He stared at her for a minute. “So you smuggled it out in the cheap bottles?”
“Yep. Me and my roommate had a helluva good weekend!” Memories flooded her with Sret, and the fun they’d had that weekend. They made her smile for a moment, before it pulled at her heart.
She looked down and took a bigger sip of her drink, letting the intense flavor wash away any emotions.
Stron shook his head, drawing her out of the memory. “Are you always so sneaky?”
“When I have to be,” she replied.
“Well, you do not have to sneak around me.”
“We’ll see,” she replied.
He watched her for a moment. “You don’t know how else to be, do you?”
She blinked. “Be, what, exactly?”
“Guarded. Protective. Secretive.”
“No more than you,” she replied.
“I’m not secretive,” he replied.
This time, she was sure she saw his bone armor start moving around, like it was getting bigger.
Getting ready for a fight.
“Defensive, much?”
“Deflective much?” he answered back. And it should have put her hackles up, and made her mad.
But the glimmer in his eye said something different. That it wasn’t an attack at all. “You’re pretty sure you know everything, don’t you?” she asked.
“It’s in my nature.”
“Is that so?”
“Knowing my enemies is important to maintaining balance.”
She studied him for a second, trying to decide if he was referring to her, or to someone else. Or both. “Is that what I am? An enemy?”
“I don’t know what you are, Adryel. An undefined variable, that much is certain.”
“You sound like a scientist trying to study me.”
He grimaced. “Don’t compare me to Khalzin.”
“What’s wrong with Khalzin?”
“Science makes him withdrawn. I am not withdrawn.”
She snorted. “You’re as withdrawn as I am. Neither one of us like to show our hand unless we absolutely have to.”
He nodded. “That much is true, I believe.”
“I know it is. You’re protecting your people. I’m protecting myself. Same game. Different goals. If I learned anything working in the underground, it is that protecting what you have can be worth everything.” She crossed her arms, and her finger grazed the spot where her chip was snug under her clothing.
“That it can be,” Stron said.
