His Fire Maiden - Michelle M. Pillow Page 0,3
of his parents’ strange relationship had produced Dev. It was his red skin and dark eyes that had set the Data Moon zealots off. He’d inherited the intense coloring, large body size, and black eyes and hair from his father. The humanlike form he’d received from his mother.
“Burn him! Listen to the angel and burn the demon spawn!”
“Crucify him!”
“Burn the demon!”
The voices were etched deep into his memory. Dev hadn’t expected to be rescued. Back then, no one cared whether he lived or died. Bevlons did not coddle their children into adulthood, and he didn’t know his human mother.
His loyalty to Rick and the others was from more than the fact they’d saved him, an outsider no one else cared about. The crew had become something Dev had never imagined he would have—a real family. Sure, Rick was like the pesky little brother he sometimes wanted to throw into deep space without a suit, but no one else better try it.
Remembering the past helped Dev stay focused in the present, but more importantly it reminded him why he wasn’t dragging Rick from the palace by his hair. Rick made another move toward the spirit. Dev focused a glare of warning in the man’s direction and gave a small shake of his head. Rick winked back at him.
Dev had been alone until Captain Samantha and her band of misfits came for him, a condemned stranger. Crewman and empath Evan Cormier had seen Dev in one of his visions. Rick, Samantha, and Evan had come in with laser pistols blasting while the brothers, Lucien and Viktor, had waited with the ship ready to make their getaway.
Dev would give his life to protect his makeshift family. They accepted him, teased him, baited him, and, yes, occasionally called him Barbecue Boy, but they would put themselves on the line to save him. Together they traveled from adventure to adventure, wherever their ship landed. Recently, Samantha had married a cat-shifter and was now settled on the man’s home planet of Qurilixen. It did not change their bond, and Dev would always answer her call if she needed him.
His new captain, Jarek, was Samantha’s brother-by-marriage. The man had offered them a place on his ship. He needed to replenish his dwindled crew, and they needed a purpose. Jarek and his men were all honorable, even if they were borderline space pirates.
Jarek’s second-in-command, Lochlann, was a dragon-shifter. The men came from the same home planet. The two were long-time friends who had run away from home because dragon-shifters and cat-shifters were at war. Neither one of them had wanted to fight, so they chose the high skies. Though the war on Qurilixen was over, the men’s families didn’t fully accept their friendship.
Lastly, there was Jackson, a highly trained super soldier. To Dev, the man was a kindred spirit. He had the same drive and determination, and the almost compulsive need to train for battle in the Virtual Reality room aboard their ship.
This was Dev’s life. It was more than a half-demon reject could have ever hoped to achieve. He did not dare aspire to have more. And it was how he found himself in a royal alien palace silently praying Rick would not sexually proposition an old lady’s ghost.
One would think escorting Princess Mei to visit her family wouldn’t demand a quick departure off planet. Then again, One wouldn’t know Rick’s penchant for mischief in any situation.
They stood inside the Hall of Infinite Wisdom located in the center of the palace compound. The building was a large structure, set high upon stone to tower over the surrounding courtyard and gardens. If the ornate décor was any indication, the local royals had lived in isolation for some time, away from any kind of real intergalactic conflict.
Dev stayed toward the back of those gathered to keep an eye on everyone. He didn’t like their odds of escape from inside the belly of the fortified palace, but bad odds didn’t mean impossible. There were numerous official reasons why they had come to the planet, but really it was so Jarek could ask for Mei’s parents’ blessing to marry her. Since, technically, the crew had kidnapped Mei to begin with, it wasn’t likely her parents would be too excited by the proposal.
Evan crossed his arms over his chest and kept his attention on the Emperor and Empress. Dev wasn’t sure if Evan was trying to read the royals, or trying not to, so he watched the man for a sign that