to say ‘home’ but stopped myself. Varga was not home. Earth was home.
“So you’re taking us back to Varga, is that right?” I checked to see if I’d got it straight.
The last thing I wanted was to be following after the Keeda. I’d had more than enough adventures to last a lifetime.
“Yes, we’re going home,” Lain, the blue one, said decisively.
He seemed to be the leader.
‘He is. Lain is the unofficial leader. He’s head-strong and opinionated, but as loyal as they come. Meida is the red one. He’s a bit of an idiot, although there’s not a mean bone in his body. The green one is Nial. As he’s already demonstrated, he’s our planner. Back when we were kids following Meida’s mad schemes, Nial was the one who made them work. Most of the time. Sometimes they were just so stupid they were bound to fail.’
‘And you?’ I asked, fascinated, despite myself.
‘I’m the sensible one. I was the sensible one. I’d be the one to come up with all the reasons why we shouldn’t do whatever I was. I guess that helped Nial with his planning, knowing the issues that might arise ahead of time.’
‘You still are the sensible one,’ I assured him, hating when he thought too hard about his change in circumstances.
I didn’t want him to go. I couldn’t imagine my life without him. Whether he was in a Danan body or Charsus’, I loved him.
I felt Rian soften as he absorbed what I’d said. And felt.
‘If I can stay, I will,’ he promised, his love for me surrounding me like a warm blanket.
What I felt for Toby was nothing like this. I’d been such a child when I was with him, and our relationship had been little more than playing at being grown-ups. The big showy proposal was a case-in-point. We did what we were supposed to do, and Toby’s infidelity was just a symptom of how unprepared we really were for adult commitment.
For a long time we all sat in uncomfortable silence until exhaustion finally had me dozing off.
Rian undid his harness and then mine. “Come on, sleepy-head, time for us to catch up on the sleep we missed.”
He swept my naked form into his equally naked arms. He was no longer in a Danan body but he still found the strength to carry me
“You plan to sleep with her?” Lain asked, his tone gruff.
“I do. She’s right. You have to play this by her rules,” Rian said, his voice revealing the true depth of his exhaustion.
Meida shot Lain a scorching glare before addressing Rian. “We do need to play by her rules. You do what’s right for her, okay?”
Rian jerked a grateful nod at his brother and turned to leave. I relaxed into his lean form and finally gave in to weariness.
The following day—whatever day it was. I’d kind of lost track of night and day with all the planet hopping we’d been doing—we were sharing an uncomfortable meal in the small mess when the ship’s alarms went off.
I was so sick of alarms. Couldn’t these ships take any kind of damage? I felt like I was floating around in a soap bubble just waiting to get popped. Again.
We dashed from the room, Charsus and I the last to leave, of course. By the time I reached the flight deck, the problem was apparent. A monstrous great spaceship like the one the Keeda used, was bearing down on us.
“No ID, no burn trail. This is a pirate ship,” Nial informed us, studying the array in front of him.
My mind conjured a galleon with a skull-and-crossbones flag flying.
“We’re outgunned and our defenses won’t last long against their firepower,” Lain went on in perfect synch with his brother.
“There’s an asteroid belt not far away. We can hide there until they lose interest. They won’t come in after us,” Meida said, drawing up one hologram after another as he spoke.
“You up to a little dodge-ball?” Rian asked in concern.
I noted the human reference and it comforted me a little. Bronwyn had done a good job making her boys culturally aware.
Lain laughed. “Always the worrier. You really are our brother, aren’t you?”
Rian pushed me down into my seat and did up my harness. I could have done it myself, but I knew he liked looking after me. And on this ship he wouldn’t be doing much else.
“Let’s do this!” Lain announced as soon as I was strapped in.
The sudden spurt of power had my head jerking back into the