Captain Marvel by Tess Sharpe

Author:Tess Sharpe
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Titan

19

MORNING CREPT toward them while Carol was on watch. Stevie’s tags were again around her neck, tucked under her shirt, but she couldn’t begin to describe how this made her feel.

Rhi had given her a tremendous gift.

She sipped the flowery herbal tea Hepzibah was fond of and watched the twin suns rise along the horizon, the dawn light shining through the crooked red-stone spires that stretched across the distance.

“You made a whole pot,” Hepzibah said, climbing into the cockpit and slipping into the co-pilot seat next to Carol to pour herself a cup.

“I missed the taste. You can’t get this on Earth. And I knew you’d be up soon,” Carol said, still staring out the shuttle window. “What do you think, Hepzibah?”

She turned to look at the horizon. She didn’t need to ask Carol to clarify. “Amadeus showed me the blueprints he found of this Maiden House. It’s ridiculous they call it that—it’s a prison. Nothing else.” She shook her head, as if she was trying to ward off bad memories. Carol understood—prisons made Hepzibah uncomfortable. Her skill at breaking out of—and into—them had saved her life and put her on the path to help form the Starjammers. But Hepzibah had spent her childhood on a planet under an invader’s rule, and then as an adult was kept on a prison planet and sentenced to be eaten alive. The thought of that particular punishment still made Carol shudder.

She’d escaped that fate, but some memories lingered.

“If we can shut off the weapon, I think we have a good chance,” Hepzibah finally answered her question directly. “If not, I guess I’ll just have to do all the heavy lifting for you.”

Carol snorted. “Just because I can’t fly doesn’t mean I can’t break into a prison.”

Hepzibah reached over, squeezing her knee affectionately. “I know how much flying means to you,” she said quietly. “But it’s not gone forever. And you know I’m joking—you’ve assembled an excellent team. But then, you always did have a gift for joining up with talented people.”

“You know, the term humble-bragging was invented for you,” Carol told her.

“I do not need to be humble,” Hepzibah said, her brows drawn together fiercely. “That is what they teach the women here on this miserable planet—to make themselves small. I refuse to fall into such a trap. There is strength in pride… in a woman knowing her worth and proclaiming it for all to hear.”

Carol had missed her. Even when they both had lived on Earth, Hepzibah had been busy with the X-Men much of the time, and it had been even longer since they’d worked side by side like this, liberating people in their rough-and-tumble Starjammers way: no paperwork. No higher-ups. No politicians breathing down her neck.

“Sometimes I wish I had your confidence.”

“Just sometimes?” Hepzibah teased.

They heard some rustling and clinking sounds coming from the kitchen—the rest of the team was up. Carol needed to check on Mantis. She took the pot of tea and poured another cup before she ducked

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