All the doubt and worry that she’d leave him without the marks on her neck disappeared. Their lips met, and she opened her lips to him.
There was no hint of Lazil on her lips. It was all intoxicatingly her. If he could’ve been sure of their privacy, he would’ve put her on the floor, stripped off her pants, and pressed his face to her core.
It was only the sound of footsteps intruding on their moment of intimacy that made him end the kiss.
“Someone’s here,” he whispered.
“I know,” she said. “We can say hi, then go back to your room.”
“Our room,” he corrected. “Like the money I gave you, everything I have is yours too.”
“Same,” she said with a giggle. “You can have half of my old circus costume.”
He chuckled at the same time a voice called out from the open door.
“Nova? Miran?”
Tangling his fingers with Nova’s, he turned them to face the newcomer.
“Is that you, Qusin?” Miran asked, surprised to see the man.
“Yeah,” he said, stepping further into the room. “Palir said you two were in here. Several of the children have been asking about Nova, and one of them keeps getting out of her bed.” He focused his gaze on Nova. “Mender Jonur asked me to get you. Are you busy?”
Nova’s expression brightened. “No, I’m not busy. I can go there right now!”
Her excitement at seeing the children made him think that maybe he’d misjudged all her deep thinking. What if she was simply worried about the little ones?
He groaned at his stupidity.
“Are you ill?” Nova asked.
“No,” he said.
She frowned. “Are you sure?”
He grunted. “I’m sure.”
Her gaze dropped to the bulge in his pants, then back up to his eyes. Her grin was unrepentant. “Sorry about that.”
He chuckled. “Don’t worry about him. He deserves to suffer. Let’s go visit the children.”
“This way,” Qusin said with a grin, then turned and led them out of the room.
Nova danced next to him as they walked down the tunnel toward the faint sounds of children's voices at the other end.
Chapter 19
Nova
They followed Qusin through the tunnel and onto the Assist. The ship had changed a lot since they’d last been on board. They’d been in the midst of chaos as they decanted the children as quickly as they could so they wouldn’t drown in the vats that had grown them.
As vats were emptied, they were shoved haphazardly against the walls and replaced with cots for the children. Puddles of vat fluid had been all over the floor that no one had time to clean up. Piles of trash had developed as they cared for and fed the children.
All the empty vats and trash were gone. They’d been replaced with shelves full of items. The floor was so clean it gleamed. The cots were the same, but each one was covered in colorful blankets and fluffy pillows instead of the dull, uniform bedding of before.
It made her unbelievably happy to see all the changes. It was also a little unnerving when all the Decanted children stoppedtalking and focused their collective gazes on her with no change in their expressions.
She knew this was part of their growth. They might be biologically six years old, but they were still newborns. All the knowledge implanted in their brains while growing in the vats was still integrating with their physical bodies.
