Read Online Prince's Courtesan by Mina Carter - Free Book Online Page A

started to thin out. Boulders the size of small moons gave way to smaller versions, and smaller yet, until the rubble that surrounded her was no bigger than a football. Her slender fingers danced over the console as she ramped the shields up to full, preparing to blast through the remainder.
    Already her eyes were focused on her goal. Beyond the field was the most beautiful sight she’d ever seen: the meandering iridescent blue turbulence of a naturally occurring jump-field.
    Freedom.
    Natural jump fields were rare. So rare there were only thirteen recorded and all of them were heavily guarded to stop dirty little outlaws like her from using them to escape justice. Once inside a jump field, a person could go anywhere in the galaxy, provided they had the coordinates. Or they could simply jump from field to field, not exiting until they got where they wanted.
    Or they could hop off at the farthest point and simply disappear.
    Because security was so tight, she’d never even tried to get near one.
    With so many agencies on the lookout for her, trying to stow away on any of the commercial liners was a no-go. She’d have been picked up in seconds.
    She’d kicked the idea about for months, trying to figure a way to get aboard one. Once on board, all she had to do was locate an emergency pod and bam, she was home clear. Even the meager landing thrusters on a pod would enable her to navigate in the ebbs and flows of the jump stream.
    All her plotting and planning had come to nothing though. With retinal and DNA scans standard procedure at all jump-stations, there was no way for a wanted woman to get anywhere near check in, never mind departures.
    All fields were heavily guarded, even this one. It had patrols and automated level-six defense drones on all sides. Bar one—the side covered by an “impenetrable” asteroid field. Jaida allowed a small smile to cross her lips as she set a direct course for the shimmering violet-blue of freedom.
    Clunk-click. Slam.
    The sound of metal on metal sounded overhead and reverberated through the small shuttlecraft. She jumped, wincing at the tortured scream of the shuttle’s space frame as something latched onto it.
    “Shit! No! This isn’t happening.” Her gaze raced over the pilots’ consoles.
    Her hands followed suit, but she knew it was hopeless. Something large and powerful had locked onto her with clamps, the high magnetic fields starting to disrupt the smaller vessel’s systems as it was reeled in.
    “No, no, no. I won’t go back…I can’t go back.”
    Tearing her harness off, she was out of the pilots chair in a second.
    Desperation hummed through her frame as she looked around the small cabin. The shuttle was two man, with one interior room and no escape pod. A single low-rise bulkhead separated the cockpit from the tiny living area.
    Her eyes widened as a new sound entered the fray directly overhead, a grinding, squealing noise. As she watched, the bulkhead above her started to glow in a distinctive circle. Instinctively she ducked as the sparks of the boarding-cutter began to fly.
    She backed up into the corner, tears of anger and frustration pricking at the back of her eyes. She’d been so close…so close she could almost smell freedom. Her gaze latched onto the glowing, spitting circle in the roof as she slid down the wall into a tired, defeated little ball. Defeat rose up to overwhelm her. She would never be free of him.
    Ever.
    The boarding cutter was almost done. Seth stood by the machine and waited impatiently as it did its work, cutting through the layers of high-tensile steel and tri-titanium plates, which made up the hull and interior compartments of Jaida’s shuttle.
    It would be ruined, of course, but once he had her aboard the Prince’s Dream he’d cut it loose to become just another piece of debris in the asteroid field. It wouldn’t take long for random collisions with the rocks within to render it unidentifiable and