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"We?" Bethiah gives me a knowing look before turning to her cousin. "Did I miss a mating? Are you two sharing conjugal bliss?"
"No," Jerrok says flatly. He picks up a scanner and begins to type into the interface screen. "Did you check this ship for trackers before you brought it here?"
"I figured you'd do that for me." She offers him a brilliant smile. "And I need new ID for her, too. And possibly a new paint job."
Jerrok sighs heavily and casts his cousin an irked look. "So just a friendly visit, huh?"
"Friendly enough." She saunters toward me, all smiles. "Now Sophie, fill me in on everything going on in your boring little life. I want to hear all the details." She links her arm through mine, deliberately skirting wide around Sleipnir, and tugs me toward the door that leads back to the living quarters in the station.
I glance over at Jerrok. "I…do you need help, Jerrok?"
"If you can keep her entertained for a little bit, that'll be plenty of help." He glances up from his scanner and gives me a warm look. "I'll be fine."
"Mmmmhmmm," Bethiah hums thoughtfully, eyes narrowed. She squeezes my arm and puts on her playful smile again. "Show me what you've done with the place, then?"
I lead her inside the station, though I can tell from her confident walk and the way she glances at everything that she's been here before. She doesn't look surprised by any of it, except perhaps at the rooms I've cleaned out and the tidied-up terrarium.
"Very pretty," she says in a bored tone when I show her the plants. Her gaze narrows in on me. "So, where are you sleeping? With Jerrok?"
Her pointed question takes me aback. "Of course not," I sputter. "He's made me my own room."
"Can I see it?" Bethiah gives me a sweet smile. "I'm just curious, of course."
Something tells me those are deadly words coming from this woman, but I nod. "Sure." I glance around for Sleipnir, but he's found a piece of scrap and is carrying it into the vines, no doubt to eat his “kill” in private. He doesn't seem to be worried about Bethiah, so I relax a little. It's not Bethiah's fault that our last visitor tried to rob Jerrok and murder him. She's just being nosy and visiting her cousin, like she said she would. I guide her away from the terrarium, heading for my quarters. "It's not much to look at."
"What, amidst all this opulence?" Bethiah says sarcastically, gesturing at the run-down station. "Shocking."
There's something about her teasing that irks me. "Jerrok works really hard to keep this place running," I point out, a little stiff. She doesn't see the constant repairs he's doing, the filters he tirelessly changes out so we have fresh air to breathe, the maintenance logs he goes over every morning. This place is as safe and secure as it is precisely because of Jerrok's efforts. "It gets better here every day."
"Don't get upset, Softie. I was just teasing." She pats my arm as I lead her back down the hall into my quarters. "This where you're staying, then?"
"Yes. This is my room." I let her go, watching as she looks around the room with mild interest, her hands clasped behind her back. Bethiah's gaze lands on my bed and she pauses, then goes to my bed, bends over, and takes a deep, long sniff.
The look she gives me is knowing. "You aren't sleeping in here."
I freeze.
She straightens. Takes a step toward me. "Your blankets don't smell like you. You haven't slept in them for days, have you?" Her voice turns soft. "If I go smell Jerrok's blankets, will they smell like you, little human?"
"Bethiah?" Jerrok calls over her wrist comm, irritation in his voice. "Can you come out here to the hangar bay?"
With her gaze locked on me, Bethiah raises her wrist to her lips. "Be right there." She lowers it again and smiles at me. "Well?"
"It's none of your business." I cross my arms over my chest.
"That's where you're wrong." There's a syrupy tone to Bethiah's voice that reads as false, and when she reaches forward and straightens the cloak I'm wearing, my skin prickles and I wish Sleipnir was here. The bounty hunter's fingers curl in the fabric and she tugs me ever so slightly forward. The situation's made all the more alarming when she leans forward, her face practically in mine. "Jerrok is family. He might think he's alone, but I look out for him. And he's been hurt in the past. I don't like to see him hurting." Her mouth curves into a sweet, sweet smile. "And so I have to ask about your relationship with him, because if you hurt him? I will hunt you down and cut you into tiny little pieces."
