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“He had some kind of remote,” I said, nodding at Gitgo, who lay unconscious on the floor. “I don’t know if there is a key for it.”
“Commander.” A Pandraxian soldier held up the remote he or somebody must have taken from Gitgo’s grasp earlier, handing it to Commander Noctus, who inspected it. “There are two buttons here, but they don’t say which does what. I’m afraid to push the wrong one and zap the lady.”
Daryus put me down on my feet and placed his hands inside the collar. It was no easy feat; there wasn’t much give and his hands were huge, but he managed.
I stiffened, expecting to be electrocuted again at any moment, when Daryus pulled against the collar. Nothing happened.
“Your Imperial Highness.” Another soldier entered my field of vision, holding out a gadget that looked like a gun.
“Idiot. He’ll burn her with this.” Noctus pushed the man aside, shaking his head.
“I know,” a small voice piped up.
Serthia.
She was dangling from the hand of one of the guards holding her by her arm. At Daryus’s nod, he let go of her and she came forward.
“You have to push both buttons simultaneously,” she explained.
“And you know that how?” Noctus asked suspiciously.
“They made me control my mother with it for a while,” she said with a defiant tilt to her jaw that made it clear she wouldn’t discuss this any further.
I had no idea how to judge Pandraxians’ ages, but my guess was that she was maybe ten, but her expressions put her at fifty. Normally I would have felt sorry for her, but after the days and encounters I had with her, I knew she would not appreciate the notion.
Serthia held out her little hand for the remote. Reluctantly, Noctus handed it to her after looking at Daryus for instructions and he nodded.
I closed my eyes, clung to Daryus, and stiffened, expecting pain to ravage my body again. Instead, there was a small ping and the collar opened. Immediately, my hands grasped for it, ripped it all the way off, and threw it to the ground.
Then I flung my arms around Daryus and pleaded, “Take me away from here.”
Wordlessly, he picked me up and carried me outside. I barely heard Noctus command Serthia, “Come,” before I buried my head against Daryus’s chest and closed my eyes.
I held her tight all the way back to my suite, unable to believe my good fortune and unwilling to risk her vanishing into a puff of smoke, as unrealistic as that sounded.
“Are you alright?” I asked when it was just the two of us in the strato glider.
“I will be.” She nodded into my chest. “Thank you for finding me.”
“I will always find you,” I promised, ignoring all the hours of fear and doubt I had been through. “From now on you will always be safe with me.”
I kissed her forehead and she snuggled closer.
“Did they… hurt you?” I voiced my deepest fears.
She shook her head. “Not really. They shocked me a few times and forced me to clean, but that was it.”
I sent a silent prayer of thanks to Staphor.
“Do you have any idea who took you?” I asked her next. I knew she was exhausted, but the sooner we could find out who was behind this, the sooner she would be safe. The possibility of whoever had ordered her to be taken doing so again was very real and very much on my mind.
“I’ve been wondering about this myself.” She leaned back so she could look into my eyes. “I think… I think Lady Natoi ordered this.”
“Vra, but she is definitely working with somebody else.”
“Oh.” Heather looked distraught over having her suspicions confirmed. “But why?”
“That’s what we’re trying to figure out,” I told her.
