“Get away, Val,” Dravka growled to her. “Khiva! Get her away!”
“Hush, you big baby,” was all Valerie said in response.
“Leave the door open,” Khiva told her, knowing the human female wouldn’t be dissuaded from being at Dravka’s side, though it would torment his friend.
Valerie didn’t even blink when she saw Dravka’s raging erection, so used to being around the Krave that it seemed like a normal state. Khiva caught the way her eyes lingered, however, but he blew out a harsh breath and went to sit in the common area.
He listened to Valerie fuss over Dravka for a bit before his mind wandered and he snagged a Nu tablet off the common room table. Madame Allegria didn’t care if they had access to the networks of Everton, though he knew that she monitored their activity, their searches. She was aware how much Khiva contacted the Missing Beings branch in the United Worlds, how often he renewed his application and paid the hefty fee to do so, wiping out almost all of his savings from the meager amount Madame Allegria paid them per year.
A part of him was pessimistic. A part of him knew that finding his mother and brother was slim and that was if they were still alive. A part of him wondered if he would’ve had enough for passage off Everton by then if he hadn’t spent his credits searching for them.
The other part of him hoped that one day, all of his efforts, all of his blind hope would be rewarded. He dreamed of the day the United Worlds contacted him with the information that they’d been found, that they still lived, somewhere, in peace. And while Khiva knew he might never save enough for transport off Everton, while Khiva knew he might never see them again, just the knowledge that they’d survived the Great War would be enough to sustain him.
Tavak entered the Cluster right then, nude, his clothes bundled and clenched in his hands. With a side glance towards Dravka’s room, Khiva watched his expression darken when he spotted Valerie, but he didn’t say anything. Tavak had never trusted her, had never trusted any human. He’d recognized the type of female that Madame Allegria truly was from the beginning. He had a way of reading beings that was a gift, though it had burned him more times than Khiva could count when he’d gone against his instincts.
Out of all of them, Tavak simmered the most with restlessness, with the most anger, but he held it tightly reigned, as he must, at least for the sake of his brother, Ravu. Even still, he’d been whipped the most by Madame Allegria and the human female seemed to have a sadistic pleasure doing so.
“Has my brother returned?” Tavak asked Khiva on the way to his sleeping quarters.
Khiva nodded and something in Tavak’s shoulders relaxed. The two brothers had been lucky, Khiva mused often. They’d managed to escape Kerivu together, despite where they’d ended up with the rest of them in the end.
Tavak was older than Ravu. Not by a long span of time, but Tavak had always watched out for his brother.
“Has Dravka’s Rut begun?” Tavak asked next.
“Yes,” he replied. “Valerie is checking in on him.”
“She is a fool,” Tavak said plainly and then turned to his door, closing it behind him. Every morning, after returning from their respective clients, they all needed time to decompress, to shake whatever character or role the female had wanted them to take on the night before.
Khiva hadn’t needed to do that this morning, he realized. Because he’d been himself with Evelyn. He’d done what he wanted with her, touched her when it pleased him to do so, kissed her without permission, and allowed himself to tell her about his race, about the firestones, which he had never confided in anyone about before.
Of course, his Krave brothers knew who he was, which line he descended from. Though they never treated him poorly for it, Khiva had always felt…otherbecause of it. Not completely one of them, but set apart.
But with Evelyn, she hadn’t judged him. She’d told him to change his perspective, to focus on the good the firestones had done for the universe, for the war.
Evelyn, with her soft voice and even softer skin, and brown eyes that made him want to climb inside and stay forever.
Khiva closed his own eyes, already mourning the loss of her. He highly doubted he would see her again.
And perhaps, in some way, before Madame Allegria found out what was going through his mind…that was for the best.
Chapter Seventeen
Eve tilted her head back and closed her eyes, feeling the exquisiteness of the cool rain glide down her face. She didn’t care that she was standing in her garden like a loon. She didn’t care that her simple white linen dress was getting soaked through.
It was Sunday and Eve had always liked Sundays. It was when the Programmers’ unleashed the rains over Everton to water the landscaping spread throughout the colony, the Lake District specifically. Some Evertons complained that they made it rain so often, but Eve thought that nothing felt more divine than Sundays.
Three weeks, she couldn’t help but think, standing there with her eyes closed.
It had been three weeks since she’d last visited Madame Allegria’s…since she’d last seen Khiva.
Three weeks of self-doubt, of wondering if everything Genni had accused was true…that Khiva had been carefully and deliberately doing everything in his power to make her return for another visit, and another, and another, driven by the reward of credits.
Had he been acting the entire time they’d been together? Eve didn’t like the thought that he’d been someone else, that he’d changed who he was to please her.
But the more she thought about it, the more she realized that what Genni said hadn’t been true. At least not entirely. Eve had been an observer all her life and she’d observed people most often, had observed their interactions and the way they spoke to one another. And while Khiva was not of her species, the softness in his voice when he’d told her of his home planet, of the firestones, of his ancestry had been real enough. Why would he share something so intimate with her if all he’d wanted was her credits? He’d had no reason to.
Besides, she’d thought often,did it really matter?Eve was paying him for a service. At its core, itwasa business transaction. They both knew it.
