Knightqueen (Oronis Knights #3)

“Ashtin and the others already know the Gek’Dragar are a threat. They’ll be ready.” He slid an arm around her and rested his chin on the top of her head. “It’s going to be all right.”

She pulled in a ragged breath. “I want to believe that.” She pressed her hand to his arm. “Is this the moment where you pull away from me like I have the tellarian flu?”

He stiffened. “It isn’t right that I’m touching you.”

“It feels right to me.” She brushed her fingers over his arm. “I like you touching me, Sten.”

Gul. He fought back a shudder.

“I liked you touching me earlier.” Her voice was quiet. “At the pool.”

“That should never have happened.” He couldn’t risk letting free all the things he felt for her. “I’m your knightguard. I can’t be distracted. I can’t…”

She turned and looked up at him. Her eyes looked like melted gold. “We’re allowed to feel. I’m not just a queen, you know.”

“I know.”

Her lips tightened. “I don’t think you do. I’m a woman, and being this close to you…” She stroked a hand up his arm. “It makes me want so many things.”

Gul. “Carys—”

A sudden explosion rocked the ship. She collided with his chest, and he caught her.

“What was that?” she cried.

Alarms blared from the control console. Sten staggered toward it. He cursed.

“What?” She gripped his arm.

“The emergency power’s built up in damaged parts of the engine. It’s—”

Another explosion. This one shot the ship forward.

Sten felt it tip. He grabbed Carys and watched as the viewscreen dipped.

Giving them a view down into the ravine below.

She clung to him. “It’s going over the edge!”

Instinct took over. Sten stooped and threw Carys over his shoulder. He charged out of the cockpit, climbing up as the angle of the floor increased.

Metal groaned and objects broke loose, raining down on them.

There was no time to get out of the ship. They needed somewhere strong enough to withstand the fall. Staggering, he moved down a metal corridor, dodging more debris.

There. A doorway. He shouldered it open and flung himself inside.

He rolled so he landed on the floor first, cushioning Carys.

It was a meeting room of some kind, with a long table bolted to the floor. A floor that was almost vertical now.

“Under the table,” he yelled.

She crawled under the table, and he followed. He gripped the table and braced his legs, then pulled her into the shelter of his body.

“Hold on.”

She burrowed against him, wrapping her arms around his body.