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suspected the truth.
    “Rick, I would have liked to see you get blasted by a ghost lady.” Viktor laughed, pulling Dev from his thoughts. “I can’t believe you tried to lure a dead woman into your bed.”
    “Now that would have been funny,” Lucien agreed.
    “Easy for you two to laugh about. This rocketboy didn’t curse you,” Lochlann drawled.
    “As the acting security officer on this ship, I give you permission to beat Rick’s ass again,” Jackson said, directing his gaze at Lochlann.
    “Well, if you do that, I won’t tell you where the ship is heading,” Rick feigned nonchalance. “Captain just gave me our new coordinates.”
    “Back to the frozen tundra of Florencia’s Fifth Moon?” Lucien guessed. “To collect our treasure?”
    “To check if there are any more sexy women waiting to be thawed from prison like Josselyn?” Viktor inquired. Before they arrived on the Fifth Moon to rescue her, Josselyn had been left in an abandoned prison, frozen in stone for over a hundred years on a forgotten corner of deep space.
    Maybe Josselyn was earth. She’d been held in a stone-like state. Yet the planet was covered in ice, so she could be water.
    The vagueness of the curse was going to drive Dev into madness.
    “Wrong. Received new coordinates. Typed them in about an hour ago.” Rick grinned. “With orders to fly erratically to avoid a certain she-captain’s pursuit before we get where we’re going.”
    At that Dev involuntarily stiffened. “Pursuit?”
    “Easy, Barbecue Boy, stand down, no one’s trying to burn you alive just yet,” Rick admonished. “We’re not flying into battle. It’s only that Violette girl.”
    “Evan told me she’s sworn revenge on Josselyn for killing the general,” Lucien said.
    “Vengeful Violette,” Rick stated, grinning at the nickname he’d just made up for her. “Vengeful Violette is a vivacious villain, very vindictive—”
    “Some one shoot Ricochet Rick over there,” Lochlann interrupted. The men laughed.
    “Seriously, though, have you stopped to think about this?” Rick turned contemplative as if he was focusing. “Violette is Josselyn’s half-sister. They share a mother, Lady Craven. Josselyn was born over a hundred years ago on a Florencian moon and then imprisoned in stone after everyone, excluding her mother, was massacred with the help of the general. Violette was born later to the general and Lady Craven, who did not know the kind of bastard her second husband truly was. When Josselyn was freed from prison, her preserved body looks roughly the same age as her sister.” Rick paused expectantly.
    Such events made it highly unlikely Dev would ever see Violette on friendly terms. He had a loyalty to his family, and Violette had sworn to avenge her father. That didn’t stop the desire from boiling his blood. Moreover, he was sure the challenge made him want her more.
    When no one seemed to get his point, Rick continued, “Guys, don’t you see what this means? Evan’s woman is like over a hundred years old. He’s doing a—”
    “Ach,” Lochlann waved his hand in dismissal as Rick began to chuckle.
    “You’re one to talk,” Lucien added. “You tired to proposition an elderly spirit woman.”
    “That Violette isn’t bad looking, but a little hard for my tastes,” Rick stated. “She’s the kind that would take a lot of work. Only liquor should be hard. I prefer my women soft.”
    “Don’t you mean easy?” Lochlann drawled.
    “I think he meant on discount,” Jackson teased.
    “Who are you kidding, Rick?” Lucien chuckled. “You’ll take any female that’ll have you.”
    “Jealousy is not pretty on you three,” Rick retorted. Then laughing, he said, “Yeah, you’re right, though. Difficult to pass up a good pleasure droid that’s on discount.”
    Dev didn’t speak. He wasn’t much of a talker anyway. In some ways, he envied Rick’s ability to converse with whoever happened to be within in earshot. Not that he would ever