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“I’ll assign Koda to the task.”
My heart sunk right back down into my chest. Of course, I was silly to even think he’d be able to do it. He was too busy for such a silly job, as the head of security. Plus, the boxing championship was coming up, not to mention the match happening in an hour.
I smiled politely. “Thank you, I’m sure Koda will do a wonderful job.”
“He’d better,” Jalik mumbled. He looked at his percomm and typed a bit, mouth tugged in a frown before looking back at me and nodding. “I have to go now, but Koda is on his way. Keep your door locked until then and don’t open any more drawers.”
I nodded and watched as Jalik, seemingly reluctantly, left and locked the door behind him. I leaned against it and sighed. Of all the poor decisions I could have made, falling for a powerful Vinduthi was definitely one of the worst. At best, my feelings would never be reciprocated. At worst, I’d be a dirty little secret. A fling to have some fun with and discarded when he got bored. If it didn’t cost me this job when he wanted me out of sight when it was all over.
I supposed if I were good at decision-making, I wouldn’t be an indentured servant performing at a space station casino.
A knock at the door broke me from my thoughts. I carefully looked out the peephole and saw a much younger Vinduthi on the other side.
“Miss Serena? Hi, it’s me, Koda. Jalik sent me.”
I opened the door and greeted him with a polite smile. “It’s nice to meet you, Koda.”
Koda looked past me towards the room. His eyes scanned all over, frowning at the shiny glitter everywhere.
“It looks like a bomb went off in here,” he said.
I blinked. “It did.”
“Wait, really? Jalik just said you were being stalked and to sweep your room for bugs or traps. A bomb already went off?”
“A glitter bomb. I guess, I’m not sure how it worked but when I opened my dresser drawer, glitter went everywhere.”
Koda nodded his head. “Oh, right. Okay. That’s less… lethal, at least. I’m going to sweep the room really quickly. Just hang out, I won’t take long.”
I sighed in frustration but complied, waiting in a chair while Koda carefully opened every drawer, lid, and container in the room. When nothing but toiletries and loose glitter was found, Koda put his hands on his hips and nodded.
“Seems that was the only ‘bomb’ in here. Which is good and bad news.”
“Why would that be bad?”
Koda sighed. “Because we’re severely lacking for clues as to who might have done this. Even a loose button would have been a place to start. But everything, other than most of the glitter, is in place.”
I watched as Koda started to fidget with his fingers. He was professional enough, as far as security guards go, but he was also anxious. I had to guess this was his first time on such an important assignment.
Well, if it was easy enough for a new kid to handle, then surely I wasn’t in too much danger. Right?
“So, where to next?” Koda asked.
“Excuse me?”
“I mean, where are we going? I’m following you now, remember?”
Realization struck. This kid was going to be tailing me all day for however long the investigation took. That did not sound like an ideal situation for me.
But as I considered what else I had to do that day, dread began to creep in again. The thought of going to the market, the laundry facility, or even just walking to my own home in The Under made me consider just how vulnerable and exposed I’d be.
“All right,” I said, seeing no other choice. “I guess we should get ingredients for dinner.”
JALIK
From behind the curtain, I watched as Serena let out a long high note, her arms rising with it. The spotlights caught on her beautiful brown hair. Her eyes were closed, making her look wholly angelic.
The crowd seemed to think so, too, as people cheered and pushed closer. My eyes immediately darted out into the throng to see if anyone looked ready to jump on the stage.
