Heart of Iron (Heart of Iron #1)(46)

And now the rest of the crew was going to die.

“We have to accept the terms,” she heard herself say, voice wavering. “We don’t have a choice.”

Because there was no way to escape. Because if they tried, they would die. The crew of the Dossier had been through enough chases and firefights to know the endgame. They knew the story of a ship with a punctured sail in the middle of open space. They’d seen it happen to others before.

Ana had never thought the Dossier would become one of those ships. And it was all her fault.

“We don’t have a choice,” she repeated, her voice tight. “I don’t want anyone else to die.”

Wick leaned forward in his chair and radioed in their surrender. Jax eased the Dossier to a stop and sat back, releasing the controls, as the screens in front of him dimmed, showing their coordinates. There were no more explosions, no more noise, except for the Valerio creed that echoed in Ana’s ears like a siren.

Even though she didn’t know the Old Language, she knew the words.

Toriean el agh Lothorne.

Glory in the Pursuit.





Jax


Valerio guards swarmed the Dossier in a sea of crimson.

It would’ve been nice to have seen this in Robb’s stars, Jax thought bitterly, raising his hands to show that he was unarmed.

A burly woman yanked him out of his seat and stuck a gun against his back anyway. Another took Ana by her braid, pulled Siege up by her coat. Their captors bound the crews’ hands behind their backs with strong wire and led them back to the cargo bay.

Goddess, when he got his hands on that slimy little shit-stain of Valerio spacetrash, he’d—

The guard forced him to his knees in the cargo bay beside Wick, then Lenda, the sting of his kneecaps hitting the floor sending a hiss through his teeth.

On the other side, a guard shoved Ana down beside him. Her face was blank, as if she’d already given up. She’d given up the moment Siege brought her back to the Dossier. He had told Di to prepare her—hadn’t he? But now there was a sinking suspicion in his gut, like a bird falling from the sky, that things were about to get a whole world worse.

The decompression chamber sighed, and the air lock slid open to reveal a woman whose boots struck the floor like swords, making the guards stand straighter at attention.

Tall and thin, with olive skin and graying brown hair swept into a bun, cheekbones so sharp they could cut ice. She wore a finely detailed coat and trousers, a Valerio crest pinned above her heart. She appraised the small crew with shrewd blue eyes—he knew that color. He knew it achingly well. The color of Erosian skies.

This nightmare of a woman must be Robb’s mother.

Jax had never felt such vitriol for anyone before.

“And where is the captain?” asked Lady Valerio.

“Here, milady,” replied the commander as two men dragged the captain into view. Siege’s head lolled against her chest, unconscious. The gash on her forehead smeared blood down half her face, lipstick smudged. Jax couldn’t remember a time her unruly hair hadn’t glowed.

“This is the frightful Captain Siege?” the Valerio woman asked with a sneer. “I would have expected someone a little more . . . frightening. And what a dreary little crew. Smaller than I would have suspected. And young.” Her icy eyes rested on him. “And what do we have here, a star-kisser? What is his charming little name?”

Jax pressed his lips together. Swallowed. He couldn’t lie—he couldn’t lie.

“Well?”

Wick and Lenda leaned forward protectively. Wick snarled, “You don’t deserve to know it, knrachne.”

Jax wasn’t sure what knrachne meant, but he had a feeling it was one of those names you didn’t want to call anyone—or be called.

The woman’s stone facade flickered—like a candle—with anger. Jax could see it resting behind her marble eyes, dangerous and explosive. Her deep-red lips had begun to form into words when a thin voice interrupted her from the infirmary.

“Mother.” Robb pushed through a line of guards, tripping on one of their shoes. Despite himself, Jax tried to rise to his feet to catch the Ironblood—but stopped himself. Foolish. He doesn’t care about you.

The flicker of anger beneath Lady Valerio’s gaze dissolved as she turned to her son. “Robbert, my dear. It’s wonderful to see you alive.”

He stood straight, lips pressed into a thin line. “Of course I’m alive.”

“You were kidnapped, my sweet. I was worried.”

“I wasn’t kidnapped—”

“And you can gladly have him back. You have no cause to keep us,” Jax snapped before he could bite his tongue. “We’re in protected space. You have no right to be on this ship.”

The woman’s eyes flicked to him. “I have every right. Who will tell me no?”

“I just did” was Jax’s shrewd reply.

So the woman took Siege’s pistol out of its holster and fired a bullet into one of her own guards’ knees. The guard gave a shriek, collapsing to the floor, before two others dragged him back to the other ship, leaving a smeared trail of blood.

“It seems, dear Solani,” Lady Valerio said coolly, “that you attacked first. Therefore, I boarded your ship.”

She cocked Siege’s pistol again and aimed for his head.