I shrugged. “Some New Earth American guest, I think. Why?”
“Well, if I may, I’m not sure you’re using it correctly. That particular saying is actually ‘like a needle in a haystack.’”
Frowning back at him, I said, “That doesn’t make any sense. Why would there be a needle in a stack of hay?”
“Hmm,” he murmured, considering. “I’ve never thought about it that way. Whywouldthere be a needle in a haystack?”
I slid my arm around his waist. “Don’t ask me.”
“Baffling nature of the expression aside,” he went on while the lights from Garran’s shuttle flared then vanished as it jumped away from the ship, “it’s used to point out how difficult it would be to find a certain thing or person. As hard as finding a single needle hidden in a haystack. For your purpose, to borrow another New Earth colloquialism, you might say something along the lines of ‘they broke the mold when they made him.’”
I didn’t get to see him playing his role of Languages and Customs expert very often, let alone benefit from it. His kind, patient competence was, unsurprisingly, a major turn-on.
“That’s exactly what I meant,” I said, wrapping my fingers around his tie and tugging him into a kiss.
After a lengthy make-outsession that may have gotten a little bit sloppy, Freddie and I walked back toward the party,but I split off to the bathroom because I really had to pee. I’d just started pulling my jumpsuit back up when Tig’s voice invaded my mind.
she commed, frantic.
I commed back, hauling my straps over my shoulders.
Dread shot down my spine.
Tig said.
I hissed a curse. LunaCorp had cornered the market on asteroid mining since the Asteroid Belt Wars. It was the key to their wealth and continued chokehold on nearly every industry in existence. With the proposition, the senator had just made herself, her family, and now my ship, targets for the largest and most ruthless corporate monopoly in the entire KU.
My feet moved before I had a chance to question them, propelling me from thebathroom, toward the elevators, my hand slamming over theupbutton.
Tig continued at a breakneck pace while I jumped into the elevator, making it climb.
I commed, bursting out of the elevator and racing toward the Ramesh suite.
Rounding the corner, I slid to a stop at the sight of the twins’ security mechs—now disabled heaps of metal on the floor outside of their suite. “Oh gods,” I rasped, sprinting to their door, banging frantically, bruising my hand. Nobody answered.
I shouted over a shared comm.
Rax demanded as the lock disengaged.
The door slid open, and the ground dropped out beneath me. A bomb had gone off in their suite. Tables overturned, glass shattered on the floor, the couch tipped onto its side. Seeming to rise above my own body, I watched someone who looked just like me run to Sai’s bedroom. His bed was empty, his closet empty, his bathroom empty. “Sai,” I called out, spinning in a circle, checking under his bead. “Are you here? Are you hiding? It’s me.” My voice cracked. “It’s Sunny.”
He wasn’t here.
White light crowded my vision, a sob wrenching itself from my chest as I staggered to the back bedroom, whispering, “No. No, no, no. Please no,” with every step. Their door was open. Their light was on.
Stars save us.
I bellowed over the comm, kneeling beside their bed where Sonia and Lena lay sprawled on their backs, their eyes closed, mouths open, not moving.
Morgath growled.
I snapped while pressing my fingertips over the pulse point in Sonia’s wrist.
