AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Kivian immediately comes over and grabs the baby from Fran's arms, giving its slobbery face a dozen kisses. "You need to see my beautiful little daughter, Jerrok. She looks just like her father."
"Have I met him?" Jerrok jibes back.
Fran just laughs, sliding in next to her mate. Cat moves over to Tarekh, grabs his ass again, and then rejoins our small group.
Zoey immediately sidles close to me. "So…" she begins, an expectant look on her face.
Uh oh. "Yes?" I brace myself for Bethiah-level uncomfortable questions about my relationship with Jerrok.
"Is Mathiras sleeping through the night?"
I blink. That's not what I expected, but of course Zoey's going to ask about her brothers. "I don't know. Does he have trouble sleeping?"
She nods. "Always has. His mind won't shut off. What about Kaspar? How are his lungs? And does he still have a death wish? Adiron still sad and lonely?"
I look at Zoey's earnest face, so eager for information about her brothers, and I feel like the worst person ever. Guilt rushes through me as I realize I've never paid attention to whether or not the va Sithai brothers are doing well. They just…always seemed good to me. Competent. In control. "Adiron seems…happy?"
"Of course he does. That's Adiron for you." She crosses her arms, waiting. "He's not gonna wander around and mope with his lower lip hanging out."
Like me, I wonder? "I…don't know them all that well yet. Most of our conversations were spent with me learning the nav system…and not very well."
She waves a hand in the air. "You figure that stuff out eventually. It'll be second nature to you in another month or two."
I'm not so sure about that. "Shall we go see the terrarium?" I gesture lamely at the halls, trying to escape the uncomfortable realization that I know less about the va Sithai than I thought.60SOPHIESleipnir is a hit.
Everyone adores the big carinoux, and he doesn't growl at anyone. He sniffs everyone carefully, then parks himself beside Iris for petting, rubbing his head against her hand. It takes me a few, but I eventually realize that her visor gives her limited vision of some kind, and she must be blind underneath it. It explains why Alyvos is so protective of her, and her childlike joy at entering the terrarium.
"The air feels—and smells—different here," she tells us, her face wreathed in smiles.
"It does," I agree. "I really love it. I've been working on cleaning up some of the overgrown plants, but it's definitely a work in progress."
"Like the rest of the station," Cat adds.
Zoey lounges on one of the benches, a restless look in her eyes that reminds me far too much of Kaspar. "So how do you like being here?" she asks me. "Is it as miserable as it seems?"
Miserable? I bite back my frown. "No, I love it here."
"You do?" Cat's voice cuts like a knife. "This place?"
"What's wrong with this place?"
Cat gestures at our surroundings, disbelief written on her face. "Don't know if you noticed, but it's a bit of a junk heap. Most of the station is destroyed and you're on an asteroid in the ass-end of the universe. What's there to like?"
Her words hurt my feelings, because it feels like an attack on Jerrok. "He doesn't need the whole station. The rooms that are repaired are more than enough for him. And he wouldn't be able to keep up with the maintenance on the entire place if that was the case. He wouldn't be happy with a crew here. He likes being alone. As for the junk…that's his job. He's got all kinds of things here. It's not…garbage. It's a treasure trove waiting to be unearthed." I lift my chin. "And Jerrok's the best at repurposing everything. He keeps this station running purely on stuff he scraps out. It pays for food supplies, too. I think he's doing fantastic."
"I'm sure," Cat says, a devious little smile on her face. The others are smiling at me, too, and their knowing looks fluster me. Maybe I'm being too obvious, too adamant in my defense of Jerrok. I don't care. This place may not be flashy, but it's roomy and quiet and serene and…and it has Jerrok.
"Well, I for one love this terrarium," Fran says, watching as her daughter bats at one of the leaves. "I'd spend all my time in here if given the chance."
"Something tells me Sleipnir loves it here, too," Iris says, petting my carinoux's nose.
"He does," I say enthusiastically. "He loves to go hide in the bushes, usually with something he's chewing on. And he digs in all the dirt. He's my little helper, even though it's not all that helpful sometimes."
The group chuckles.
"Hey, Sophie? Can we talk for a minute?" Zoey is at my side again, gesturing at a bench a good distance away from the others.
