Stealing the Dragon’s Heart by Kiersten Fay
13
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” Aidan growled as he returned to the mess hall.
His entire crew had retired there, gathered around the communal table as they gobbled up Caryn’s food like starved beasts.
Onnika leisurely strolled in beside him as though she hadn’t a care in the world. Her impish smile told him she knew exactly how her sexy voice and enticing words had affected him back in the infirmary. Lust tripped through his blood like a drunken, randy lad. Luckily, she’d twisted his guts with her parting words, and he was able to tamp it down.
She brightly addressed the crew. “Didn’t I tell you she could cook? Admit it, your tongues are in heaven right now.”
Zeek licked sauce from his lips. “Sooo good.”
Asher reached out for seconds, or maybe it was thirds, who knew?
The others mumbled unintelligible words of agreement with their mouths full. Caryn only sat quietly, blushing from the praise and nibbling from her own plate.
“Shouldn’t someone be flying the ship?” Aidan sounded disgruntled, even to himself.
“Well,” Zeek replied, “the ship is outfitted with a pretty cool state of the art AI auto pilot, but no need. We landed on Nazzu five minutes ago. Just in time for dinner!”
A glimpse at Onnika’s profile told Aidan that didn’t come as good news. Her eyes darted for a second. Then she locked gazes with him. The fire that had lit her lovely, devious eyes in the infirmary was snuffed out, and he knew he must be seeing the first authentic emotion from her: worry.
The moment he felt a tug of sympathy for her, he cut a sharp gaze at his crew. “Stop stuffing your faces. We have work to do.”
Their chewing paused. They glanced at him, then longingly at the food still steaming on the table, then back at him.
“Now,” he ordered.
With that, they dropped their utensils and fell in line. Lear was the only one to take his time, wiping his hands and mouth before pushing away from the table.
Caryn went to Onnika and the two clasped hands, looking so crestfallen one might think they were about to be executed. Aidan glanced away, but the image stuck in his brain like a prickly barb. In that brief moment, they looked so small and helpless. Innocent. He wasn’t sure about Caryn, but he knew Onnika to be anything but. She was shrewd, scheming, and surprisingly insightful. He feared she’d been right about his initial jealousy, and the reason he’d sequestered her alone. Her cut had not been deep at all and had already been in the process of swift healing, as many races were capable of, including his own. But any desire for her had been stamped out of him the second she’d put on that little act for him. She’d ferreted out his weakness for her all too quickly, and had jumped at the chance to exploit it.
Thief turned seductress with a bat of her eyelids.
Long ago he had accepted the fact that he was a ruined man, no good to anyone other than the talent he’d cultivated at the helm of a ship. But for one second, a fleeting moment in time, he’d wanted to lose himself in Onnika’s game. To flirt with a beautiful woman and have her flirt back and pretend his heart wasn’t a shredded, tattered organ that somehow still lived in his chest. That something like passion was still possible for him.
Luckily, she had inadvertently reminded him of his family with her offhanded comment: Life is a dangerous game, and no one gets out alive. He’d played the game; his family had paid for it. The pain of their deaths, still so fresh even after all these years, was a burden he could never escape. Yet, for once that pain had saved him from doing something monumentally stupid.
Like kiss her.
With Caryn by her side, Onnika headed toward the docking bay along with Dragoon’s crew. She was still filled with confusion over her encounter with Aidan. For the first time in a very long time, she’d been genuinely turned on.
And she could tell Aidan had been, too.
He’d wanted to kiss her. Even if her magic hadn’t alerted her to that fact, she’d read it on his face, in his heated expression, and in the language of his body. He’d been seconds away from making his move…and she’d been desperate for it.
But then it was like a switch had flipped in him. Now he was icy once more, ready to leave them…wherever it was they’d just landed.
“I don’t like this planet,” Caryn muttered ominously to Onnika, but her voice carried in the ship’s confined space.
Asher glanced back at them. “You don’t even know where we are.”
“She prefers spaceports,” Onnika said, covering for her.
It was always concerning when Caryn said stuff like that. Was her gift shooting off warnings? Trying to direct her to leave this place?
At the loading doors, Onnika held Caryn’s hand as the heavy metal creaked apart.
Stifling hot air whooshed into the room, as though they’d just opened a giant oven. Harsh sunlight blasted in, followed by the noxious taste of cinder and dust and baked soil. Instantly her mouth felt dry and sandy. She breathed through the fabric of her sleeve as she shielded her eyes with her other hand. The others did the same.
When her eyes managed to adjust to the too-bright light, she saw what Caryn had likely sensed: A wasteland, similar to the mining planet, only this one was a sea of sand, dead and overtaken by blistering dunes, choking dust, and boiling hot air that tricked the eye into seeing the horizon as a fluidly moving thing. Nothing could survive here. Not for long, anyway.
And this is where he plans to abandon us?
Apparently unconcerned, Aidan trudged down the ramp. She rushed forward and matched his stride. “Look. I know we were just fooling around back there, and I’m sorry if I insulted you, but you’re not really going to leave us here, are you?”
“This is where we say goodbye,” he replied, not even looking at her.
“You can’t be serious. Please. You must realize we’ll die here.”
“I’m sure your crafty mind will figure something out. Plenty of other suckers to latch onto.”
She turned to face the rest of the crew. “You’re all okay with this?”
None of them responded, or even met her gaze, although a couple of them had the decency to look ashamed. Zeek, for one, and surprisingly, Priya, as well as the man who stood next to her. Vin?
“Look.” Aidan pointed in the distance. “Your next mark is just over yonder.”
Onnika followed his line of sight. Beyond the dancing heat waves and sweeping clouds of dust, she spotted a camp. Temporary tents had been set up to accommodate Phase Nine contestants and fans.
“Better get started, because in sixteen hours this place will be deserted, just like your morals.”
Onnika stiffened with indignation. Normally she would have shot him a lewd gesture for that remark and happily said good riddance, but she wasn’t even remotely ready to give up on Dragoon and its crew, or even its obnoxious captain. Caryn had a good feeling about them—or at least she had in the beginning, which she hadn’t yet recanted—and a bad feeling about this place. That was enough for Onnika. “Please. I’m begging. Just carry us to the next spaceport. It has to be better than this. We’ll be happy to leave then. More than happy.”
Aidan remained stolid as he marched toward the camp, but there was a slight tick in his jaw. Was he considering her request? She gleaned nothing from him.
“You’ll be dooming us if you leave us here. Can you really live with that?”
Vin spoke up for the first time, and by his tone, he was their lone champion. “Captain, what if we just—”
“You all know what you need to do,” Aidan interrupted. “So get started. I want at least one voucher from each of you, more if possible.”
“Voucher?” Onnika asked.
Priya answered. “Each stop offers mini contests where vouchers can be won. Each voucher shaves off one hour from our mandated sixteen-hour wait time at this stop. Get enough of them, and a ship could overtake the competition.”
Asher shoved past Onnika. “We need them even more now than we would have if we’d been able to start the race on time, thanks to you.”
Instantly, she saw her way back into good standing with the crew. “Okay,” she said. “We can help. We’re still technically part of the crew. We can get some vouchers too, right? How about that?”
Aidan stopped dead and grabbed her by the arm. “Do not even think about stealing vouchers. If you are caught, we will be punished with twice as much time as the vouchers are worth.”
Ripping her arm away, she snapped, “I wasn’t thinking about stealing them.” She was totally thinking about stealing them. “Well, then? If I win a voucher, will you allow us to ride with you to the next spaceport?”
Aidan was silent for a moment, contemplating her words. “Make it two vouchers,” he said. “Each.”
How difficult could winning vouchers be? Airily, she replied, “Fine.” Aidan snorted, as though she didn’t have a chance. She wasn’t sure herself. “So, what sort of contests are we talking about?”
Priya explained, “We don’t know what the specific contests will be until we arrive at each stop and see for ourselves.”
When they crossed the camp’s edge, the sound of cheers rose up ahead. Onnika squinted to see better, but the wind picked up and dust whipped the air. They traveled down a small avenue packed by tents on either side. Yet she didn’t see any people.
More distant cheers erupted ahead.
The haze thinned, and like an apparition taking form, a big top tent came into view. The ruckus was coming from inside. Parted canvas flaps created a triangle shaped opening. An attendant sat off to one side, waiting to sign them in. He appeared to be a native to this planet, with dark, leathery skin, hardened by the harsh conditions with a pointed lizard-like face and small slits for nostrils. The tunic he wore had the words Phase Nine scrawled officially on the front.
“Congratulations on making it to the end of Phase One.” He handed an electronic pad and a silver bracelet to Aidan. “This unit will update automatically when you reach the end of each phase, with information on upcoming contests. These bracelets will identify which ship you’re all playing for. You’ll need them to register for contests moving forward. Vouchers must be physically claimed at a designated voucher booth. If you lose your voucher, it will not be replaced, and anyone who finds it can use it. Stealing vouchers is prohibited and will result in a fine of additional time added to your wait. Come forward one at a time to accept your bracelet.”
Upon getting a better look at the bracelets, both she and Caryn took a hesitant step back. Aidan noticed. So did Lear. The others were busy snapping the things on their wrists.
“We’ll be able to take them off?” she asked. The silver bracelets were about an inch wide and reminded her too much of the electro-cuff Tag had forced them to wear.
“Of course,” the attendant said, giving her an amused smile, as if he found the question a little odd. He picked one up and held it open, as if to help her put it on.
Not wanting to make more of a scene, she offered her wrist, showing only the slightest tremor, and the attendant snapped the bracelet closed. Its weight was unexpectedly light, considering its size. The attendant then showed her how to remove it using a small latch on the side. She glanced back at Caryn, who still appeared unsure. When Onnika gave her a nod, she allowed the attendant to fit her with one as well.
Then they all filed inside the tent. Onnika sighed heavily at the blast of artificially cool air on her skin and fluffed her hair, shaking away some of the fine sand that had clung to it.
She looked out at a massive circular space, sectioned off by painted lines in the dirt. She counted twelve in all, each dedicated to a different contest. Some of the contests were easy to understand at first glance. Directly to her right, for instance, a line of sharpshooters aimed weapons at a three-dimensional holo-screen showing a set of different sized targets, one so small she was amazed to see someone hit it. To her left, large males fought in a caged ring, bloodying one another to the surrounding crowd’s ravenous delight. Near the back, she spotted something she might be able to win: a flight simulator. Too bad she didn’t see any cook-offs for Caryn.
Groups of fans milled all around, drinking and watching contests. Large holo-screens had been scattered about the tent, each playing highlights from the first leg of the race.
“Remember,” Aidan said to them all. “Only one ticket can be won from each individual game. That includes team events. If two of you team up and win, neither of you will be able to team up with someone else to play an event you’ve already had a go at. We have no time for losses, so chose partners wisely. Once we’re finished competing, our tickets can be redeemed for vouchers. Let’s meet back here in an hour to update me on your progress.” With that, he turned and strode off into the crowd.
Priya headed straight for the sharpshooters. Asher veered in the direction of the cage fighters. The others disappeared just as quickly, leaving Onnika and Caryn to find their own way.
“Well, what do you think,” she asked Caryn. “See anything you think you can win?”
Caryn gazed around with a hopeless expression. “You know I’m no good at this stuff.”
“Let’s have a look around and see how you feel. There might be something you can win.”
Already Asher was squaring off against a beefy opponent in the ring. She would have thought it a bit early in the race to risk getting one’s brains bashed in, but she supposed they had little choice but to try every challenge. Although Asher wasn’t one of their supporters and had been needlessly rough with Caryn, a zing of guilt slashed through her gut. If she and Caryn hadn’t caused the delay, Asher might not feel compelled to risk injury to himself so soon.
Or maybe he would.
With one meaty strike, his opponent hit the mat…and didn’t get back up.
The line for target shooting was much longer. Priya was still waiting to get started when Onnika and Caryn strolled past. Onnika might veer back later in the day to try her hand at it.
The next challenge looked like a kind of puzzle game. Ten individuals lined up next to a set of tables, each with a collection of misshaped blocks scattered in front of them. A bright-eyed Zeek watched from the sidelines.
“What do they have to do?” she asked him.
Without taking his eyes from the players, he explained, “The winner will be the first to arrange the blocks into a perfect circle.”
A buzzer rang and the contestants went to work, shoving pieces together as fast as they could manage, turning them this way and that to see how they fit. After a few moments of watching blocks being added, removed, turned, flipped, replaced, and discarded, only to be picked back up and reconsidered, Onnika got bored. Zeek, on the other hand, was riveted. She didn’t think he even noticed when they strolled away.
Many of the games appeared to be carnival themed, but with a twist. A kind-of ring toss game was decked out with complicated mechanics; twelve rising and falling platforms for contestants to stand on as the whole thing twirled around a dais of pegs for the participants to aim at. When the game started up, it began to spin much faster, and five contestants immediately fell off their platforms.
Movement drew Onnika’s gaze up to where a tightrope hung high off the ground. Two individuals balanced on either end were inching toward one another holding gladiator jousts. She gaped as they proceeded to knock each other off the rope. The only thing to catch their fall? A patch of fine sand below.
There was an archery range that appeared normal enough until she looked closer and saw a force field between the archer and the target with several small circular openings that seemed to travel along the force field at random. The shooter had to make it through one of those holes while also hitting the target.
Onnika didn’t feel confident about any of these outrageous games. Caryn seemed equally dismayed.
As they worked their way through the crowd, Onnika thought she spotted a familiar gait. Her heart nearly stopped from dread. The man was quickly swallowed by the crowd, and when she looked again, she didn’t recognize anyone. It was unlikely Tag was here, but just in case, she put up her guard, searching the faces and intentions of the crowd as she walked. She didn’t tell Caryn. It wouldn’t do to alarm her if there was nothing to worry about. Caryn would only go into panic mode, and they had work to do.