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Sava nodded politely. “Very considerate of you, Paige.” Sava had come to the rescue and nearly saved another moment of awkwardness, until Elga scoffed loudly.
“He wouldn’t care. He shouldn’t care, he never did with me.”
Paige’s eyes widened. Her suspicions were realized—Elga had been Jamen’s previous hanjin, and probably usurped by Paige’s arrival on Halos. She almost felt sorry for Elga.
Elga muttered behind her back, “Humans have no courage. Why wonder they broke so easily. I’ve been replaced by a human slave.”
Paige’s pity ended and she rounded on Elga, furious at the barely concealed remark. “I am not a slave.”
Sava held up her hand. “Please, not here,” she said frostily. “We are not alone.”
“Can we go, please. I’m tired of being stared at,” Paige said truthfully. It was obvious ever since they set foot in the Yulta that her human features were noticeable. From her golden hair and light eyes, to her small stature and pale skin. She might as well wear a label above her head.
“Of course,” Sava said, placing her napkin to one side.
Outside the Yulta, Paige put aside any attempt at decorum and strode up to Elga. Under the streetlights, Elga’s face was darkened by shadows. Paige kept pace with her longer strides, but spoke breathlessly.
“So, you were Jamen’s hanjin. I did not know. I am sorry,” she said, praying they might find some kind of common ground.
Elga flashed two dark pitted eyes at Paige. “He never told you? That is meant to make me feel better?” There was a glint of a watery film over her eyes. “He will miss me. I know he will.” She slammed on her brakes and spun about to face Paige, knocking Sava to one side as the other woman bowled into her unawares.
“I… I… said I’m sorry,” Paige stuttered, feeling very tired and struggling to keep up with the internal translation that fed her speech.
“Do you sleep every night with his cock in your mouth? Or with it buried deep inside your ass? Does he milk his seed into you every morning as you kneel at his feet? Do you come, over and over, when he pumps you? He did these things to me.” She glanced away. “I was his hanjin. I worked hard for him. Wrote the finest reports, met with important officials on his behalf. You are a mere human. You cannot do these things he likes. You will fail him and he will send you home. Then, I shall slip back and reclaim my man.” With a withering look, she marched off and at a pace. Paige stood no chance of keeping up with her unless she ran alongside her.
However, Paige had no intention of chasing after Elga. She bit her lip and hung her head. What had started out as a good idea had turned into a disastrous evening. She’d made an enemy.
“Oh, dear,” she said softly in English. “Fuck,” she added.
Sava slipped her hand into Paige’s. “She will get over him. We all do when we move on. It is part of being us. We don’t mate for life, not often anyway, and she will need a mate soon. That’s what she needs and Jamen is not the man for her. She knows this.”
Paige wiped away a stray tear. “You are very kind to me.”
“I like you,” Sava said simply. “Now, you should be with Jamen.”
Jamen wasn’t asleep. He was propped up in bed, arms folded across his chest wearing a face that belonged on Paige’s father when he waited for her to come home from a nightclub.
He called for more light and leaned forward, peering at her face. “Why have you been crying?”
She stopped short of the bed and closed her eyes. Too late.
Chapter Twelve
She’d tried to hide it—the redness in her eyes—by dropping her gaze as she approached the foot of his bed. He leapt to his feet, alarmed by the sadness she’d brought into his home.
“What is wrong?” he asked when she didn’t reply.
“Nothing,” she said. “I’m tired.”
“You did not enjoy the Yulta?” He could not understand why—it was the perfect refuge from his demands and women needed time to themselves to relax.
“I did,” she said without conviction.
He captured one of her hands and it felt cold and clammy. He tipped her chin up. Her lower lip trembled.
“Elga and Sava were kind to you?” he asked. He recalled Elga’s scowl when he’d opened the door. She’d been a feisty hanjin and hard to satisfy unless he spanked her regularly. He’d been on the brink of terminating their arrangement when he’d been sent to visit Earth. Not wishing to leave her on a negative note, he had not informed her of his plans to end their relationship until he had met Paige and decided she would return with him to Halos.
Elga had accepted the news with good grace. Or so he’d thought.
