Page 120 of Smuggler's Beauty

“It is my first honor as your queen to return to the palace and expedite the removal of Bauder’s soldiers from our planet. Please remain calm, and allow us to pass without incident, friends.”

The crowd parted. The singing started again, but this time it felt more like pride and less like defiance as the notes hit her ears. Supremely relieved, she flashed Pearl a quick smile and descended the remaining steps of the Senate building into the square.

The rest of the walk to the palace was largely uneventful. Evelyn tried to keep the churning in her gut at bay by practicing her small talk skills. She interrogated Pearl about her preferences for the blaster models at her hip — there were two different types — and tried to focus on not tripping over her own feet. Every step brought her closer to the reality that she was about to be in the same building her family was being kept in. Evelyn had been able to compartmentalize that information when she’d been lightyears away. Now the reality that they were hostages in stasis pods threatened to overwhelm her.

She had a surge of empathy for her father, the desperation he must have felt to keep both his family and his planet safe.

Evelyn hoped she would make better decisions than he had.

Fuck things up in new and exciting ways, Evelyn. You can learn.

Before she realized how far they had come, they were ascending the steps to the palace. She hated referring to the building she’d grown up in that way, but . . . well, it was on the plaque on the gate. The guards who had accompanied them on the journey dissolved their formation and peeled off to take positions at the perimeter of the property. Evelyn hadstrode through the front door as she had countless times before, leading Pearl to the receiving room.

“I always hated the wallpaper in here. It’s dreadful.” She wrinkled her nose as she looked around the room. The floral design was overblown, the colors too saturated. “I think it was a great-grand-something’s attempt at the arts. She was like my dad, could grow flowers with a brush of her hand, but good grief, she could not paint them to save her life.”

Pearl tilted her head as she considered the wallpaper. “Perhaps you can redecorate.”

Evelyn huffed out a laugh. “Oh yes, priority one.” She brushed her hand across the top of a sideboard, examining the tips of her fingers for dust. Finding none, she nodded. “Emil believes in keeping his acquisitions well-kept. Good.”

Evelyn caught Pearl’s reflection in a highly polished silver urn before she turned around to the woman’s schooled face.

She flashed a warm smile. “Were you expecting a spoiled, pampered idiot?”

“You’re not meeting my expectations, no.”

“I’m ever so sorry. I do hate to disappoint,” Evelyn said. “But I think you know a little something about covers and books, hmm?”

They were interrupted by the sound of the front doors opening and closing. Pearl’s entire countenance shifted, returning to a ramrod straight posture and a blank expression. Emil Bellica entered the room. He was in one of his ever-present charcoal gray suits, trousers pressed, shoes polished, pristine. He acknowledged them with a nod of his head and headed to a sofa. As he sat, he gave a tug to his trousers.

He waved an arm at the seats surrounding him as he crossed his legs. “Ladies, please. Sit.”

“It’s customary to acknowledge the queen of a planet when one enters the room, Minister,” Evelyn said, her voice so icy shebarely recognized it. She wasn’t sure where the tone had even come from.

Emil’s lips thinned, and his eyes took in her clothing, her hair. He radiated his disapproval. “Of course, Your Majesty. My sincere apologies.”

Neither Pearl nor Evelyn took the offered seat. Evelyn remained by the sideboard, going for “idly leaning” against the furniture and not using it to keep her trembling knees from giving her away.

Pearl stepped into Emil’s line of sight. “Our contract is complete. One missing person, delivered alive and well into your hands. We require the balance paid in full at this time.”

Emil turned his focus to Pearl and gave a curt nod. “Of course. Let us finish our business, and then Queen Alpertti and I can discuss moving forward.”

He pulled a sleek communicator from his inside jacket pocket and started swiping at the screen.

“There’s very little to discuss, but I agree. Pearl, it’s been lovely to chat with you. Thank you so much for the transportation from the Senate building. I couldn’t have dealt with the mob of people on my own. You’ve been a gem.” Evelyn shot a cheeky smile at her.

Pearl snorted. “My pleasure, Your Majesty. Sincerely wish we could have met under other circumstances.”

Evelyn watched her turn on her heels and walk out of the palace without a backward glance, leaving her alone with Emil.

Pearl was looking forwardto getting back to the ship and locking herself in her quarters with a bottle of vodka and a stack of trashy magazines. She wanted to get weepy andread about celebrity weddings and movie premiers and cheating spouses and twelve-headed goats on Sirius Seven. Decompress before the next hunt. Wipe her memory for the foreseeable.

She had hated this job more with every passing moment. Her constant mental proximity to the crew of theRising Dawn, tohim, had been emotionally draining. It had given her a distraction from the reality of Evelyn as a person. Keeping assets, targets, as goals and not people was critical to this sort of work. To add that Emil was as personable as a pile of pencil shavings didn’t help matters at all.

It’s over now.

She trusted her glower to do the majority of the work for her as she made her way back to the ship. She’d only had to brush the hilt of a blaster once to get the stupidest of the people roaming the square to get out of her way. The rest of the walk back to the rooftop of the structure they’d set their cloaked ship down on days ago passed by without her notice.

While she waited for Ivan to return, Pearl kicked her legs up on her desk and scrolled through the files they’d copied from the medivessel. It was her least favorite part of any contract, cleaning up the excess data they accumulated in the midst of a chase. So much more mercenary work happened behind the screen of a data center than people realized. Then again, maybe it shouldn’t surprise her. People never wanted to read the fine print, do the detail work she and Ivan were hired for.