Chapter One
Ree
Fingers traced a delicate path up the inside of my arm. Soft. Furry. Setting off a delicious shiver down my spine. Mmmm. I smiled drowsily. Dyllan.
Furry? Wait—that’s wrong. Fingers aren’t furry.
An ice-cold bolt of fear shot through me, banishing any thought of sleep. I froze, opened one eye a crack, and stifled a scream.
A fat grayish-green centipede-like creature, easily eight inches long, had made its way up my arm, headed toward my neck. So close I could see a pair of sharp fangs. Its mouth snapped open and shut convulsively while it crawled, as though it could already taste my flesh.
“Fuck. Fuck.Fuck!”
In one continuous motion, I leaped to my feet, yanked the horrible creature off me, and stomped it into the ground, screaming all the while.
“Ree, what’s wrong?”
Andreu was by my side in an instant. Despite his advanced years, he still moved as swiftly as a young Thelian warrior.
“Ihatethis fucking planet!”
He looked down at the fur-covered mound of mush on the ground, then back at me. “Thank the gods it was nothing serious.”
“Nothingserious? That hideous creature was about to sink its fangs into my neck!”
Jaden and Zeke burst into the cave, weapons drawn.
“Stand down,” Andreu barked. “False alarm. It was only a bug.”
“Big bloodsucking bug,” I muttered, shooting him a dark look.
Jaden spied the gooey mess on the sole of my boot and grinned. “The poor thing probably died of fright before you ever stomped on it. You were shrieking like a banshee!”
“It’s not funny. I think half the creepy crawly stuff on this gods-forsaken world is deadly.”
“Fortunately, you heeded my warning and slept with your boots on,” Andreu remarked. “If it crawled into your shoe and bit you when you stuck your foot in, you’d have had a hard time walking for a couple of days.”
“I’m sick of walking. I’m sick of sleeping on the ground with my boots on.” My voice rose with every word. “I’m sick of being dirty and hungry all the time. I fuckinghatethis place!”
I charged out of the cave before a storm of tears brought me to my knees. I couldn’t—wouldn’t—allow myself to cry in front of my men. Showing anger was acceptable. Crying would be interpreted as weakness, by me if not by them.
They’d have understood. Even expected it. But I was damned if I’d fall apart because of some disgusting bug, no matter how horrid it was. I hadn’t broken down yet. I’d seen both my father and my lover slaughtered before my eyes, along with hundreds of our rebel forces. And then I’d been forced to flee to this uninhabited hellhole of a planet.
From the moment we arrived here we’d been on the move constantly, since Andreu was certain that bastard Thane had mercenaries searching for us.
Andreu. I would never have survived those first days after my father’s death without him. He didn’t just spirit me away. He was there by my side every moment, encouraging me, motivating me, sometimes even nagging me, to keep on going. Not for my sake, for the sake of all those who now looked to me as their inspiration. Thinking of him made me regret my meltdown.
Andreu had a hard enough job without my temper tantrum adding to his worries. He’d been my father’s right-hand man, his chief advisor and dearest friend. He had to be nearly eighty, but you’d never have guessed it to look at him. Standing tall and proud, he had a full head of black hair slicked back from a profile that could have graced an ancient Roman coin, complete with the stern jaw and prominent hawk nose. Andreu refused to yield to old age the same way he refused to yield to any other enemy that threatened him. Or my father.
And he’d taken me under his wing. I knew he’d lay down his life for me without hesitation, his final act of loyalty to my family.
I asked Andreu once why he never took up the mantle of leadership himself.
“Your father had a gift,” he’d said. “I remember the first time I heard Gaius speak. He climbed up on the still-smoldering ruins of a house in the center of our village and spoke straight to the hearts of those of us who had survived the attack. Plain words, but powerful words. By the time he finished, he’d turned that ragtag mob of angry, frightened people into an army, ready to take on the Federation.
“Some are born to lead,” he’d gone on. “But every good leader needs a friend by his side, someone who isn’t afraid to be an asshole when he has to. Someone who will dole out bad news as well as good. Someone willing to tell him the unvarnished truth, instead of saying only what he wants to hear. I knew right then if Gaius was to lead us, it was my duty to be that asshole.”
I had gone up on tiptoe and planted a kiss on his cheek. “And you’re damned good at your job,” I’d teased.