Renegade Magic (Star Renegades Book 1) Read online

  In the past few years, her strength had grown exponentially, and now she stood at the prince’s side as his general. She was not one to be toyed with. She deserved every ounce of respect given to her.

  This weakness, though, made her wonder. Was she really anything without her sponsor?

  A tone sounded, and Dania straightened. Alexander must have been sitting at a communication station, waiting for her, just in case. That was very much like him. For once, his predictability fell in her favor, rather than being an annoyance.

  She opened the line. Static hummed across the screen as the ancient equipment struggled to decipher the message from so far away.

  Dania’s hands shook. Deep down, she knew Alexander wouldn’t be able to help her, but she needed to try. Going back to the very doctor who might have triggered this illness was the last thing she wanted to do.

  The static dissipated. Dania waited for Alexander’s ice blue eyes and warming smile to give her comfort.

  Instead, a deep blue uniform came into view as someone else sat before the screen.

  Definitely not Alexander.

  Dania gasped as she took in the green and blue shimmering skin and dark green gaze of the last person she’d expected to see…

  Her sponsor, Prince Geron.

  The man who’d asked for Cal’s head.

  29

  Dania

  She trembled, stunned, but she should have expected this. If their prince had given an order to let him know if she contacted anyone, Alexander would have been compelled to comply without question. He wouldn’t even have been able to warn her.

  Geron stared at the screen. He must have been far away and not yet able to see her.

  Dania reached for the screen and ran her fingers over the glass. She didn’t realize how much she really needed him until he was there in front of her.

  Geron’s eyes widened. He reached for her as she’d reached for him before drawing his hand from the screen. “Dania, you look awful. Are they not feeding you?”

  She nearly laughed. Always the dutiful sponsor, worrying about her needs. “Yes, sir. They’re feeding me, but not what I really need.”

  Every cell in her body vibrated at hearing his voice, even from so far away.

  His lips thinned. “Catching the trappers is not worth losing you. Come home immediately.”

  “I’m not with the trappers. I’m with a smuggler.”

  She shouldn’t tell him about Cal. She may regret letting even that one hint of where she was slip.

  Her prince’s eyes narrowed, and a wave of calm spread over her, as it always did anytime she looked into his gaze.

  She could tell him anything. He was her prince. He was everything to her.

  Dania took a steadying breath. “I’m with the smuggler Calvin Espinoza.”

  Geron’s nose flared. “The man who killed Filluck?”

  Dania shifted her weight. How could she explain why Espinoza wasn’t already dead for his crimes?

  She couldn’t lie to her sponsor, but maybe leaving part of the story out would be the best. “I’ve discovered a file.”

  She reviewed what she’d seen, and the royal encryption that had kept the file safe until it had reached her hands. She waited for a reaction, but his eyes seemed cold. Distant.

  “Who would have sealed those files?” she asked. “They clearly show that Espinoza was not the murderer.”

  Geron stared at her for several moments. She took another deep breath, reminding herself that this was only the time delay.

  The wait seemed longer than normal, though.

  “How did you open these files?” Geron finally asked.

  “I used your decryption codes.”

  “Without my permission?”

  A chill ran over her. Why would she need permission?

  Wasn’t that why he’d given her the codes to begin with, to use at her discretion?

  “I only did my duty, sir.”

  Her chest tightened. If this were an interrogation, if he were a human under suspicion of a crime, she’d already be planning his means of execution. Geron’s stance, his change of voice… Everything about him prodded at her training to detect a lie.

  That was ridiculous, though. Geron never lied. Especially to her.

  It had to be something else, and she needed to find out what before the biting in her stomach grew worse.

  No matter how many of her internal sensors flared, she couldn’t accuse him, nor imply one of the people charged with keeping law in the universe had committed a crime. She needed to place her words carefully. “Does this mean you knew the files had been sealed?”

  He rubbed his eyes. “I don’t know who sealed the files, Dania.”

  She released the breath she’d been holding, and the ache subsided.

  Of course he didn’t know. It was ridiculous for her to even consider such a thought. A prince, committing a crime… It was unheard of.

  She did have to relay what she’d found, though. “You need to know that the recordings clearly show Filluck committing crimes.”

  The elongated silence shoved a new wedge into her ribcage.

  Geron’s finger tapped the table in front of him. “Actions seen through security footage taken out of context do not necessarily show truth. Either way, that would not make it okay for him to be killed by an insignificant human.”

  But…wouldn’t Filluck have had to be executed for his crimes?

  Geron’s eyes darkened. “It was foolish of me to approve this mission knowing you’d be gone so long. Come home. Now.”

  Her heart twisted. “Were you aware Filluck was involved in illicit activity?”

  Her prince looked down. “I admit I had suspicions.” His gaze returned to hers. “I was going to confront him about it, but Espinoza killed him before I had a chance.”

  “Cal didn’t do it.”

  His head tilted. “Cal?”

  She stiffened. Had she called him that?

  Geron waved his hand in the air. “It makes no difference. Calvin Espinoza has already been found guilty.”

  “I told you the recording proves his innocence.”

  The prince’s eyes bored into her. “I’ve heard enough. You need to come home to be fed. You are not well, and you are not thinking clearly.”

  “I admit I’m not well, but on this one thing, I’m clear. I need you to look at the recordings.”

  He stared again. How much of this was the time delay, and how much was actual anger?

  “Please, sir.”

  He closed his eyes. “Fine. Send them.”

  Good. She concatenated the file and sent the data along the open stream.

  Her prince was a good man. Once he saw the recordings, he’d come to the same conclusion she had. He’d clear the murder charges, and then they could discuss the rest of the charges, which were, unfortunately for the crew, quite incriminating. She needed to handle this delicately.

  He stared low at the screen. His lips thinned. “Why have you sent the file with spatial encryption?”

  That was an odd question. There was only one reason in the universe to use spatial encryption…to hide one’s location.

  His gaze lanced hers. “Send me your location.”

  “I need you to watch the recording.” Small steps. First she needed to clear Cal.

  His nose flared again. “Send. Me. Your. Location.”

  Dania’s stomach roiled. Her skin crawled. She wanted to send the location.

  No. She needed to. Her prince had demanded it.

  So why did she hesitate?

  A pressure built inside her, and her hands twitched toward the controls.

  Had the doctor done something to her, or was he correct, that her body needed her royal sponsor like most species needed air?

  Things would change when she went back. She wouldn’t care about anything but the law.

  “Dania?”

  She shut her eyes, as if doing so would hide her from his gaze. She had no choice but to comply, but
before she agreed, she needed to get this information to him. “You need to promise me to watch the recordings.”

  “I already told you I would. Are you questioning me?”

  “I-I…” She what? Didn’t trust him? No, that wasn’t true. She trusted him implicitly. He’d never given her a reason not to trust him. Ever.

  He slapped the desk before him. “This is all the more reason to get you home as quickly as possible. Send me your location immediately. I will come for you myself.”

  Dania considered the yellow knob on the console. With one press of a button, she could stamp their spatial location on the star map. He’d know exactly where the Star Renegade was.

  Was that the right thing to do, though? “Please promise you will watch the recording with an open mind.”

  The stare again. She wasn’t imagining it. He was angry. He’d never been angry with her. Not even when she and Alexander had set fire to the draperies in his mother’s receiving hall.

  He leveled his gaze on hers. “I will watch the recording you sent me.”

  Good. Her heart lifted. A smile spread across her face, relief flooding her.

  Geron was a reasonable man. This would start a dialog. He just needed to see what she’d seen.

  “The location is coming.” She hit the button.

  When the light flashed on the other side a few moments later, sweat formed on her brow.

  A satisfied expression crossed Geron’s features.

  Her chest clenched. A flood of panic swept over her.

  But why? Geron would never hurt her.

  But what about the crew? They had, in fact, committed crimes, and Geron was charged with upholding the king’s law, and that law, no matter what those tapes proved, was very clear.

  Her stomach soured.

  What had she done?

  The prince looked up. “Do not warn the crew. I don’t want them changing your location before I can get to you.”

  And what would happen once he got here? “Y-You don’t need to come for me. I’m fine.”

  He shook his head in the same way he had all those years ago, after they’d put out the fire. “Spoken like someone who has not looked in the mirror in some time. You need me more than I think you realize. I’m not losing you. I’m coming.”

  He ran his fingers over the screen. Dania closed her eyes and imagined him touching her, breathing life back into her dying body. She needed this. She needed him.

  But when the screen went blank, a chill ran through her.

  He would watch the recordings. He’d promised. He would see that he was wrong, that Cal hadn’t murdered anyone. The truth would finally be known. Nothing else mattered.

  Standing, she blinked.

  Something else had mattered to her. But what?

  She rubbed her temples. It was so strange, how she’d feel fuzzy sometimes after speaking to Geron, like she’d been so swept up just by being in his presence that parts of their conversations would simply melt away.

  No matter. He was coming. She’d done what she’d needed to do.

  Everything would be made right once he arrived.

  She made her way back through the warehouse chamber, past the circumspect containers, and climbed the ladder back to the deck where the crew quarters were. Reaching the top, she leaned against the wall, steadying her breath.

  A simple climb shouldn’t have winded her. Maybe she should have tried to contact Geron sooner. He was right that she needed him. It was foolish of her to think she was so strong she could be away from her sponsor for so long.

  Would this be seen as a sign of weakness, though? She’d been assigned a mission and couldn’t complete it.

  No. She would complete her mission. Right now, she just needed rest. She’d accept the hospitality of the bed she’d been offered, and sleep.

  Until her sponsor came for her, that was the most she could do to make herself feel better.

  Yes, sleep was all she needed.

  Everything would be fine once Geron arrived.

  30

  Cal

  A tone broke through the haze of wispy clouds hanging lazily around a sunset off the Hawaiian Islands on Earth. Not that Cal had ever been to Hawaii—or Earth, for that matter. The vision was a common one, available for free in virtual reality centers. The scene popped into his dreams often. He’d always wondered if the islands were as beautiful in real life as the sims made them out to be.

  Another tone.

  He rolled over and squinted at the holoclock beside his bed. It was barely six a.m. No one on this crew ever got up before eight. He must have been dreaming. He rolled back over and remembered the warm breezes and reflection of the sun in the water.

  Another tone, followed by banging.

  The emergency breakers engaged, and the door screeched open.

  Cal rolled over and squinted at the silhouette of a man standing in his doorway, backlit in a blurry, white gleam from the hallway. He rubbed his eyes. “Ty? Someone better be dead.”

  “We might all be dead.”

  Cal sat up. “Lights.” The room illuminated twenty-five percent. “What’s going on?”

  “Someone dropped a pin last night.”

  Cal rubbed the back of his neck. “Impossible. No one is careless enough to do that.”

  “I’m telling you, boss, someone dropped a pin and cascaded our location.”

  Cal jumped from the bed. “Cascaded our location?”

  Ty nodded. “Someone knows exactly where we are.”

  Cal grabbed the pants draped over the chair and pulled them on. “Did you move the ship?”

  “Of course. I woke Ethan first. He’s tweaking the efficiency, making sure we’re burning hard and clean, but we’re still on a straight line. Anyone with any sense of knowhow is going to be able to track us.”

  Cal pulled on his shirt. “Did you wake anyone else up? Question them? Maybe this is all just a mistake?”

  But Cal knew it wasn’t a mistake. His crew knew how dangerous a pin was. None of them would send a pin through a transmission, encrypted or not.

  Dania had sold them out.

  He pulled on his flight jacket. “Where’s the enforcer?”

  “I’ve got Alanna watching her in the lounge.”

  Cal flinched. Dania was the least likely to hurt Alanna, but Alanna was probably also the easiest one for the enforcer to manipulate. “How in the blazes did Dania get out of her room?”

  “Who knows?” Ty held up his hands. “The door wire wasn’t breached, and the camera showed her in bed all night.”

  Cal was done with underestimating this woman, or trusting her in any way, for that matter.

  “Does Alanna know that Dania dropped a pin?”

  His lips thinned. “You know Alanna. She said that Dania has changed, and she wouldn’t do anything like that to us.”

  Cal moved into the hall. “Yeah, well, this wouldn’t be the first time Alanna was wrong about someone.” He shook the lingering fog from his eyes. “Is there a reason I’m the last one you woke up?”

  Ty shrugged. “I didn’t wake up Doc yet.”

  “Get him up. We might need all hands on deck.”

  Ty hit a comm pad on the wall as Cal kept walking. “Doc, rise and shine, princess.”

  Doc groaned. “What time is it?”

  “Too early. Get some caffeine and meet us in the lounge. We might need that big brain of yours.”

  “Is this one of those we’re going to die situations?”

  “Definitely.”

  “Okay, I’ll be right there.”

  Ty caught up to Cal. “What you are you going to do? I mean, she’s weak, but she could probably still take your head off.”

  Cal stopped and glared at him.

  His first mate held up his hands. “Hey, I’m just reminding you, because you have that look on your face.”

  “I don’t have a look on my face.”

  “You do. It’s that same look you had when you punched Ethan for letting that Festian
cave boar out of its cage.”

  Cal started walking again. “I’m fine.”

  But punching something might feel pretty good at the moment.

  The Renegade shivered under his feet as they made their way down the hall. Either Ethan was pushing her to her limits, or the ship could feel the weight of doom hurtling toward them.

  The speed was good, but Ty was right. They needed to change direction or they’d be easily tracked. Of course, that meant slowing down. He didn’t want to lose any momentum until they knew whether or not they were dealing with the worst-case scenario.

  When they reached the lounge, Cal slapped his palm on the control panel. He squeezed between the doors, not waiting for them to open completely.

  Alanna sat across from the enforcer, a line of dominos spread out in front of her. Alanna gaped at him, holding a tile in midair, about to place it on the board.

  Cal stormed toward Dania and slammed his fist onto the table, scattering the tiles. “What did you do?”

  The enforcer pushed back her pieces, not meeting his gaze. “What I needed to.”

  “That’s a load of meteor rock and you know it.”

  The door opened and Doc slipped in, rubbing his eyes. Ty leaned toward him, whispering into his ear.

  Alanna covered her mouth. “Stars, Dania, did you really do it?”

  The enforcer raised her gaze. She opened her mouth as if to say something to Alanna before closing it and looking down at the scattering of tiles on the table.

  Cal took a deep breath and clenched and unclenched his fists. “Would you at least do me the courtesy of telling me where you sent the pin?”

  She looked up at him, her posture lax. “I’m sick.”

  Doc pushed forward. “I told you that you aren’t sick. This is called withdrawal.” He knelt beside her. “I know you find this hard to believe, but the royal family did something to you. Your body is addicted to these pathogens. I can help you, though, if you let me.”

  Her hand shook on the edge of the table. “You can’t help me. Only my prince can fix this.”

  Alanna gasped.