Lily flushed.
“Humans don’t do that,” she said, then added more softly, “but I really liked it.”
Khar smiled broadly.Fortunate, how little she dramatized the miracle.
“Want another round?”
Lily yawned widely.
His chest softened instantly. As much as he wanted her, he would not push.
“No,” she said apologetically. “I’m still really tired. Fuck… Vegrun.”
“Why would I be angry?” Khar asked.
She answered with a sleepy murmur and drifted off against him. Khar sent a message to Vitro, swapping Lily’s morning shift with his own so she could sleep longer. He adjusted his VoidBrace to wake him with vibration only, not sound.
The bunk was narrow and uncomfortable for two, but Khar could not remember ever sleeping as well as he did with Lily beside him.
The journey ended soon after, though not quietly.
Silomarila threatened Vegrun with emergency landings more than once, threats only defused by promises of obscenelyexpensive gifts. Khar found himself developing genuine fondness for the Mokra female, despite having barely exchanged a word with her. It seemed they shared a common hobby: tormenting an old tentacled lecher.
That goodwill lasted right up until Khar was ordered to land on a nearby planet to hunt a fresh gurjt for her, a delicacy renowned this season.
He was still muttering about it when he returned to Vitro, then brightened instantly at the sight of Lily.
“Hello, beautiful,” he said. “Did you miss me?”
She rolled her eyes, but he saw the pleasure beneath it.
“Vegrun’s nervous,” Lily said.
“Let him be.”
Khar’s suit had been damaged during the hunt, not enough to compromise its integrity, but enough to require tape to keep it from flapping loose. Lily watched with interest as he extended one claw to twice its resting length and sliced cleanly through the adhesive.
“I’ve never seen you do that before.”
“Make it bigger?” he asked mildly. “Or cut through tape?”
“Now that you mention it,” she said, frowning, “neither.”
Khar extended all his claws, turning his hand into something unmistakably lethal.
“Divani trait,” he explained. “Though lately, they have become harder.”
Lily leaned closer, examining them, then froze.
“Wait,” she said quietly. “But you… how were your fingers inside me?”
Khar retracted the claws in one smooth motion, then extended them again.
“I do not enjoy keeping them retracted,” he said. “Some Divani do.”
Lily tapped one experimentally, as if testing a blade.
“Hmm. Useful.”
