“A drink?” Stone broke the silence, sliding a heavy, empty glass toward her before popping open the cork from a slender brown bottle.
“No thanks.” Aesira slid the glass back. She needed her head clear.
You need to stay in control.
Stone watched her long enough that heat crept over her skin but to her relief, he said nothing else before taking a long drink straight from the bottle. He grimaced, his face puckering before handing it off to the woman to his left. She had a warm face and bright, round eyes. “Don’t hog it,” she said with a smile.
Stone cleared his throat, drawing her attention back to him. “To what do we owe the pleasure, Commander?”
“Couldn’t sleep.” She shrugged. “Didn’t realize there was a party I was missing.”
“Hardly a party.” Birdie snatched the bottle from the other woman. “Anyone willingly heading to the Outpost deserves a drink.” The crew laughed darkly and raised their glasses.
“We’re…” She pushed the stray curls back from her face. “Tonight? We enter the Outpost tonight?”
“Our course is set to dock in the next few hours,” Stone said. She flicked her eyes back to him. “Nervous?”
“Why would I be?” She crossed her arms. Around the table, the rest of the crew sat relaxed, their faces and bodies giving away nothing about their day. No tremor in their hands. No sweat on their brow. No shifting of their eyes.
They weren’t nervous and truthfully, she wasn’t nervous either, but she couldn’t imagine a well-received welcome for two knights of the Order in a place that thrived without law.
She glanced back at Stone. He kept his eyes on her as he took a deep drink from the bottle. Her gaze snagged on the ink marked on the side of his neck, peeking out from under the collar of his white shirt. The outline of two stars. Two, not three, like Celestria’s symbol.
“If I interrupted something,” Aesira said, “by all means let me–” She tried to slide off the bench but Stone’s hand gripped around her forearm causing her to pause.
“You didn’t,” he said. “Stay.”
His hand lingered on her arm as she relaxed back into her seat and when he finally removed it, it was as if she'd been branded, seared by him. The warmth traveled up her arm and to her cheeks.
“Stone was just going off on one of his tangents,” the woman next to Birdie said. Her wide grin dimpled either side of her brown, plump cheeks. “Honestly we’re happy you found us, he would have talked us all to death.”
“It wasn’t a tangent, Bee.” Stone swirled the empty glass meant for Aesira, back and forth between his hands. A light pink swept across his cheeks and Aesira followed it as it trailed down his neck. Blushing? Was Stone Odega blushing? “It was the truth.”
“Here we go,” Patch said under his breath, running a hand across his jaw.
Stone shook his head. “I mean how is it that we were gifted galaxies and instead of spending our time celebrating the infinite and impossible nature of the stars, we’ve become too busy, too focused on the ground we can conquer and the people we can control.” Stone’s fingers tapped the edge of the table and Aesira had a good suspicion that if she glanced underneath his leg would be bouncing as well.
“It’s a waste to see such miracles fade to the background in lieu of power," he said, his dark blue eyes shot to hers, pinning her in place. A heaviness crept into her chest, pressing like a weight on her lungs.
She was in a position of power.
She was in charge of order.
Discipline.
Punishment.
“Wow,” Birdie muttered. “Nothing truly gets you worked up like the stars does it?”
“Maybe a woman,” Patch said through a laugh. “If he ever landed one.”
Aesira’s eyes darted to Birdie, then to Stone. That night at the Phoenix she’d seen Birdie and Stone together. They’d sat so close, touched each other with more familiarity than two people on a crew together. But as she watched them now, Birdie was more interested in Bee. Holding her hand, the back of her neck. Kissing her cheek and whispering in her ear. Aesira hated the relief that spread like warm water spilled onto a tabletop through her chest. Why did she care?
She didn’t, she decided. She wouldn’t care if Stone Odega slept with a hundred people, it wasn’t her business or her problem.
“Harsh,” Stone mumbled before taking another long pull from the bottle. The pink staining his cheeks deepened making his eyes look that much bluer.
“He could land any girl he wanted.” Bee reached over and ruffled his already unruly, auburn hair. “Thanks, Bee.”
