He let his lips brush her ear. “He puts it on her to mark her as his.”
She set the armlet back on the table. “It’s still beautiful. And if he truly cherished her, she wouldn’t mind wearing his claim.”
And damned if the tantalizing image of her naked, except for that metal wrapped around her slim arm, didn’t pop into his head.
He stepped back, noticed some uniformed figures moving through the stalls. “Looks like some of your friends are here.” He nodded ahead.
She turned, then hissed out a breath. “Institute.” She grabbed Dathan and yanked him into the crowd.
“Institute has a salvage ship in orbit.” He studied her pinched face. “How come you aren’t running over to say hello?”
Heat spread along her cheeks. “That leave of absence I’m on…it wasn’t exactly voluntary.”
Why wasn’t he surprised? “You pushed one too many buttons, huh?”
She shrugged a shoulder, something moving through her golden eyes. “I’ve spent my life dedicated to my work at the Institute. I thought they’d have more faith in me.” Her gaze dropped to the ground. “Does this change things?”
“What things?”
“I guess it’s another surprise.” She glanced blindly at the stalls. “Are you still going to take the mission?”
He tipped her chin up with one finger. “You getting temporarily booted out of the Institute makes me want this more, not less. Come on, we have one more stop to make then we’re due back.”
She released a long breath. “I can’t believe you have more faith in me than the people I’ve worked with for years.” She tossed her shoulders back. “Okay, Phoenix, where are we off to?”
“A merchant I deal with a lot.” He wended his way through the people and down a small side alley. The main market was for the tourists and the uninitiated. The backstreets were where real business was carried out.
“Not so pretty back here,” she said.
He watched the interest on her face. She was enjoying the less salubrious surroundings as much as the atmospheric bustle of the market. She was like a sponge, soaking it all in.
Suddenly a group of children surrounded them.
“Dathan, Dathan.” Grubby hands clutched at their clothes. Huge grins shone in dirty faces.
“Hey.” He ruffled the hair on one small head. “Leave the lady alone.” He snatched a Sync communicator out of one tiny girl’s hands and passed it back to Eos. “And her things.”
Eos’ mouth dropped open. She patted her empty pockets and then took the device from him.
Turning his back, he quickly grabbed some coins from his pocket. Not many places in the galaxy still used physical currency, but here on Souk, the kids could sell them. In a flash of small fingers, the money disappeared.
“Okay, off you go.” He waved a hand. Then he bent down to the little girl who’d lifted Eos’ Sync. He slipped something into her hand with a wink. She shot him a brilliant smile, then whirled and ran off in a swirl of ragtag skirts.
“Did you just give her your Sync?”
He glanced at Eos. Her golden eyes regarded him steadily. He shrugged. “I’ve got a spare and Nik has a whole collection of them. We’re always breaking them or losing them.”
“Or giving them to starving street urchins?”
He cleared his throat. “Come on.”
He tugged her along until they stopped at the doorway of a decrepit store. He pulled her inside. It was gloomy and stuffed to the brim with electronic junk of all kinds.
A man’s head popped up from behind some boxes. “Dathan!”
“Hi, Selesos.”
The small electronics whiz had a booming voice for such a slight figure and a mass of curly red hair that surrounded his head like a dust cloud. “A pleasure to have you back in my store.” His dark gaze flitted to Eos. “Ah, and you bring lovely company. Much prettier than those brothers of yours.”
