Dangerous to Heal (The Displacement Duology, #1) by Rebecca M. Zornow

Author:Rebecca M. Zornow
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Rebecca M. Zornow
Published: 2022-09-27T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 16

Hloban

In Transit

Yaniqui was in custody with Akar Enterprises—Hloban couldn’t bring himself to use the phrase “owned by” as if thinking that was a crime in and of itself. The thought left him in a constant state of anxiety, anger ever near the surface. He was several hours into a deep search on the Interstellar Wave for information on where Akar held Yani. His eyes blurred and he blinked.

In the background, Waquas turned on the media dash for the Galaxy Championship Game of Routers and Adam sat down next to him on the squashy couch. Eeriva monitored the navigation and alert systems and Keyad slept. There was an unspoken rule that no one should interrupt Hloban while he researched. He didn’t know if the others thought he was getting somewhere and didn’t want to interrupt the lifesaving work, or if they knew he was reading and rereading the same articles and wanted to let him wallow in peace.

Either way, the sound of the game was on low for Hloban’s benefit. He didn’t look up until the audience cheer indicated halftime (the cheers during the matches were distinctly more divided in response).

“Strewth, look at that,” Eeriva said loudly, Australian slang on display.

Hloban looked back and there was Yaniqui.

Indigo smoke rippled across the screen. She smiled one pure, jaw-dropping smile and Hloban’s heart stopped. He would have known that curly black hair anywhere. She was no longer the skinny kid he went swimming with at Lake Venlu, or the lanky girl he exchanged gifts with on the New Year. She looked a little like Nica but didn’t have the same straight nose. Hers was small and curvy. He wondered if she still had a light scar at the edge of her eyebrow. He’d forgotten about that scar until then.

Text rippled at the bottom of the screen, but Hloban missed it because someone dropped something. He looked down. It was him. He was shaking so hard he dropped a cup. By the time he looked back up, he got one more look at Yaniqui as she finished healing a woman’s arm in demonstration before she was gone as quickly as she’d come.

“Was that her?” Adam asked, question hanging in the air while Hloban reassured himself he hadn’t dreamed the whole thing up. A video clip of Yaniqui? During the Routers match? It was completely surreal.

“A commercial,” Hloban said. He wasn’t sure if he was asking or stating. “For Yaniqui?”

Hloban ran a hand over his face and felt someone touch his shoulder. He startled. It was Waquas. Well, now they knew what Akar was doing with Yaniqui. They were ready to sell. Already there had been photos and statements released as Akar built up awareness of one of their newest acquisitions. They were angling for a sale, maybe even an auction.

The room buzzed through the second quarter of the game as they discussed the advertisement and what it could mean. Eeriva was strangely silent, off-put by the whole thing. And Hloban didn’t like how

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