Once again, her compassion surprised him.
She lay fast asleep, her features beautiful and delicate. Curves where he had lines, she truly was a beautiful image. The way her hips rose and fell into her waist, the angle of her legs like a perfect hypotenuse of a right triangle.
He held out his hand, imagining where the right angle would be from the top of her hip to her knee…
“What in the stars are you doing?”
He blinked and pulled his hand back. “I was looking at your angles.”
She twisted around, pulling the skirt layers away. “You were going to fondle me?”
“No! I was looking at the angles of your body.”
“That does not sound better,” she said as she pulled away from him.
“I meant no disrespect. You are quite beautiful, and your form is very pleasing to study.”
She stopped and turned back to him. “I am not a work of art. I am a humanoid who has thoughts and feelings.”
“I know. I find them quite intriguing.”
“My what?”
“Your thoughts and feelings. You intrigue me, Lady in Waiting Freya.”
“Fine. We’ll have a nice little chat when this is all over, and we’re safe.”
“We are protected here. At least for the moment.”
“That’s what you said about the command center place.”
She was correct. He had believed they had reached a secured location. Here, however, he knew they were safe. There were far too many security protocols installed in the underground area that was only keyed to Rhimodians, so they should be protected here.
"This place is lower. Below ground, and below scanning."
She raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything.
He gestured to the walls. "The stones block most scanning systems."
She glanced around. "The glowing ones?"
"Yes. The minerals are common in this system."
"So how come you don't use it in everything? Something that could block scanner tech would be very advantageous in war."
"It would be. If sollight rock could be stabilized and refined."
"It's a rock. Of course, it can be refined."
"Sollight rock becomes unstable the more it is refined."
"But you can carve it and move it around?"
"Physical shaping does not affect it in the same way a chemical change would in the refinement process."
"So," she said as she held up the blaster he'd given her. "If I blast one of the rocks…."
"It could become unstable and possibly explode."
