“That was record time.” Rush leaned on the wall in the cockpit, eyes focused on the landing zone on planet Marcomal just outside its capital city of Galargon.

Mn’eth pointed. “There’s Boron’s Z-Class. Look at that beauty.”

Caayn leaned in. “Looks like he changed the name. Emily.”

Seeing the name, remembering how the three women left Earth to find their mates, and how he had caused one to be abducted made Rush look down. The guilt he felt was overwhelming. Guilt and heartbreak.

Mn’eth set the Javelin down with the light touch Caayn had hired him for. No sooner had he done that than Rush was at the ramp pressing the code in.

He was just about to leap off when Caayn grabbed him by the arm. “Hang on.”

Rush turned swiftly. “What? I need to find her.”

“Makes more sense to approach this with a plan.”

Rush looked his friend and captain over. “Are you saying you have a plan?”

Caayn gave a half-shrug, but the gleam in his eye told Rush he did. “Bruze has contacts in Galargon.”

Rush crossed his arms over his chest. “First I’m hearing of this little development.”

“If you weren’t so mired in your thoughts, you’d have caught part of our conversation.”

“So, what’s your plan, then?” Rush was willing to give control of the search to Caayn if he had a better plan than Rush. Which any plan at all would be better than Rush’s lack of one. Unless you considered running around like a halnet with its head cut off, raiding every building a plan.

“Nothing happens in Galargon without the knowledge of Jeweler.”

Rush nodded. “But Jeweler doesn’t talk to anyone.”

“But his cousin, whose parents gave him a place to stay when he was a young boy, does.”

Rush frowned. “I’m not making the connection.”

“Bruze is Jeweler’s cousin.” Caayn winked. “He’ll talk to Bruze. And us. And he’ll tell us where Katrina is. Assuming it’s her.”

Smyrna approached from their quarters. Her eyes were red rimmed. Rush’s spirits dropped again, feeling like shit for losing Katrina.

She tugged on Rush’s sleeve, pulling him away from Caayn. “I know how you feel about her. It’s obvious.”

Rush did a double take. “Is it?”

She raised a brow. “Of course.” She leaned closer, her gaze intense. “Find her.”

“I won’t come back without her.”

Smyrna sniffed, gave him a hug then turned to Caayn. “Please.”

“You know it.” Caayn tipped her face up with a finger to the chin and kissed her lips. “You stay here and don’t give me cause for worry.”

“I promise.”

Bruze stepped out of the engine room, a hat looking like a cross between a Stetson and a fedora perched cockily on his head.

“Never seen that before.” Rush pointed to Bruze’s head.

“My cousin gave it to me right before he moved out. It was his. I haven’t seen him in close to a decade. He passed on getting an education. Told my parents he’d make it his own way, slipped this on my head, then vanished.”

It was evident from the tone in Bruze’s voice Jeweler had been an important part of his life at some point.

“How come you’ve never sought him out when we were on Marcomal the last two times?”

Bruze winked. “Who said I didn’t?”

Good point.

“Be careful,” Smyrna warned. After they exited the ramp, she punched a code in to seal the Javelin from outsiders.

“So, you know where Jeweler is, then, I take it.”

“I knew where he was last time I was here,” Bruze said. “But he moves every so often, just in case someone comes looking for him. Why? Are you worried I can’t reach him?”

Rush shrugged. Of course, he was worried. This was Marcomal, after all.

“We’ll go to the place he was last time. If he’s not there, I know where to go next.”

They began the trek toward Jeweler’s marketplace, and, luckily, it wasn’t a long walk. The traders at the marketplace liked to be near the landing zones because vessels could be loaded and unloaded of their cargo and merchandise would be available for sale quickly.

Though Rush felt another reason. Perhaps a more pressing one was so those who might need to flee the city and the planet hastily could.

The area teemed with visitors and locals, many of them unsavory. There was another marketplace in Galargon, but it was nothing like Jeweler’s. The other marketplace provided legal items for the local farming communities surrounding the outskirts of Galargon.

The good people who visited the other marketplace would never set foot in Jeweler’s marketplace. Jeweler’s specialized in the illicit as well as the immoral, though that wasn’t to say it didn’t have other items for day-to-day needs.

Boron met Rush, Caayn, and Bruze as they stepped foot into the haze-covered area. Rush noticed Boron gave Bruze an especially hearty greeting.

“You two know each other?”

“Distant cousin.” Boron clapped Bruze on the shoulder.

“You’re a guy with interesting relatives,” Rush said, though he kept his tone light and conversational, making sure it didn’t sound condescending.

Bruze merely flashed him a smile. “I’m sure more of us have interesting relatives. Or skeletons in the closet.”

Rush clamped down on a response. He wouldn’t be a hypocrite. “Let’s get on to your cousin, shall we?”

Bruze nodded and picked up speed, taking long strides through the marketplace.

The scent of cooking meat, sounds of vendors hawking their wares, including a couple that had holograms of the girls in their backdoor brothels, barely drew his attention.

Rush refrained from a shudder when he thought one of those bastards could possibly be in one of them with Katrina. He fought the urge to run into each and break down doors, looking into every cubicle for his Katrina.

Truth be told, he’d come to think of her as his. He was going to talk to the governor of Janus as soon as he—they—returned to Janus, by damn. He’d figure something out.

“Fraruska Menen.”

The voice barely broke through his reverie, but for certain the name called out snapped him out of his musings. He turned slowly, not wanting to draw attention to himself, or to the man who’d called his given name. A name he hadn’t used in years. Years and years.

He knew the man, even if his voice hadn’t registered at first. Saldon Escarn. His father’s cousin and second in charge. Why was he on Marcomal? This didn’t seem like the place Saldon would escape to on a vacation.

Rush realized he’d frozen in place and Bruze and Caayn, a few paces ahead of him, had paused and turned to stare at him.

Saldon approached him, a large smile on his face. “Your father will be glad to know you are doing well.” He looked Rush over, put a hand on his shoulder, and locked gazes with him. “You are doing well, are you not? You look like you’re not homeless or starving.”

Rush nodded, tongue-tied.

Caayn, wearing a quizzical expression, took steps in their direction. Bruze a pace behind.

“We thought you were dead,” Saldon said, his eyes misty.

Rush shook his head, tongue still in knots.

Saldon wrapped his arm around Rush’s shoulder and pulled him in for a half-hug, squeezing him tightly against his ample torso. “You have been missed. You choosing to vanish like that was difficult for your father.”

Rush gave him another nod.

Caayn was upon them. He stuck a hand out toward Saldon. “Nice to meet you. Caayn Fellish, captain of the Javelin.”

Saldon shook his hand, looking between Rush and Caayn, confused. “Saldon Escarn.”

“How is it you know Rush?” Caayn asked, a steely glint in his eye.

Rush knew that glint. That was the look Caayn had when he felt called upon to be protective.

“I’ve known Rush since he was a little boy. His father is my cousin.”

Caayn frowned.

“One of the Cardinal Few,” Saldon added, his chest puffing out with pride. He’d always been thrilled to work for a member of the Cardinal Few, even though his own family wasn’t directly considered one of the elite status.

Caayn gave Rush a pointed look and a raised brow as though to say, Cardinal Few?

Rush tried to smile. He really did. But he was certain he was sporting a grimace but couldn’t have said for sure. His face felt encased in ice. By the ash of the burning volcanoes, it felt as though his entire body was sheathed in ice.

Saldon looked between Rush and Caayn, his smile gratuitous. “And you know each other…?” He kept smiling, looking back and forth between the two.

Caayn’s brow rose higher, clearly waiting for Rush to do the talking.

Rush opened his mouth, but the ice, it seemed to have conquered his tongue as well. He coughed into his hand. And again. “I’m on the Javelin, with Caayn.”

“Oh, you’ve secured passage here? Where are you coming from? Where do you stay now?”

Caayn cleared his throat, gave a slight nod, as though telling Rush he better get on with some facts.

“I’m actually on the Javelin. Part of the crew.”

Caayn smiled; it was almost predatory. “He’s selling himself short. He’s my second.”

A horrified look crossed Saldon’s face but was quickly replaced by concern. “You are… that is…? The Javelin… corsairs?”

Bruze stepped forward just then. Rush hadn’t noticed where he’d gone, just that one second he was there, next to Caayn, then Caayn approached, and Bruze wasn’t around anymore. “Jeweler’s—”

If Rush thought Saldon looked horrified before, that look had nothing on the one he wore now. “Jeweler? He’s… wanted.”

Rush exhaled. I have the shittiest of luck. He glanced at Bruze then Caayn. “Give me a second.”

Both nodded. Neither walked away.

Great. He’d just have to talk in front of them. “Saldon. It’s good to see you, but I’m on a mission at the moment. I’ll catch up to you later. Give my father my regards when you return to Zama. Enjoy your vacation on Marcomal.” Rush patted him on the shoulder and turned.

Bruze and Caayn had already moved a couple of paces back.

Saldon sputtered. “Your father is… he’s on Marcomal. He’s here, in Galargon. He’s the governor.”

Rush stumbled. “What?”

“Yes.” Saldon nodded eagerly. “He’s been here for a few months. They sent him to clean up the city and the planet.”

Rush paused to process this new information but found he couldn’t give it the attention it needed. His mind buzzed with one thought—find Katrina.

“I’m sure he’ll do a great job. I’ve got to get on the way.”

“But—”

“Don’t tell him you saw me.”

Saldon shook his head in disgust. “You are Cardinal Few. You should remember that.”

But Rush was on his way to catching up with Caayn and Bruze as Saldon’s words reached him.

Caayn glanced at him as he joined them. “So, seems there was something I didn’t know about you. Didn’t know we were traveling with royalty.”

Rush gave him a dirty look. “You’re just as much royalty as I am.”

“I wasn’t born into it,” Caayn reminded him. “I’m the bastard son of a Cardinal Few. Sounds like you grew up in it.”

“Until I got the hell out.” Rush’s words were clipped.

“All this time I’ve known you, you’ve never said.”

“Had reasons.”

“I’m sure. We all have secrets. Maybe one day you’d care to say why. No pressure.”

Rush nodded his thanks then looked at Bruze. “What’s the deal? Where is Jeweler? Does he know anything? Did you talk to him?”

Bruze nodded. “Talked to him. He already knew. It’s her. And it won’t be easy to get her back. She’s in the hands of a character called Ephsilum.”

Caayn made a sound.

“I didn’t think we were talking that long… long enough for you to find Jeweler.”

“He found me. Seems he heard the Javelin had landed.”

Rush turned to Caayn. “You know this Ephsilum guy?”

“He’s called Eph,” Caayn said. “I know of him. Had a run-in with him. Once.” Caayn raised his shirt. A scar, somewhat faded, but one that bespoke of being cut with a blade crossed his torso.

“He did that to you?”

“He’s hell with a scimitar.” Caayn dropped his shirt. “I left him with a little memento, too.”

“You’ll have to tell me, sometime. After we get Katrina back.”