When she glanced at Cain, she saw that he was still studying the two in the observation booth.
He didn’t look particularly pleased.
She didn’t especially want to ask, but she couldn’t seem to resist. “What makes you think he’s been in the brig?”
Violet shrugged. “It’s what we heard … that one of the cyborgs had been caught harboring a huntress and was confined to the brig. Then, low and behold, you appeared in the barracks. Naturally, I assumed….”
As badly as Amaryllis wanted to wipe that smile off of Violet’s face by knocking her head clean off her shoulders she didn’t particularly want to end up in the brig herself. Besides, her thoughts were chaotic. She’d assumed that Dante had betrayed her, but it seemed less likely that he had if he’d been thrown in the brig for hiding her.
Did that rule out the possibility altogether, though?
She thought it might, but then she also thought there was a strong possibility that she wanted to believe he hadn’t used her and then callously turned her in … which meant she should distrust her reasoning since it was obviously tainted with emotionalism.
She absolutely didn’t want to consider what sort of emotionalism might be involved. Moreover, she couldn’t help but notice that both Cain and Violet were watching her with interest.
“Why did you call him the dark twin?” she asked, more because she was trying to turn the conversation to something less uncomfortable than because she had much interest.
“His brother, Reese, is fair,” Violet pointed out dryly.
A jolt went through Amaryllis. “Brother? They’re cyborgs.”
Violet chuckled. “And? Look at the two of them. Except for their coloring, they look like twins--which means they have to share at least one parent gene donor. Besides, I partnered with Reese. Don’t tell me you partnered with Reese a year and a half and he never mentioned his twin brother, Dante?”
Chapter Eleven
Amaryllis reddened, but she saw she didn’t have to say anything at all. Violet had read the answer in her expression.
She wanted nothing so much as to escape the inquisition, and the smug look on Violet’s face, but there was no escaping the rec room until the cyborgs allowed them to leave.
She glanced at Cain, wondering if he’d set her up for Violet.
His expression was carefully neutral, but anger flickered in his hazel green eyes. “Is there a point to this, Violet?”
Violet shrugged. “I suppose you could say I was just testing the wind.”
Cain’s brows rose. “For what?”
She divided a malicious glance between Amaryllis and Cain and finally shrugged, and Amaryllis realized abruptly that jealousy was driving her. “As you were telling Amaryllis earlier, we’ll be allowed to choose companions once we arrive at the colony. I was just curious to know what her interest was in Dante and Reese.”
Amaryllis glanced from Violet to Cain and back again, restraining the temptation to glance toward Reese and Dante. She had the feeling, though, that Violet was more interested in Cain than either Reese or Dante.
Or, perhaps, she liked the looks of all three and didn’t want competition until she’d decided which she would choose?
It must be nice to have that kind of confidence, however misguided it seemed to be.
With an effort, she pasted a smile on her lips. “Go for it. I really don’t have any plans to stay.”
It didn’t take the smug smile on Violet’s face to assure her she’d just left herself wide open. She knew the moment the words were out of her mouth that she’d allowed her chaotic emotions to overrule her wisdom--if she could claim any and she was beginning to think she no longer did if she ever had.
“You’re leaving us?” Violet asked, pleased. “Exactly how do you plan to do that?”
“I hadn’t made any plans,” Amaryllis said tightly, if not with complete truth. “However, they have said we are not going to be prisoners, and that implies that we’ll have the right to choose to stay or to go. I’m just thinking I’d rather take my chances with my….” She stumbled to a halt, horrified that she’d almost said ‘my own kind’. “Company,” she finished lamely.
Violet laughed. “Your company?”
“Give it a rest, Violet,” Cain said tightly.
Violet glared at him. “The crash screwed up her logic circuits.” Her eyes narrowed. “You really ought to consider whether it’s a good idea to hang around her or not. The cyborgs are likely to take any escape attempts very badly.”
