Despite the arousal that had burned between them the other night, Kobrah made no move to resume the kiss they never finished. And Dara certainly didn’t have the courage to push it.

Seeing him again had brought back all her old feelings. How safe she felt with him. How impressed she was not just by his strength and good looks but his intelligence. His ability to command not only a ship but its crew.

It also meant a return of the fire he could ignite in her body. A hot lust that throbbed between her legs.

Seeing him reminded her of why she’d fallen in love, which—despite what he thought—was real. At least for her.

He made her wish for something more. But obviously her regrets weren’t shared. Kobrah avoided her, obviously unable to forgive. Probably for the best. Getting involved with her wouldn’t be healthy. For him.

Despite the fact Kobrah left the room whenever Dara entered, he didn’t avoid Karolyne. She’d come across them a few times. Heads bent together as he showed her something about the ship. Other times, she’d find Karo in his lap, giggling as her daddy let her drive the ship.

He’d even insisted on doing the bedtime story the previous night. Which she’d watched on a screen in the bridge, tears rolling down her cheeks.

A child and her father bonding. It was beautiful and heartbreaking all at once.

How she wished things could be different.

On their eighth EC day of travel, she thought it an improvement that she entered the bridge and he did not immediately find an excuse to leave.

Karo lay on a cleared space in front of his chair and colored, Kobrah having found an old recipe for colored wax sticks and paper that he programmed into the replicator.

There existed a comfortable silence as they each did their own thing. Dara hadn’t felt this relaxed in years.

Karo broke the quiet. “You don’t have to worry. They don’t know where we are.”

Used to her daughter’s odd statements, Dara didn’t pay much mind as she pored over the data feeding into the ship. Being relaxed didn’t mean she wasn’t watching for trouble. The Rhomanii knew how to hunt.

Kobrah, sitting in the captain’s seat, also perusing data, didn’t ignore Karo’s words. “What do you mean, Sprout?”

Karo took that as an invitation and climbed onto his lap. Unlike the first time that happened, he didn’t freeze. He stroked Karo’s curly hair.

“The domums can’t see us right now. So they can’t follow.”

“Who are the domums?” Kobrah’s brow creased in puzzlement.

Dara thought she knew, though. “Do you mean the Dom’umm Terramyn’oos?”

“The who?” he asked.

“The Dom’umm Terramyn’oos are another name for the Rhomanii priests. True fanatics and part of the sect that originally hunted down the king with a mission to bring him home.”

“Why would priests be chasing you?” he asked.

Dara shrugged, but Karo began to sing. “Sing a song of legend, a citadel full of drones, four and twenty archdukes sent the galaxy to roam. When the home was located, the drones began to sing, we have found the chosen one who will rule us as our king.”

“Where did you learn that?” Dara exclaimed.

“The domums sang it to me.”

A claim that only served to perplex him further. Kobrah raised his gaze to Dara. “Who, or what should I say, did you expose my daughter to?”

But Dara looked just as confused. “I don’t know what she’s talking about or where she learned that song. She’s never met them.”

“Are you calling her a liar then?”

“Do you believe every word out of a child’s mouth?” Dara gave Karo a pointed look. The imp just grinned and snuggled deeper into her father’s lap. “She’s a kid. They claim stuff all the time. They also have imaginary friends.”

“Raffie is real,” Karo huffed, crossing her arms.

“Who is Raffie?” he asked.

“The friend only she can see,” Dara said pointedly.

“Oh.” Kobrah glanced down at Karo.

Her features screwed up in indignation. “Raffie is real, even if no one but me can see him. He says it’s better this way, so people don’t take a van…” Her face screwed up. “A van…

“Advantage.”

“Yes! That’s the word he uses.” Karo’s face lightened.

The expression Dara shot Kobrah was of the told-you-so variety. Hopefully he bought it.

Fact of the matter was, whether or not Karo actually spoke to ghosts, she couldn’t say for sure. What Dara did know was Karo could sense things others couldn’t. She especially could predict the proximity of drones and citadels. Part of her specialness, and probably the reason why she was hunted by the Rhomanii.

I was warned what might happen if I had a child.

It was why she’d been so careful. She’d gotten the birth control implant.

Except the implant failed. She found out she was pregnant after she fainted in a marketplace. She’d recovered quickly but not before a local witch doctor drew her blood. Blood that went into a database. Dara had scrubbed it as quick as she could once she found out. Mustn’t leave a trace.

She thought she’d done a good job hiding. Which meant she could deal with the other bit of news the bloodwork imparted.

Pregnant, despite all her precautions. She didn’t know how she felt about that. She spent a few days dealing with it. Having taken the Yellow Spacemachine on a reconnaissance mission for the Gypsy Moth, she had time before she’d see Kobrah again. Time to decide, keep it or not?

You can’t have it. It’s too dangerous. She could hear her teacher’s voice.

So very dangerous. Yet every time she put a hand on her stomach she realized anew there was a life in there.

She couldn’t get rid of it. Once she realized that, her heart lightened, and she couldn’t wait to tell Kobrah. She knew he’d be excited.

The ambush happened the day before the Gypsy Moth was due to dock. They tranquilized her as she browsed the marketplace and stopped in a fabric shop. When she regained consciousness, in a bed at a hotel, she immediately knew the fetus was lost. A victim of a harvester. There were many delicacies available on the Obsidian Market. Fertilized eggs of any species, alien caviar as the humans liked to call it, were in high demand.

She silently mourned the loss of her unborn child.

Then weeks later, her attackers sent her an image. One of a baby, fully formed and floating in a steel womb.

She never once doubted it was her child. She caved to their demands.

Had to. She betrayed everyone for the baby she was told not to have.

Why didn’t she tell Kobrah, though? It was his child, too.

Dara lied because she feared what he’d do. Feared that, unlike her, he’d think the jumble of cells stolen from her womb wasn’t worth the price.

As for Dara, she couldn’t not act. So she did what the kidnappers asked. Fucked over a whole bunch of people and killed a friend. To rub salt into a festering wound, those who blackmailed her tried to renege on the deal. After all they’d done, all they’d taken from her, they thought they could keep her baby. Sell her to someone who would pay them dearly.

When the Rhomanii arrived to buy Karolyne from the kidnappers, they found only bodies.

And Dara had been running ever since. It wasn’t a life for a child.

Sensing her melancholy, Karo slunk off her father’s lap and made her way onto hers. The weight settled in under her chin and bolstered her flagging spirit.

“It’s okay, Mommy. It will soon be over.”

“Don’t say stuff like that.” She hugged her tight. “I can’t lose you.”

“You won’t lose me. Raffie says he’ll keep me safe.”

If only her child did have a magical guardian to protect her.

Later that evening, after she put Karo to bed, her restless feet took her to the exercise room. She needed the exertion to forget everything else.

The punching column gave her an outlet for her worry.

It was where Kobrah found her.

“Where are we going?” he asked, stalking in, body bristling with agitation.

“You know exactly where we’re going. The Jerminian system. You punched in the coordinates yourself.”

“And then you changed them,” he accused.

“What are you talking about?” She stopped hitting the dummy to fully face him.

“I’m talking about the fact you reprogrammed our course and then locked me out of my own navigation system.”

The words gave her a chill. “What are you talking about? I didn’t change anything. We need to go to Jerminian. I’ve got a connection there who will help me and Karo get new identities and hide.”

“Well, that’s not where we’re going. According to the computer, it was your code used to make the changes.”

“Impossible because I didn’t do it.” And she was getting mighty peeved about being accused. “Computer, video footage of the person inputting the new destination coordinates.”

“Nice try. We both know the ship will claim she can’t find them and—”

“Playing video.” The lights dimmed, and the wall across from them lit as the computer streamed their request.

No mistaking the little hands tapping away at the console.

Her eyes widened. “Karo.”

“She probably did it by accident,” he said.

“Maybe.” Or maybe… “Computer, rewind and play the audio as well.”

The scene restarted with Karo and Dara on the bridge, hanging out. Karo never once looked away from her holopad when Dara left to use the ablutions chamber. Yet no sooner was the bridge clear than Karo scrambled to her feet. “This one?” She pointed, talking to no one visible. She put her fingers to the buttons. “Three, three, nine, zero…” She sang off numbers and letters, tapped all that gibberish into the console, all the while maintaining a conversation.

“I did it, Raffie.” She clapped her hands. “I’m coming to find you!”

The clip ended when Dara returned to the bridge, Karo lying on the floor playing with her holopad.

The lights resumed their former brilliance and did nothing to remove the stunned expression from Dara’s face. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know she’d done that.”

“I’m impressed she managed to actually program the ship and then lock it in.”

“What are we going to do about it? Where are we headed?”

“Nowhere, which is why I’m not digging around pulling computer chips. We should be reaching the end of whatever course she programmed in the next hour.”

“You sure there’s nothing there?” she asked. It wouldn’t be the first time she experienced a change in navigation on a ship she rode. Had Karo been responsible for previous ones? It seemed unlikely given in the past there was a destination of some sort with the change in coordinates.

“Nothing, not even a dying star.”

“Well, at least we’re not flying into a sun.”

“I’ll have to input some kind of control so she can’t do that again.”

“Child-proofing the ship.” Her lips curved into a smile.

“Never thought I’d have to do that.” He grinned right back.

“Smart like her daddy.”

For once, that didn’t make him glower at Dara. Rather he shook his head, still smiling. “She is damned smart. And beautiful. And perfect.” His gaze met hers. “I might be starting to understand why you did what you did.”

Which meant what? She took a step closer to him. “I hated hurting you. But I couldn’t ignore their demands. I couldn’t let them hurt her.”

“The faction you helped, they were holding my daughter hostage?”

She nodded. “They said if I didn’t do as they asked they’d sell our baby to the flesh market.”

His jaw clenched. “You should have told me. We could have handled it together.”

She shrugged. “I panicked. Was afraid you wouldn’t think she was important enough.”

“She’s my daughter.” Stated emphatically.

“I didn’t know if you’d feel that way given she was stolen before she was even born.”

“Wouldn’t have changed the fact she was family. My family. I’m your husband. Why didn’t you trust me?”

I’m your husband? Her breath caught as she wondered if he’d caught the glitch.

Their gazes snared.

“Dara…” He breathed her name, and then she was in his arms.

A heartbeat later, their lips met. Instant awareness flashed through her.

His hands palmed her waist and lifted her off her tiptoes, bringing her in better reach of his mouth. He slanted it over hers, claiming it in a way that made her breath catch. Taking advantage of her lips parting, his tongue slipped in and took control, sliding over hers, tracing the flat edge of her teeth, teasing her with his taste.

She couldn’t help but curl herself around him, her arms draped over his shoulders, her legs wrapped around his shanks. His hands moved from her waist to stroke her back, tracing her shape before sliding to her buttocks, drawing her nearer. Her breathing hitched as he ground against her. Do it again.

She didn’t even realize she said it aloud, or did he just know? It wouldn’t surprise her. He’d always known what made her feel pleasure.

He knew so much about her. Too much. This would complicate things.

What was one more complication in her life, though?

Her lips traveled from his down the column of his neck, feeling the rapid beat of his pulse. His turn to gasp when Dara gave it a soft nibble.

But if she thought she controlled the situation, how wrong she was. Being latched around him meant he commanded things. He had the strength to move them, and thus she found herself pushed against the padded wall of the room.

His hands skimmed her shirt upward, peeling it from her skin, until he exposed her chest. Her nipples puckered at the cooler air.

With one hand, he cupped a globe, and his thumb brushed over a peak. She shivered in response, desire pooling between her legs.

The hard nub ached for his touch. She grabbed his hair and tugged.

“Impatient?” he growled against her skin.

“Yes.” That was the truth.

“Is this what you want?” He dipped in for a suck.

“Yes. Oh, yes.” She sighed as he took her whole nipple and part of her breast into his mouth, tugging at it, teasing while soft cries panted past her lips.

Meanwhile, even without his touch, her cunt got slick and shuddered as she ground herself against him.

A nip at the tip of her nipple sent a shiver through her. Another gentle bite and she clasped his head, moaning.

His hands roamed her body as his mouth returned to capture her lips. She clutched at the fabric covering his shoulders as they kissed. She couldn’t get enough of him.

He rasped his digits along her skin, over her rib cage, across her breasts, pausing to circle her taut nipples. She inhaled a sharp breath when he pinched.

She protested only when he set her down. “You can’t stop now.” Not with her so hot and wet.

“I’m not done.” Said with a husky promise.

He dropped to his haunches, and she bit her lip, knowing what came next. Down over her flat belly he stroked, his fingers hooking into the waistband of her loose-fitting shorts. He yanked them down but left them tangled around her knees. His fingers tickled over her shaven pubes. She kept them trim.

He pressed a kiss against her mound.

She gasped. Anticipation and arousal made her sex quiver.

He blew. She almost hit the floor as her legs trembled.

“Touch me.” She couldn’t help but beg.

And he just had to tease. He rubbed the bristled edge of his jaw along the silky skin of her inner thigh, and she shivered.

He did it again to the other side, and her fingers clawed at the wall.

He positioned himself at the mouth of her sex, his warm breath puffing against it. Her hips jerked in reply.

His lips latched onto her with a suddenness that made her whole body arch. But she didn’t go far. His arm pressed against her lower belly and hips, pinning her to the wall, keeping her from thrashing as he lapped at her, spreading her nether lips to stab at her with his tongue.

She couldn’t help but moan and quiver as he pleasured her. When his lips moved to her clit, her entire channel clenched. She was so close. So close to coming.

The tip of his tongue flicked her clit, driving her pleasure higher, but it was the finger he slid into her that had her panting. One finger turned into two. Then a third for a tight, tight fit.

He finger-pumped her as she gasped. In and out he thrust, and her entire body tightened. Tensed…

She climaxed with a shout, her body turning into a rigid statue as the ecstasy rolled through her. But still he kept licking and thrusting, rolling her immediately into a second orgasm, even more intense, that had her mewling loudly.

But not as loud as the sudden alarm.

For a moment, they both froze. And then they were scrambling, her to right her clothes, him to reach the bridge to see what had the computer freaking out.

She arrived seconds after him to see him staring with a grim expression at the news on the screen.

The blank screen showed nothing outside. Nothing at all.

“What is it? A black hole?” Which seemed odd since they had huge gravitational pulls and all kinds of warning signs.

“It’s not a black hole.” Turned out it was worse than that. They’d found oblivion.