“Thank you,” Cassie said. She felt the prickle of tears in her eyes.
“Here.” Örim offered her a hydropod from his pocket. “S’samph said humans want this when they’re leaking from their eyes.”
Cassie laughed soundlessly and wiped at her face with her sleeves.
“I want a sound for laughing.”
“We can find one. Is there a laugh sound you like? Eleri has a human laugh.”
“We can’t steal Eleri’s laugh.” She reached out to take Örim’s hand and placed it against her face. “This is better when I’m sad.” His fingers were cool on her cheek as she felt her skin heating. This is what she’d been missing with hormone blockers. One of the passeri, she thought it was Robin, had asked for a romance audio novel from one of his patrons. They’d all passed it around amongst themselves until the Aviarist caught wind of it, and it went missing one day.
Cassie hadn’t really understood the words at the time. Mixed metaphors and stolen kisses in dark places. But now, she felt something hungry growing inside of her. And it wanted him. It wanted Örim.
“Cassie?” His hand was still on her face, but his fingers wavered, like he was afraid he’d break her if he pressed too hard. “Have I upset you?”
“No.” She shook her head. “I think…” she trailed off, not even sure what she was intending to say. How did one share feelings? In the book she’d listened to there had been a big declaration of love, but she wasn’t a lost heiress from one of the Five Houses, and Örim wasn’t an IA agent who could never truly love her because their worlds were too different. It hadn’t been a very good romance novel. She’d listened to a few more whilespending time at the IA, but none of them had gotten her any closer to understanding.
“I won’t be upset about anything you have to say. I want to hear whatever it is.” Örim hadn’t released his hold on her. Cassie suddenly felt hot and tight and aching in all the strangest places. She had to say something.
“I think I have feelings.”
After a long pause, he regarded her with a human-like tilt of his head, followed by a tap of his left elbow node. “Of course you have feelings. All sentient beings have feelings in some capacity.”
Cassie felt embarrassment bloom upward from her sternum until it covered her entire face. She thought she might crumble into pieces if she stayed there a moment longer, so she ducked away from Örim’s hand and retreated into her pillow nest.
CHAPTER 27
Örim
Örim braced himself as he entered the clinic. He knew talking to Eleri would likely be contentious, but he needed to ask a human, and she was the only human available.
Eleri wasn’t visible in the main atrium when he entered. Instead, Aglao approached him. “Greetings, Örim. Is all well? Do you require something for yourself or Cassie?”
“I was actually looking for Eleri, if she’s available. I have a rather strange question for her, and I couldn’t find any definitive answers on the intelewaves.”
“Eleri is with a patient. Someone is supposed to be with Cassie at all times. Is she supervised?”
The question made him tap the back of his neck with annoyance. He certainly wouldn’t leave Cassie unsupervised, but he recognized the healer wasn’t trying to question his competence. “She’s with K’kaen and the younglings.”
The doors to the atrium slid open as Eleri entered the room. She snapped off her exam gloves and tossed them into the wasteatomizer. Her expression changed when she caught sight of Örim.
“Is Cassie okay?”
“She’s fine. I think. I apologize for bothering you while you’re working. Only, I didn’t know who else to ask. I suspect a human interpretation is in order.”
“Well, better me than S’samph. Why do you only think she’s fine?” Eleri asked.
“She said something strange to me, and now she isn’t speaking to me anymore. I’m afraid I may have offended her.”
Eleri’s head tilted to the side. “What did she say?”
“She said she has feelings. I reassured her all sentient beings have feelings, but that was obviously the wrong interpretation. My queries on the intelewaves did not reveal any conclusive meaning.” He rubbed at his wrist node, hoping he hadn’t made an irrevocable mistake with Cassie.
Eleri froze. “Cassie has feelings. She used those exact words?”
“Yes, those were her words.” Örim wasn’t sure why she needed to confirm his statement. Eleri let out a reserved laugh and then said something low under her breath.
Eventually, she tucked her hands into the pockets of her work uniform. “Cassie has romantic feelings for you. If you feel the same, you should tell her you have feelings too.”
