“I didn’t thank you for bringing me to my room last night,” she started softly, lowering herself in the seat.She snagged his goblet off the console, took a healthy chug, proud that she didn’t choke on it that time, before replacing it.It burned something fierce down her throat, so much so that she wondered if it would burn a hole straight through her stomach.
“I could not rouse you,” he said, lifting a shoulder, his blue eyes glued to her.“I thought you would be more comfortable in your quarters than up here.”
“So, is this what you do at night?” she asked him, feeling the alcohol already warm her blood.It was like she’d taken five shots of tequila in a row.“You sit up here and watch the stars and drink?”
She swore Devix’s lips twitched.“Tev.”
“Do you ever get lonely?” she couldn’t help but ask.
Devix went quiet and stalled by taking a drink.“I am used to being on my own.”
That’s a non-answer, she thought.
“You said you live on a colony called Rozun,” she murmured, her head filling with a pleasant fogginess.“Tell me about it.Is it like Petrika?”
He let out a sharp exhale from his nostrils.“Nix.It is the opposite of Petrika.”
She waited for him to speak, taking the pause to steal another small sip from his drink.Anymore and she might be flat on her face come morning.
“It is…” he paused, pondering his next word.Sometimes Cara got the sense that he wasn’t used to talking so much.If he was alone on this ship most of the time, than she guessed he probably wasn’t.She wondered if he thought all her questions and attempts at conversation were annoying…or if he didn’t mind them.“Rozun is a neutral colony.No war, no battles.It is separate from the rule of the Uranian Federation.”
Uranian Federation?Cara had a feeling she had a lot to learn.
Turning in the wide seat, she brought her knees up her chest before perching her chin on there.“Who lives there?People like you?”
“Nameless mercenaries, you mean?” he asked quietly.Cara flushed slightly, wondering if she’d hurt him when she’d said that.She didn’t like the thought that she’d hurt him.“Some, perhaps.Rozians keep to themselves.We are beings that truly belong nowhere and no one asks questions or looks too closely.Family units from planets destroyed by war, reformed prisoners who want to die quietly, innocents punished by circumstance, or escaped slaves…they are all Rozians.”
“And which of those are you?” she murmured, looking directly at him, wanting to understand him better.
Devix returned her stare and there was an intensity there that made goosebumps cover her arms.
“I just want peace,” he replied.
And the only way he would get it would be repaying his debt to his employer…by handing her over.
Cara nodded slowly and turned her gaze out to space.
His next question caught her by surprise when he asked, his voice the softest she’d ever heard it, “What is it that you want, female?”
Her first instinct was to sayhome.But then she thought about it, frowning.
Instead, something different fell from her lips, “I just want to be free.I just want to be safe.”
“I thought you would say Earth,” he told her, echoing her thoughts.
“I’ve always been matter-of-fact about things,” she told him, her tongue relaxed from the alcohol.“I know it’s unlikely I’ll ever return to Earth.And freedom and safety are what Earth gives me, but they aren’t dependent on it.Familiarity too, but you can find that in any place you stay at long enough.Perhaps even Petrika,” she joked lightly.
“There are some places you do not want to grow familiar with,” he told her, draining the goblet before rising.A strange disappointment swarmed her when she thought he might be leaving, but he only went to refill the goblet from a hidden cupboard she hadn’t noticed, before returning.
He offered the goblet to her first and her lips quirked up.“Are you trying to get me drunk?”
Something entered his eyes, a lightness when he recognized her teasings.“Here, you are free to do whatever you wish.”His expression sobered.“And you have my vow, female, that I would never take advantage of that.”
Somehow, she’d already known that, or else she would’ve never been sitting there drinking with him in the first place.She’d grown up around enough rowdy men to know which ones to stay clear of and which ones would never lay a finger on a woman if they didn’t want it.
“Thank you,” she said, taking another sip despite her promise to herself that she was done for the rest of the night.“I appreciate that.”
Silence stretched between them but it wasn’t uncomfortable.
