Page 41 of Vindicated

Dawz gave me a single, brusque nod. “Then we will find the real culprit.”

I returned his nod and looked past him to the scorched and twisted metal. "Tell me what you found."

"An incendiary device was detonated. One of ours. One of the ones stored here.” He shook his head slowly. “If the door had not been forced open, I might have suspected a malfunction.”

“Would someone need to understand munitions to do this?” I asked.

“If it was set for a delayed detonation, which we can assume since there is no charred body in the remains, then yes. At least a rudimentary knowledge of munitions.” Then he frowned. “Any Vandar has that training, but no Vandar would sabotage our ship.”

I agreed with him. No Vandar would commit treason like this. That left only the passengers I'd brought aboard. I now knew the group contained one Zagrath, but I also now knew it contained someone who knew munitions. I was certain those were two different people.

“Remember that the female was with you, and then she was escorted to the females' quarters before the alarms sounded. There was no gap in which she could have done this.”

He was right. Why hadn’t I remembered that sooner? We’d encountered the Vandar who had escorted her to her friends’ room. Then the three had gone to the men’s quarters together. Now, all I needed to do was confirm that the three women had gone straight to see their friends.

I clapped a hand on his shoulder. “Thank you,majak.” I was already backing away and hurrying toward the females' quarters, encountering more than one raider who flattened themselves against the corridor wall to let me pass.

When I located the door, I slammed my hand against the control panel. The beep was muffled, but the door slid open to reveal Lettie's startled face, her hand pressed to her chest, and behind her, Vallia rose quickly from the bed.

"Raas Lorken?" Lettie's eyes went wide. “I thought you were Athena.”

I did not bother with a formal greeting. “When Athena arrived to visit you, did she leave your presence at any point?”

Lettie's heavily made-up eyes widened.. "She was escorted here by one of your hunky raiders. We talked for a bit, and then the three of us went to check on the boys. That's it."

"She never left your sight?"

"Not for a second," Vallia said, her voice quiet but sure. "We were together the entire time until the sirens went off, and then we found Hal and the others right after."

"So, she couldn't have," I murmured, half to myself, "done what my brother believes she has done."

I had not meant for either of them to hear it, but Lettie's face darkened in an instant, and she stepped forward to face me. “What does he think she’s done?”

“The explosion was not caused by a Vandar, so?—”

Lettie jabbed a finger at my chest even though she had to raise her arm to do it. "You thought that our Athena sabotaged your ship? After everything she did to save Kolt and Skye?" Her voice cracked with anger. "If you think for one moment that she could do something like that, then you don't know her at all, and you sure as hell don't deserve her."

I had no argument to offer. She was right about all of it. I turned and left without another word. I had let my brother's suspicion, and my own fear of being made a fool, override every instinct that had told me from the first moment she was not capable of this.

Athena might not accept my apology or my comfort, but I needed to offer them. I ran back to my quarters even faster than I’d ran from them, my heart knocking against my ribs. I was both terrified that she would reject my apologies and desperate to give them.

When the door to my quarters slid open, I strode inside, expecting to see her where I’d left her. A quick glance around the room told me she wasn’t there and a dash into the bathing chamber revealed that she wasn’t there either.

Tvekkinghell.

Chapter 32

Athena

Theoblekwas exactly what I might have imagined a Vandar torture chamber would look like, although I’d never expected it to be attached to the command deck. The Zagrath famously kept their torture rooms in dark basements, but apparently the Vandar liked everyone to hear their prisoners scream.

The room had a single wall of glass that looked out into the endless dark of space, which was beautiful, especially compared to the other sides lined with weapons. Blades of every length were strapped to the black walls. Some were curved, some straight, some serrated in ways that made my stomach clench just looking at them, but all glinted under the room's ambient blue light. Chains hung from the ceiling at intervals, some short enough that I would have to stand on tiptoes to reach them and others long enough to pool on the floor. The floor itself was the same glossy black as Lorken's quarters, but here it didn't shine the same way. There were dull, scuffed patches, as if something had been scrubbed at over and over until the surface itself had worn thin.

I didn't want to think about what had left those marks. I didn't want to think about how much blood had dripped ontothe floor or how many people had stood exactly where I was standing now, feeling just as petrified.

The air smelled faintly of copper and sweat, and I could almost taste the fear that had soaked into the room, layer after layer of it. My own fear clenched my throat and made my knees watery.

"Have a look around," Zarn drawled as he circled me slowly. "This is where I do my best work."