Page 128 of Smuggler's Beauty

Evelyn smiled and scooted over to place her coffee cup on the nightstand. She settled back in the cradle of his arms and took his hand in both of hers. She traced the map of veins on the back of it, savoring the feel of his skin under her fingertips.

Be brave.

“I love you,” she said, and joy blossomed in her chest. She loved him. Head over heels, burn down the world for you, love. The admission made her feel lighter than air, like she wasfloating on the power of her happiness alone. Then she realized she wasn’t touching the surface of the mattress anymore.

Aiden maneuvered her above him, taking a firm grip on her hips as he settled her atop him. The grin on his face was wider than she’d ever seen it, and those lethal eye crinkles were on full display.

“What was that? I seem to have had a momentary fit of deafness.”

Evelyn leaned down and braced her hands against his chest. She lowered her face, their noses almost touching.

How’s this for eye contact?

“I love you.”

“And I love you,” he replied. His hands slid up her sides, and he pulled her down into a kiss that made her head spin. His lips left hers to trail kisses across her jaw, to her ear. “Endlessly, Evelyn. I love you endlessly.”

Evelyn had calleda meeting in the lobby of theRising Dawn. For one, she had no idea what the state of the receiving room in the Tanalian palace was at this point. The last she remembered, it had been sort of aflame in places. The rug needed a thorough steam cleaning, at the very least.

For another, there was an espresso machine on the ship.

The crew was almost entirely in attendance, as well as Mathias and Corvinia. Veselko was still medicated and resting in his quarters. Nannette had given Pearl what amounted to a cavity search and had allowed her to wait at his bedside while he slept.

Evelyn and Veronique had dragged the tables into a big circle, and Aiden had wheeled out his much-loved whiteboard.Tariel had found more pastries in the depths of the ship’s kitchen. They sat around the table, nibbled on croissants and sipped espresso. Elenor and Lillian glared at Corvinia. Nannette refused to make eye contact with Mathias, but also kept stealing glances at him.

Oh, shit. I have to call this stupid meeting to order.

Evelyn cleared her throat. They all stopped chatting and slurping their drinks and looked to her. Elenor gave her an encouraging smile. Aiden gripped her thigh under the table. Her cheeks warmed.

“Right,” she said. “Corrie, you once gave me a really good piece of advice. You told me to think things all the way through, not to get hung up on the little bumps. I’ve been doing a lot of that.”

Corvinia gave her an unsure smile. Evelyn returned it. She hated the simmering tension between them. She wasn’t even all that upset with Corvinia for choosing the well-being of the planet over her personal safety. It actually was a huge testament to how much faith she had in Evelyn. But the lack of trust in her had hurt. Not knowing the whole plan was a slight that couldn’t be ignored. She couldn’t be a child in Corrie’s eyes one moment and an equal the next. But that was a conversation for another day.

“I want to present Tanalia with articles to abolish the monarchy. This whole mess would never have happened if the Compromise had been updated to account for modernity. The galaxy has evolved leaps and bounds since it was written. Clinging to an archaic document allowed Emil to plunder the planet for nearly a century. It can’t be allowed to happen again.” She paused, sipped her coffee. “Also, I don’t want to rule a planet.”

Everyone but Aiden stared back at her in stunned silence. He just squeezed her thigh again before reaching into his bag andpulling out a thick stack of papers. They had spent the previous hour writing up an agenda. How to transfer power back to the people, what order to wake her family in, how to compensate Amplifiers without elevating them to regent status. Evelyn was immensely grateful that Aiden was a linear thinker; she could never have compiled the stacks of paper on her own in such a short time.

She’d also received a very troubling comm call, but she was going to have to deal with that one when they had a bit more privacy.

Nannette laughed. “Oh, you’re going to love my notes.”

“That being said, it’s going to take a while to get the ball rolling, and until they do, I think the whole monarch thing is going to provide us some interesting opportunities. So, consider yourselves all members of my cabinet. Pick a specialty.”

“Wait, hold on,” Corvinia said. “You want to completely restructure the government?”

“What, like it’s hard?”

Mathias had largely stayedquiet while he watched the crew kick plans around for hours, only piping up to help clarify existing Tanalian law. Aiden’s whiteboard was full of notes, more than half coming from Nannette. She really did have good ideas regarding the Compromise. Every suggestion she made impressed him more than the last.

Then again, everything Nannette did impressed him.

“Let’s take a break,” Aiden said, checking his watch. “Go stretch or something for an hour or so.”

The crew got up from their seats and milled about. Corvinia wandered up to the observation deck, Lillian and Elenor’s eyeswatching her every move. Mathias was sort of shocked they hadn’t zip-tied her to a chair, but maybe they didn’t want to ruin the finish. Evelyn waved to Nannette and gestured for her to come sit next to her.

Being nosey, Mathias wandered over to the piano to pretend to examine the songs Tariel had left on the music rest. He had no idea how to read sheet music. The blobs with sticks were interesting, but they meant nothing to his untrained eye.

“I got a really strange message this morning,” Evelyn said to Nannette. “From someone claiming to be your father and demanding your immediate return to the Cygnus colony.”