The unit’s cycle winds down and shuts off. I pull back, her spell broken as the sound recedes. But I can’t help my body’s new awareness of her. Sleeping next to her, our scents intertwined, has woken something in me. Or perhaps it was always there and I’m now able to acknowledge it.
I’m keeping her. The strings I wanted to sever? I want them so tightly bound to her that they leave marks. My marks.
“Firstmeal,” I growl, turning toward the door. If ever an Irran needed a cup of nomo, I do.
My uncle and his mate not only share their nomo with us but invite us to eat with them as well. Lena accepts, of course, and I endure their skeptical glances and regrettable food while she and the other female discuss their work.
Though he stays mostly silent, there’s something in Oljin’s expression that unsettles me. Like he has something to say, but he’s holding back. After the fifth or sixth knowing look, I lose patience. “You may as well say it, Uncle, since you can’t stop thinking it.”
“Looking at you is like looking at the past, that’s all.” He lifts his cup and drinks deeply before he says anything more. “You are very like your father.”
He watches me for reaction, so I don’t give him one, even though dread pools in my belly. My father often reminded me that he chose me as his companion on the Eye because he saw himself in me. What does it mean when the person you most resemble is the one you most hate?
“No, he’s not,” Lena interrupts, pausing her other conversation. A red flush creeps up her neck. “Don’t say things like that.”
Oljin gives her a stern look that makeshimresemble my father. “He is very alike the Chanísh I knew as a greenling, both in countenance and in temper.”
“Lyro wouldn’t destroy aplanetto get back at his brother just for being in power!” she shoots back, flaming hot in the face of Oljin’s cool expression.
“I might,” I say, thoroughly enjoying their exchange. This might be the closest thing I’ve felt to happiness in a long time, sitting at this table while my uncle and my Alara fight over me. Rose laughs, and then Lena does, too, but Oljin gives me anotherof his looks over the rim of his nomo mug. He doesn’t think it was a joke.
“Tomorrow, the Turning starts,” Rose says to me. “Can we count on you to help?”
For some reason, Lena’s forehead creases as she waits for my answer. It’s true that I only assured her one day of trustworthiness. Eyes on her, I nod. “If I can help, I will.”
Why doesn’t this cure her doubt? Instead, it only increases, her mouth tugging down. “Can I talk to you privately for a minute?”
I follow her to my uncle’s cleansing unit, of all places. It’s smaller than the one in the passageway, so we have to stand close together. She turns it on, presumably so the noise will drown out our conversation.
“It’s two days and nights, no sleep,” she says tightly. “Maybe three.”
This is what she’s worried about? I’ve endured far worse. “You don’t want to wait that long to share the furs with me again? Greedy thing,” I tease, surprising myself.
She huffs a bewildered laugh at my good humor. “You won’t be able to work on your ship for those days, though. I know I promised you equal time.”
I shrug. “I will take the three days after.”
A tiny, worried shake of her head. “I’ll still have to sing in the hatchery after the Turning, so I can’t promise you full days, only equal time. Will you still help, even if I can’t pay you back?”
I hook a claw in her earring and give a gentle tug. “Youwillpay me back, terrakin. Perhaps not in days, but I will collect my due some other way.”
A shudder runs through her. I wonder what she thinks I’ll demand. Bad things? The cleansing unit scrubs her scent so I can’t tell if she’s fearful or aroused. I lean close to speak in thesame ear that I still have hooked on my finger like a fish. “Maybe if you just let it happen, it won’t be so bad.”
“You’re going to make me sorry I told you that,” she says shakily, lifting her gaze to meet mine.
I let her go as the cleansing unit shuts off and shrug. “Probably.”
She touches my arm to stop my exit. “Thank you. For everything.”
“I haven’t done anything to warrant thanks.”
“You have just by agreeing to help. I know helping the Frathiks is the last thing you want to do, and I...honestly, I didn’t expect that you would be able to put your personal feelings aside to do this for them.”
I’m not doing it for them, obviously.
“It’s probably the nomo talking,” I toss back over my shoulder, not wanting to admit to myself that she has such a hold on me already.
Rose gives Lena a concerned look when we rejoin them at the table. “Everything okay?”
