The steam shower hummed. She kept still, listening, and an image of Mace’s chest filled her mind, beads of moisture running through the grooves of his muscles, traveling downward…
Nia swallowed, heart rate accelerating. Something had shifted between them yesterday. She didn’t like it but couldn’t seem to stop it. She’d beenawareof him from the second he’d landed on her table onElara Five, but that awareness had turned into appreciation or something like it.
Self-loathing consumed her, and she gripped her locket through the material of her shirt. This softening toward him couldn’t continue. There should be nothing but hate in her heart.
But thinking the thought didn’t make it true.
Defeat rolling through her, she squeezed the locket, then let go. Escape was the only thing she should be worried about. Brushing the hair out of her face, she rose from the bed. While she had privacy, she opened the compartment under the bed and changed her outfit, stuffing the other one in the sluice beside the washroom to be laundered.
The narrow door slid open. His black hair damp, Mace wore his uniform, his vambrace contrasting with the navy color.
Quickly, she retreated, ignoring the way her heart pounded at his nearness, and the fresh, minty scent coming off him in waves. Stopping on the other side of the kitchen counter, she stared at the refrigeration unit.
Mace followed and reached around her to open the door. “Are you going to have something to eat?”
She grabbed the first thing without looking at it, then sat at the table before opening the packet of concentrated greens. Not her favorite, but whatever. Convincing herself she meant to grab these greens, she bit into the corner and chewed, and followed Mace’s movements out of the corner of her eye.
Instead of sitting at the table, he remained where he was, leaned against the counter, and crossed his ankles to drink his compound beverage. Her mind kept returning to the events from yesterday, but she felt his gaze bore into her while she ate.
They both kept silent, the tension between them growing.
Swallowing the last lump of greens around her unwanted emotions, Nia stood, shoved the packaging in reclamation, and walked to the to the door to wait. She told herself it was to get to the med bay as quickly as possible, to see Kilian’s new leg, and not her need to escape the man who’d become a vulnerability to her sanity.
Neither of them spoke on the walk to the medical bay. Nia kept her mind on the prosthetic, and the rehabilitation process Kilian would need to undergo after the surgery, instead of all of her other rampaging thoughts.
The door to the med bay opened, revealing the place crammed with people. As soon as Mace disengaged her bonds, Nia’s triage skills kicked in and she began with the more urgent cases.
She didn’t hear Mace leave and barely had the chance to say a quick hello to Kilian and Sorley. A broken arm, jammed finger, bruised collarbone, and a multitude of runny noses and fevers, Nia didn’t have a moment to spare until well into her day.
When the bulk of the crowd had thinned, the patients either discharged or remaining on med beds for observation, Nia finally had a minute to take a look at the prosthetic for Kilian. She pulled it out of its foam inlaid box, the length of the limb covered in transparent sterilization film. It was the exact model she’d requested, a PK576.
But the packaging made her heart lurch. This…was exactly how it would look if she’d ordered it directing from the CORE herself. Where had Mace gotten it from? Why hadn’t she asked how it would be obtained? It had to have been stolen from somewhere.
She used to see newsreels on a daily basis, ones where medical freighters were pirated by Tellusians, and medical stations likeElara Fivewere raided for supplies as well as people. It was what Tellusians did.
Why would she have expected anything else?
When Sorley joined her, Nia forced a smile, pushing all her muddled thoughts aside. She couldn’t change how the prosthetic had arrived and needed to focus on her current patient. But Sorley’s dour expression made the dread inside her intensify.
“I don’t think I can afford this,” he said, his voice almost a moan, his head bowed.
Nia’s fingers twitched on the artificial limb. “What?”
Sorley lifted his hand like he wanted to touch it, then let his arm fall. “We were on the transport to Oberon because I was moving where the work was. Things have been tight lately. And after the night in brig, no one wants to hire me here.” He looked away from her, shoulders slumped.
Nia blinked, a hard knot solidifying in her stomach. The cost of a medical procedure like this—necessary for the person to function as a productive member of society—would be covered by the CORE government. She hadn’t realized it could be any other way. Nia glanced over her shoulder. Kilian strained to hear what they said, his face so eager, her heart shattered.
Her hands tightened around the limb. “Someone had to pay for this?”
“If your commander was the one who acquired it for you, he was the one who paid for it.”
“He’s not my commander,” Nia muttered, angry at everything in the solar system. One more look at Kilian and she squared her shoulders. “I promised your son and I’m not about to break my promise.”
“But I can’t afford this.”
“I’ll pay for it. Or Commander Mace can take my creds until it’s paid for.”
Sorley straightened in surprise. “You don’t have to do that.”
