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Belle snatches it away from him. “Look at it, Nico. It’s not tight. But that doesn’t mean I’m never wearing a gown again.” She drops the robe and pulls the tunic over her head. “We know now.”
Nico grunts, shakes his head, and walks down the hallway with his block in his hand.
“You know what now?” Eros picks up Belle’s robe and puts it on himself. It’s three sizes too small for him, ending at his waist. But he lifts the collar to his face and inhales.
“My dress I wore to promenade had a tight corset. When we were waiting for the dome to fill, I didn’t realize my lungs wouldn’t be able to shift in it. I’ve shifted in tunics before. But Porcia Septimus from Koralli saw me and realized I wasn’t taking my corset off. She said I could drown.”
“Fuck, of course you could have.” Castor’s face reddens. “How did you not know that? It’s so basic.”
“Castor.” Eros puts his hand on Castor’s arm. “Castor, I know that, but I know it because my mother taught me about my little sister—two things they don’t have.”
My stomach knots. Because he’s right.
Eros hands Castor a towel from the wall. “They also have spent their entire adult lives on a sub full of other males. I’m not surprised. But I’m darn grateful for Porcia noticing.”
“Me too.” I nod. Damn.
“Me too.” Belle looks up at me. There are tears in her eyes, and as much as I don’t want to admit it, I’m blinking some away myself. If we’d lost Belle today, I’m not sure what would have happened.
Eros picks up a waterproof crossbody bag from the floor.
“What’s that?” Belle asks.
“It’s Castor’s bag, but the contents are only partially his. Let me get cleaned up, and we can take a look at it.” Eros tightens the belt around his waist and hands the bag to Castor.
“I’m not sure that’s a great idea. Tristan Bellucci is an ass, but he is a governor.” Castor grunts.
“Right, now’s not the time to be law-abiding, Castor,” I say. “You took them from him. He knows you have them.”
“I don’t think that’s going to matter now,” Nico calls from the living room.
19
CASTOR
“What do you mean, Nico? Why isn’t it going to matter?” I’ve got a towel wrapped around my waist, and my waterproof bag is leaving a trail of water behind it. Eros is right, though. I grabbed Tristan Bellucci’s things, the governor of Vitrom. Things he was adamantly grabbing with his old, grubby hands. Things I’m really looking forward to seeing.
Nico has his large tablet in his hands. “Reports are coming in. They’ve got an analysis of who was in the area and who left the quadrant. There are ten people missing. Tristan’s one of them. The crews are still working their way in.”
“Who... who else is missing?” Annabelle’s by my side. “Are Porcia and her mates on the list?”
Nico glances down the list. “No Septimus on the list, no Koralli at all.”
“My brother?”
Nico pauses. “I’m sorry, Eros.”
“Right.” Eros’s jaw is clenched.
“That doesn’t mean he’s dead. Just missing, right? He’s missing.”
“Sunshine, ‘missing’ is another way of breaking it to the family slowly.”
“Really? No, you have to stay positive.” Annabelle’s at his side.
“I should go back. The omada’s back at the docking for the arcade shopping, and my solo’s still at Zaffiro.” Eros scrubs his hand over his face. “I rode with my mother. She told me she was going to come for the opening but then leave. I didn’t notice if she did. Fuck. What kind of son doesn’t notice when his own mother leaves? Did you see her? She wasn’t in the gallery, was she?”
“No,” Nico says. “I took a complete inventory of who was in the gallery for Annabelle’s safety. There were no other Zaffiros there.”
