Page 65 of Veiled Vixen

“Nice word choice.”

“Yeah. Well. Technical term, I guess.”

“Soul Stealer.”

“We never stole any souls. Your books are stupid.”

“Huh.” She laughs. “They are. But you know what the most surprising thing about those comic books turned out to be?” She studies me for a moment. “They’re all true.”

“How do you figure? I’m telling you, the parts we took were from dead stations.”

“Dead?” Her chin juts backwards. “Can stations die?”

I don’t answer her. Because honestly, I don’t know. I just assumed.

“Do you even know what this station is?”

“What do you mean?”

“All those parts you brought back. What did ALCOR do with them?”

“He… used them. I guess. Replacement parts.”

“Are you sure about that?”

“Uh… no. I guess not. I mean, I’m not pretending to be an expert on ALCOR’s motives, that’s for sure. But do you have another explanation? And if so, would you care to enlighten me?”

“Care to enlighten you?” She chuckles. “Why are you so polite, Valor? Don’t you ever get angry?”

“Well, sure. I guess. When I have to. But my father was an angry guy and I never…” I stop because at the mention of my father her eyes squint down into slits.

“You never what?”

“I never wanted to be like him. I wanted his job, though. I did want to command warships like he did. Mostly because I’m not really a thinker. I… I’m good at following directions most of the time. I don’t like to make waves. I just want a simple life and my father—” Again she squints at me, a ferocious anger lurking underneath when I mention my father. “His life seemed simple even though he was mean.”

She nods. “He was mean. He still is mean. I’m glad you got away. I truly am, Valor. Because of all the brothers on Harem, you are the only one with a kindness inside him. Built in, you know?”

“That’s not true,” I say, ignoring the fact that she just alluded to knowing my father in the present tense for a moment. “Maybe Serpint and Luck are both assholes. And Tray isn’t even human. But Jimmy and Crux are both decent people and Draden was downright innocent if you ask me.” I shrug. “Four out of seven is a pretty good split.”

She stares at me for a moment, lips slightly pursed.

“Why are you pink?”

“Why didn’t you ask me how I know your father?”

“I asked my question first.”

“Fine,” she says, reaching for another berry and popping it in her mouth. The xenon-laced fruit and juice has done wonders for her complexion. There is no trace of ashy gray. Her skin is almost the glow of health I saw earlier when she drank that juice back in my quarters. “I’m pink because the silver only works when I’m pregnant.”

I blink at her as all the pieces begin to fall into place.

“That’s right. The pregnancy makes me silver. And as you know, I’m not pregnant anymore. So I’m pink again. It’s the silver version of me that did all those terrible things you ticked off that list. She did that. Not me. The pregnancy makes me…” She turns her head away and sighs.

“Evil?”

She nods, but doesn’t look at me again. “And you would think that after all this time, I would hate being pregnant. But—” Her eyes flit up to mine for a moment, then look down again. “But I don’t. And not because it makes me silver. Every time—even though I know better—I hope, Valor. I still have hope that it might work and all this will be over. And in the end I will have… babies.”

“Oh,” I sigh, getting it. Maybe. Kinda. I don’t know what it’s like to be a woman and carry babies. But I can take a good guess. “What will happen to Nyleena if she gets pregnant?” I ask.