She nods, the corners of her mouth tugging down slightly. “The hangar manager says he took it to work on during the travel time. He’ll be back for the Hatching, though. He has an egg in Rose’s clutch.”
“I’m sure he will be,” I say thinly. In fact, I doubt it very much.
“Unnu’s great at fixing stuff. Way better than I am.” Her smile fades as she takes in my grim expression. “What’s wrong? You seem mad.”
Mad? I’m not mad. I’mgutted. “I told you fixing it didn’t matter. That we could do it ourselves. Why hand it off to someone untrustworthy without asking me?”
“He offered. He’s the best mechanic in the whole base! Trust me, he’ll do a great job.”
Trusther? What a joke. Best case, they’re taking advantage of her naivete. Worst case? She’s involved.
Sabotage.
The word throbs like a heartbeat in my father’s voice. I don’t want to believe it, but what other explanation is there? Shegave awaythe one thing that we can’t replace. I would have fought for it. I would havekilledfor it. And she let it slip through her fingers because someone pretended to do her a favor?
She’s notthatstupid.
“All will be well,” I tell her, banishing my suspicions so they don’t show on my skin. “We’ll fly without a comm if Unnu’s not back in time.”
“What about the landing?” My little queen is such an accomplished actress. Her frown, her distressed expression. She should have played this part much sooner if she wanted me to believe it. What a performance, though.
I stroke her lying little cheek. I wonder who she schemes with. Rose? They had a few minutes alone while she recorded her message this morning. They could have passed notes. Or maybe Harl. He wrote to her in her language before. That would explain why he visited her room and found my blade.
Perhaps all three are conspiring with General Rakhu to keep me here as a political pawn. Or perhaps they have Lena so fooled that she doesn’t know she’s working for them. They thought they could dangle a pretty female in front of me and trap me like a kvik? I’m a son of Chanísh, not a lovesick animal.
We’ll leave tomorrow, I decide. As soon as the tests are done.
“Let the pilot worry about the landing.” I lift her in my arms and stride out of the hangar toward our quarters.
My disloyal little pet sighs, leaning into me. “I hope it all works out.”
I worry less about the landing than about whose strings will bind and control us once we escape the Frathiks. I’d like to avoid them all, escape the star system entirely and make a new life somewhere else. But my bird is not capable of interstellar travel,and we will need more supplies than the contents of the Frathik ration closet.
“You lack faith in my flying?” I tease. I hope to soothe her false worries, as I grow tired of providing false sympathy. “I hope you don’t think the landing on R’Hiza is an example of my skill.”
“Hm.It’s the only example I have, so...”
I growl at her, and she giggles, adding, “Hopefully by the time we leave, the political situation won’t be so tense, and we can let Ada and your brother know we’re coming.”
I make a noncommittal noise. I suspect the Eye is more likely to allow us to land without a comm because they’ll recognize my bird. The Eye will be easier to escape than Irra, too.
While Zomah may have practice manipulating me, Lena will be less susceptible to him than to her sister’s influence. If we were to land on Irra, she would cling to the Empress. If we land on the Eye, she will cling tome. I will only have to bribe a Mizaran trader to stow us and my mother away, and we’ll all be free.
That’s a lie. My mother and I will be free. Lena will bemine.
In her quarters, I lay in her the furs, cloak spread out around her, hair fanning inside the hood. Faithless female. I cannot even hate her, because what better match for me than someone who lies and cheats to keep me at her side?
“It’s tonight now. I think you promised me a kiss,” she says, pale blue eyes on me as she unclasps the cloak, letting it fall to the furs. Then she unties her sash and does the same with her sveli. I kneel between her knees and remove her trousers, too, revealing her limbs so delicate and pale, they could be carved from traxilla bones.
Circling her ankles with my thumb and forefinger, I pull her toward me. Her body slides through the furs until her pelvis rests in my lap. Her lightly furred folds are parted, revealing their tender, pink interior. I brush the pad of my thumb acrossthem, reveling in the slick wetness that immediately blurs the sensation of her flesh against mine.
Lena’s back arches, one leg contracting so she grinds into my touch. My cock swells in response, and I’m sure she can feel the pressure between her thighs. When I grip her hips with both hands to make sure of it, she bites her lower lip. “You should take your pants off, too.”
“Why should I?” I let go of her momentarily to draw the fabric of my trousers to one side, freeing my cock. It rests in the cradle of her cunt, deep red head heavy on her lower belly, fading to pale lavender where I grip the base. In the middle of my shaft, where the two colors mix to form a bright pink, we match.
She gives me a dreamy smile. “So I can see all of you.”
She doesn’t want all of me. She might think she does, but if she saw it for herself, she’d only have regrets.
