deadpanned.

Gabriel scoffed, which quickly turned into a cough. “Scared? Me? No way. I’ve been waiting my whole life to fly on one of those fancy voyageurs. Do you think they’ll serve gâteau? I’ve never had gâteau before. Or maybe duck paté? What does paté even taste like? I can’t say it sounds particularly appealing. Did you know that duck paté comes from Usonia? Why is that? Do they have a duck infestation problem there? Do ducks just roam about freely in those giant plastique bubbles? Like the chickens in the Marsh?”

Cerise let out a groan. “Are you going to blab all the way to Albion? Because I’m not sure I can take five days of that.”

Gabriel winked at Cerise. “Don’t worry, Sparkles. I’m an acquired taste. I imagine much like duck paté.”

“If you don’t shut up, I’m not bringing you.”

“Hold on,” Marcellus said, ripping his gaze from the window as though a thought had just occurred to him. “She’s right.”

Gabriel scoffed again. “No, she’s not. Wait. About what?”

“About bringing you. About bringing all of us. How do you expect to get us on that voyageur?” He gestured at Alouette, Gabriel, and himself. “We’re all wanted criminals now. It’s not like the three of us can just walk into the spaceport and board a ship.”

Cerise flashed a crafty smile that, for some reason, made Alouette’s stomach flip. “Don’t worry. I’ve already thought of that.”

Gabriel snorted. “What, are you going to smuggle us on in your luggage? Along with your collection of ridiculous hats?”

Cerise’s eyes twinkled with mischief. “Actually …”

Gabriel flinched. “I was joking.” He turned to Alouette. “She knows I was joking, right?”

Cerise pulled her TéléCom out of her pocket and tapped on the screen. “Bonjour, ma chéri,” she crooned in a sickeningly sweet voice. “How is the son of Montfer’s esteemed inspecteur doing this morning?”

“Who are you talking to?” Gabriel demanded before turning to Alouette. “Who is she talking to?”

Cerise winked at Gabriel and whispered, “I have friends in very high places.”

Gabriel rolled his eyes. “Of course she does.”

Cerise focused back on her AirLink. “So, remember that favor you owe me?” She let out a playful chuckle at whatever was just said in response. “Right, so, here’s the deal. I’m going to be flying out with a very large shipment of cargo this morning, and I need some help getting it past security.”

- CHAPTER 30 - MARCELLUS

“LIFTOFF IN THIRTY SECONDS.” THE computerized voice of the autopilote system drifted through the cargo hold of the Galactique-class voyageur.

Marcellus shivered. He had never been so cold in his life. The ice packs wedged tightly against his body were starting to make his skin burn. He could feel Alouette’s hand beside his, cold as the ground of the Terrain Perdu. And on his other side, Gabriel shivered so hard, it rattled the walls of the crate that surrounded them like a tomb.

“Twenty-two, twenty-one, twenty …”

“I can’t believe I let that sparkle-headed lunatic talk us into this,” Gabriel whispered.

“Shh,” said Marcellus.

“They barely even checked the cargo,” Gabriel went on, undeterred. “She just did this to torture me.”

When they’d arrived at the spaceport thirty minutes ago, Cerise had directed the cruiseur to the cargo-loading center, where they’d been met by a gregarious young man named Grantaire, the son of Montfer’s Policier inspecteur. According to Cerise, he was a fellow “sympathizeur,” but given Marcellus’s previous encounters with Policier inspecteurs, he had been hesitant to trust him. They hadn’t disclosed any details about what they were doing or why, but it hadn’t really mattered in the end. Marcellus had seen the look of recognition on Grantaire’s face the moment he’d first laid eyes on Marcellus. It was the same look Marcellus had seen on the face of that Red Scar guard in the Jondrette. He knew exactly who Marcellus was.

Now Marcellus just had to hope that Cerise had been right to trust him.

It had been Grantaire’s idea to pack Marcellus, Alouette, and Gabriel—the three fugitives—into a large shipping crate full of ice, in order to fool the body-heat scanners at the security checkpoint.

And Marcellus was about as happy about the solution as Gabriel.

“Body-heat scanners?” Gabriel snorted. “Yeah, right. They probably don’t even have body-heat scanners at that port.”

“Shh!” came Alouette’s voice from Marcellus’s other side.

“And that’s another thing,” Gabriel ranted. “Why are we still in here? There’s no one else on this ship!”

Marcellus shivered again. The ice packs were creating condensation, and it was soaking through