Prince of Luster (28 page)

Nova’s love was for the man inside; the one he’d become and not the narcissistic lover women lusted after.

What he’d shared with a little thief was born in the soul. What they’d had would never die. Every soft word spoken in the night, and every touch, was so close and always would be. She was everything good and wonderful, everything no other woman would ever come close to matching.

Then he stopped and stared into the mirror again.

“I can still feel her. She’s still with me,” he whispered. Then anger overtook self-pity. “What, by all the gods in the universe, is wrong with me? She never gave up. When I lay there dying, she helped me. She knew how to survive. She knew better than I did! Even Una could be wrong.”

With a newfound sense of strength, Marcos stepped into the shower and turned the water on. He cleaned his body even as his mind worked on a plan. And when little Una barked at him from outside the small shower stall, he almost joyously picked her up and soaped her as well.

“We’re getting you something to eat. Then we’re going after Nova. You hear me, girl? We’re going back and we’re going to find her. She’s not dead. I was a fool for even thinking such a thing.”

An hour later, Marcos donned one of Darius’s uniforms and made his way to the galley. Una needed food and water, but he wouldn’t partake of anything until Nova was safe. He refused everything offered and ignored orders from the med-tech to report to sickbay and an incubation unit. The crew would have to put up with how he looked for a while longer.

• • •

“Why aren’t you resting in my quarters? And is that my uniform?” Darius demanded as he stared at Marcos.

“She’s not dead. I’m going after her. And in case you’re interested, her name is Nova. And yes, it’s your uniform,” Marcos blathered as he checked the powerful side arm he’d requisitioned from the armory.

“You say this little thing killed Prometheus?” Darius asked as he pointed at Una.

“Yes. Now … I’m leaving
Titan
, with or without your permission.”

“Marcos, if this girl is alive, don’t you think she’d have seen our people out on patrol? They’ve been assessing the situation and doing a street-by-street search since the slugs surrendered. Surely she’d have made an appearance by now.”

“It depends on where she is. But one way or the other … I’m finding her,” he insisted.

“Who is she to you? I know you said she saved your life but—”

“She’s my future wife,” he blurted.

“Your
what
?”

“Help me, Darius. If it were Laurel, you’d do anything in your power to find her. And I’d go with you.”

“You’re right,” Darius acknowledged with a vehement nod. “I’ll leave my bridge crew in command and get a wrist communicator. We’ll sync communications in case we get separated.”

When Darius quickly returned with two communication devices, he handed one to Marcos and snapped his on his wrist. “You’ll be interested to know that one of our patrols just picked up Adaman Forrell. He was hiding in that cave, just where you told us he’d be.”

“And there was no one with him?”

“Did you think she’d be there?” Darius asked.

“I-I don’t know where she’d go. That was the place she called home for over two years. I only took that bastard there because it was the last safe place. I want him on Luster to get what’s coming to him. You know all the rest; I’ve already told you,” he finished with barely controlled impatience.

Darius put both hands on his brother’s shoulders and gripped them hard. “We’ll find your Nova. I promise. But the search will go faster if we use a transport. I’m having mine offloaded now.”

“Poor child. I ran here with my granddaughter to evade the slugs’s wrath. Seems you and I had similar thoughts about safe hiding places.”

Nova slowly opened her eyes. Smells from the pit reminded her where she was. But some gentle soul wrapped a warm blanket around her as he kindly spoke.

As her vision cleared, the face of an elderly man floated before her. He was heavily cloaked, and a smaller figure hovered nearby.

“Don’t worry, healer. I know who you are. I knew your father and mother. Don’t you recognize me?” the man asked. “My name is Cornelius Pratt. And this is my granddaughter, Zia.”

“Y-You’re the man in the marketplace. The one w-who warned us. You gave Marcos the sword.”

“Ah … you do remember.” He put a hand on her shoulder. “Stay quiet now. We’ll help you get warm.”

She shivered despite the addition of the blanket. Her hands refused to move, and they’d taken on a strange, bluish hue. Frostbite could cause her to lose them. This man’s help might save her life.

“Try to stay awake, healer. Uh … forgive me, but I forgot the name of Bellos and Risa Drayton’s child. There’ve been so many children lost or hurt,” Cornelius sadly said.

“N-Nova.”

“Ah, yes … Nova. Well … I’ll try to find help. I’ll be back as soon as possible.”

“No. The slugs—”

Cornelius glanced over his shoulder. “There hasn’t been blasting for a while. And you need to get to a warm place. The temperatures will go much lower.” He moved closer and tucked the blanket around her body more tightly.

Nova glanced at the young girl behind him. She frantically kept her eyes on the horizon, watching for any enemy. “Thank you for what you’ve done. But you have a granddaughter to help. You need to leave me, Cornelius.”

“And what would that teach my granddaughter? Without compassion for others, you see where our population has sunk.” He shook his head in denial. “It’s time to fight back, just as Prince Marcos fought for me. Enforcers will help us. The ship I saw earlier today is a sign of rescue.”

“E-Enforcers?”

“Yes. Zia and I were huddled beside some boulders here at the pits, the same as you. And when I heard an engine approach, I peeked up and saw an enforcer transport fly by. I couldn’t get out of my hiding place in time to summon it, but if I can find some enforcers on the ground, I’ll have you out of here in no time. I’ll bet they even have an incubation unit that will fix you right up.”

“M-maybe,” she uttered, but not with much conviction. It was hard to believe help might be so close, especially when she was so very cold and after so much had happened.

“Now, stay put. I’ll be back soon. Zia will look after you until I return.”

Nova tried to smile but was too numb. “Whatever happens, I thank you for your kindness.”

Cornelius nodded, and made his way up the side of the pit to the top.

Nova fearfully watched him go. She glanced at Zia, and the girl sat down beside her to share what little body heat she could.

“Your grandfather is a very brave man.”

Zia nodded and looked to where he was just climbing over the edge of the pit. “When we saw you here, hiding so close to us, we knew we had to help. It was your man who saved our lives. If he hadn’t stood up to the slug leader, we’d have died.”

“Creator above! Marcos will think I’m dead! H-he might not have made it—”

“Not to worry, milady. All this will be over soon enough. Think bad thoughts no longer. We will be free,” she excitedly said as she wrapped her arms around Nova’s body.

• • •

For a full hour, Marcos searched. He called out Nova’s name and had Darius stop his transport several times to let Una get to the ground and see what she could find. But there was simply no sign of his little thief anywhere. At the sound of a man crying out to them, they both turned.

“I wonder what he wants?” Darius mused as he saw a man running from one end of a destroyed city street.

Then Marcos recognized the stranger.

“Prince Marcos … you must help me. I am Cornelius Pratt. You remember me, I’m sure. I’ve found the healer … Nova. But she’s in a very bad way. You must come,” he called out to them.

From the depths of despair to the height of exaltation, Marcos’s soul soared. The Creator of all things had answered his silent prayers, and he could barely contain his glee. His entire body shook with happiness. Though he registered the words implying Nova was hurt, she was still alive. For that brief moment, no words would come that could do the moment justice. He simply put his hand on his chest as if doing so could stop his heart from pounding so very hard.

“Do you know that man?” Darius asked.

Marcos blinked, took a deep breath and nodded. He forced himself to speak, though relief made it difficult. “He tried to help Nova and me before. I’ll tell you about all that later.” He pushed his older brother aside, grabbed the controls, and sent the transport racing to the other end of the street where the old man was slowly running toward them.

Cornelius stopped, and took a moment to catch his breath. “She’s in the incineration pit. I’ll show you.”

“We were there earlier and saw nothing,” Marcos replied.

“We’ve been there all night. Please … you must come!”

Marcos leapt from the surface of the transport, helped the man up to stand next to his brother, then got back on himself. “Show me where Nova is.”

“Right away, Highness.”

Marcos turned the transport back in the direction of the incineration pit and pushed the transport to its maximum speed. While the elderly man introduced himself to Darius, Marcos sped faster and faster away from the main part of the marketplace. And when he spotted two figures huddled together under a rock, he didn’t even wait for the transport to come to a safe stop before jumping off and making his way to Nova.

He knelt beside the girl who was trying to keep Nova warm.

“She’s very, very cold,” Zia told him. “She was here all night without a cloak or anyone to warm her.”

“Thank you for staying by her.” Marcos smiled at the girl. “I’ll take over now. You and your grandfather will be safe.”

The girl smiled, moved aside, and let Marcos into the narrow crevice formed by two huge boulders.

“Nova? I’m here, love. Can you hear me?”

“M-Marcos?”

“I think she’s getting worse by the minute, Highness. We should get her to someplace warm as quickly as possible,” Cornelius warned.

Marcos noted the discoloration on Nova’s small hands and quickly pulled her to him. As he lifted her up and let Darius maneuver the transport closer, Cornelius helped him put Nova on the platform. Then he and his daughter joined them.

In seconds, they were headed at breakneck speed back to the
Titan
and its physicians. But all the way there, he held Nova close and kept talking to her. She looked up at him with eyes that were too fixed, and it frightened him. An incubation unit could heal many things, but it couldn’t bring the dead back. Still, he refused to think that even the hour they’d wasted bypassing her would make a difference. She had to live. She must.

• • •

The physicians told him she would recover. They were in the last stages of readying Nova for deep stasis in an incubation unit. While the injuries from the cold would heal more easily, the scars required a great deal more treatment than an overnight stay in the unit. It was designed to augment the body’s immune system by boosting internal structures. And there were many things the unit couldn’t heal if the patient had been too long from treatment. But the scars she bore were of no interest. He just wanted Nova to be safe and healthy.

He sensed a presence behind him as he stood and looked down into the incubation unit. The box-shaped apparatus was moments away from being activated, and he didn’t want to take his attention away from Nova. Her clothing had been removed to effect maximum exposure to the unit’s boosters, but a blue sheet was draped modestly over her body to cover her.

Darius put one hand on his brother’s shoulder. “Marcos, the physician said he found a small knife and a laser weapon on Nova.”

“I gave her the laser,” he softly replied. “The knife probably came from the cave where we lived. She only had one.” He stared down at her, hoping she’d awaken before the unit was activated.

“What was she going to do with a small paring blade?”

“Knowing her, she probably intended to use it on herself before letting the slugs get her.”

“Your future wife is a brave woman, then.”

“Yes, she is. Tell the physicians to spare no amount of power.”

“They won’t,” Darius responded in a comforting tone. “And now you have to get into a chamber of your own. I’m sorry we don’t have the newer models, or I’d have put you in with Nova. We traded the double units in lieu of smaller, single chambers that could more easily be located throughout the ship. We assumed there might be an overflow of patients for the med bay. Space there, after these kinds of situations, always comes at a premium as you well know.”

Marcos nodded in understanding. “As long as she’s all right.”

“Come with me, little brother. Let’s get you healed and back home.”

Marcos took a deep breath and left Nova to be tended by med-techs already taking her vital signs. As he slowly walked away, a surreal sense of time hit him hard.

Was it really over? Was Nova really safe? Had they actually made it through the occupation of an allied planet, or was he dreaming?

“Before they put you in the incu-unit,” Darius said as he applied the nickname many enforcers used for the healing chamber, “you should know that Adaman Forrell surrendered. And he won’t get away with what he’s done, Marcos. I’ll see to that, even if you’re still being healed and can’t speak at his trial. In reality, we shouldn’t need your testimony now. There’re more than enough survivors willing to speak up.
Finally
. The population of Delta Seven is no longer held hostage.”

“The situation was … it was …
bad
, Darius.”

Darius put his hand on his brother’s shoulder. “Don’t talk about it anymore. Just heal and rest. I’ll speak with you again when we get home.”

“You think it’ll take that long for me to recover?” Marcos asked.

“The med-techs do. But however long you’re under, if Nova comes out first, I’ll see her taken into the castle. She’ll have your rooms and all the respect due a future family member. Laurel will help her.”

“Good. And you’ll see to Una? She’s more than just a pet. She … she saved my life as much as her mistress did.”