“My ship cannot fly.” He pulls me back down, but I push up again.
“We’ll take someone else’s!”
“What about your precious eggs?”
Oh. Fuck. I forgot about them. I’m an asshole. I can’t abandon hundreds of my babies just like that. But I can’t let these women die because of me, either. Fuck, fuck, fuck, what am I going to do?
Lyro takes advantage of my momentary disorientation and pulls me down beside him again, clamping his hand on the back of my neck so I go into kitten mode again. “Breathe, Lena.”
Obediently, I draw in a breath, and my vision clears up a little, though my ears are still ringing.
“Good girl,” he says, as I struggle to draw another one. “Listen to me. There’s a chance that my brother Nik is working to free our mothers. Thank Alioth for giving him a clever mate to help him in this task. You and I aren’t going anywhere until we know whether they succeed. You’re going to keep the Frathikshappy, and I’m going to repair my bird, and we’ll decide what to do when we learn where our loyalties must lie.”
“Okay,” I whisper. “I’m glad you have a plan because I sure don’t.”
He chuckles, a strange sound given the turn of this conversation. “Now you know why I can’t forget myself. I’m balanced on the edge of a very keen blade. I have to be prepared for any outcome.”
I roll my eyes. “What outcome means you shouldn’t kiss me now?”
But I know the answer before the question is fully asked. It’s the outcome where we aren’t together. The outcome where the High Priest imprisons and tortures me to get what he wants from my sister. The less Lyro loves me, the better it will be for him... because the less he loves me, the less I can be used against him.
Everything goes still: my body, my mind, my heart. I’m not sure this is a bad thing that I can bear.
Lyro senses the change in me and begins arranging my limbs like a doll, replacing my hands on his chest, my leg draped over his side. Then his grip returns to the back of my neck. “I want you to rest. As you said, we are both tired.”
“I don’t know if I can.”
“You must.”
Chapter 18
Lyro
“Ican’t sleep,” she whines for the eleventh time, her legs writhing between mine like a saidal in a trap.
My teeth grind in frustration as I will myself not to snap her pretty neck. “Then be silent soIcan.”
“I can’t stop thinking about your mom.”
“You may continue thinking about her. Only stop talking,” I growl.
She gives a gusty sigh, and I believe for a goddess-blessed moment that she’s finally going to rest. But no. I snatch only a few moments of sleep from her clacking jaws before she’s at it again.
“How long do you think it will be before we know if Nik was able to save them?”
“We’ll never know unless I get my hands on a comm unit.” That shuts her up. But even though her mouth is quiet, I can almost hear her mind working at the puzzle. Her noisy little brain buzz-buzz-buzzes like an insect until I can’t take it anymore. “Stop thinking so loudly. It’s not your task to find one. It’s mine.”
“I want to help!” Her words leap out like she’s been holding them back. “Harl has one.”
Frixing Harl. I squeeze the back of her neck. “You will ask him for nothing.”
“You’re right. He’s done too much for me already. He might have some favors he could call in, though. I’ll ask him if he knows of any others that work still. I’m guessing most of the decommissioned units have been stripped for parts, but maybe there’s still one somewhere that—”
I roll her flat on her back so I can cover her mouth, pressing until she quiets. “Shut. Up.”
The wicked femalelicks my palm.I yank my hand back in surprise and stare, disgusted, at the shiny trail of saliva running across it. She bursts out laughing. “Works every time.”
I frown at her and wipe the moisture away on my trousers. “Perhaps you need to consider why so many are intent on quieting your unrelenting mouth.”
