“You will visit with your cookies?” he asked.
A laugh bubbled out of her unexpectedly. “Yes, I will bring more cookies.”
Chapter 14
Isobel
“You’ll need to untwist the cords,” Ved instructed.
The space was cramped. Ved explained it would have taken him hours to pull off some of the panels to access this one area. Since she was smaller, though, she could reach into the gap between two of them.
“I’ve got it,” she said. For the next few minutes, she worked blindly to straighten the thick cords out. Then her fingers roved over each to ensure there was no damage to them.
“Kegis,” Ved said when she pulled her hand out.
“What does that mean?”
He offered her his hand to help her off the floor, but she resolutely ignored it. Not that it was, in itself, inappropriate, but she wanted to stick firmly to the boundary she’d set before. It was difficult, though. Ved was naturally a physical being—he’d told her just yesterday that touch, whether it be violent, intimate, or somewhere in between, was completely different for Xaal.
“It means…” He trailed off.
“Exxo can’t find the word?” she asked, arching a brow. Over the last several days, she’d figured out very quickly that the neurolink didn’t like to fail, especially in linguistics.
There was a pause where Exxo must have been speaking, because then Ved said, “I’m not telling you his response.”
Isobel giggled. She hoped that she could meet Exxo one day, but until then, she liked the small exchanges they sometimes had through Ved.
They moved on to the next area, and Ved studied the gap between the panels. “There is a casing where all the wires converge. I need to ensure that they’re all running through it. Can you reach it?”
Isobel peered into the slats, studying her next task. “Vay,” she said, using his language’s word for yes.
He seemed surprised if the hitch in his breath was any indicator. “Very good,” he praised in a rough purr.
The simple praise made her want to learn every word in his language.
Over the last couple of days, he’d been teaching her Xaala, his language, and also the universal tongue. The universal language was surprisingly simple, made to convey ideas quickly and concisely among beings that shared no common tongue. The phrases “don’t touch my ship” and “I’ll delete your carbon trace” were her favorites, even with the violent overtures. Though she was quite certain she would never need to use such expressions even if she did somehow make it into space.
Xaala, however, was far more difficult. She couldn’t quite pin down the sounds that needed to come from deep within her chest. The language was harsh, so unlike the soft-spoken words of a gentle lady. Which meant she practiced often, even whispering the words to herself as she readied for bed or when she awoke in the morning.Some of the bite-sized words were the only thing she’d conquered thus far, though. Words likevayfor yes,kelfor no, andunxafor how.
“All the wires are going through,” she confirmed. Pulling her hand out from the tight space, she scratched her cheek absent-mindedly.
Ved tilted his head at her.
“What is it?” she asked.
He reached for her hand, then seemed to think better of it.
Following the gesture, she found her fingers covered in dark grease. “Oh, goodness.” Using the back of her clean hand, she tried to wipe away the smudge on her cheek.
Ved made an amused rumble. “This is not the way, you’re spreading it.”
Picking up a nearby towel, he placed one hand beneath her jaw. She felt him searching her eyes for permission, and she gave it with the slightest nod. So much for not touching.
Tilting her head back just so, he wiped the oil away. But she couldn’t seem to look away from his eye shields.
What expression was he making behind the mask?
“Must you always be covered?” she asked as he swiped the towel across her cheek one last time. “Do you only take it off when I’m not here?”
