"It is confusing."
Her fingers trembled as she tried to undo some straps around her midsection.
"You wear the strangest layers," he said.
"All in the name of creating that perfect silhouette," she said as she tugged at the lines.
"Here, let me."
He pulled.
And they snapped.
"I broke it."
She shrugged. "I don't care. Throw them on the fire."
He raised his eyebrow. "Are you sure you are well?"
"I am fine," she said. "A little hysterical because now we really are trapped on this planet."
"Moon."
"Whatever. We're stuck here for at least two more days. And there are people out there who want to kill me. I'm guessing because the Emperor wants to create a way to get the Terran Empire behind him again."
Harbin shook his head. "He would sacrifice his own people to prolong a war."
"Yes, he would. So he can have his final push and remove you from the Sol system." She peeled off another layer, her skin was looking a little less pale, and he helped her get these last bits off. "There's one thing I've never understood, though."
He helped her remove the fabrics, taking extra care because if she could see every bit of him, she would see how much the undressing her was affecting him. "What is that?" The Craving throbbed under his skin, and he kept his voice low.
She glanced at him for a second. In a way, suggesting she was analyzing him.
Or perhaps her own Craving was starting to manifest.
She waved her hand. "Why your people didn't just leave. Like in the beginning, when it first started. Why didn't the Rhimodians just wash your hands of it and leave Sol and find another system to settle in." She wasn't really looking at him, more at the clothing as she undressed.
Good.
Hopefully, she would not notice.
Part of her dress had fasteners in the back, and he stepped behind her to unhook them.
And answer her question. "It was considered when the war started. We had a group that started searching for planets and systems that had what we needed. Unfortunately, there were very few in this quadrant. A few that it would have taken us at least another generation to reach, with difficulties to push through to get there. We were lucky to be allowed by the Galactic Alliance to settle on Sol."
She looked over her shoulder at him. "But we were in the process of annexing it for the Terran Empire. I never did understand how you were able to settle there if we were in the middle of annexing it."
He pushed her head back so he could get to some of the clasps along her shoulders and neck. "According to the records I have seen in the Galactic Alliance archives, the Terran Empire had not done any kind of survey of the worlds in over three decades. At the time, the Sol system had been ruled a wasted system and best ignored. When we were looking, the Galactic Alliance gave us the system because they only had the Terran Empire's old survey records. They had no idea what the potential was there. We did. We jumped on the system. Felt that Sol with its moons was a good option. It was far enough away from most of the other controlled sectors, had access to the primary travel routes and space stations. It had the pieces we needed."
"Your people did a lot to make this system valuable."
"It took a long time."
"How long were you here when the Terrans first decided to claim the land."
"Eight years."
"What about the other planets in the system? There are several that are closer to the sun and a couple more distant ones. What are your plans there?"
