Page 27 of Jarran

“You will comply, Pella Rin.” Durik’s voice was conversational. Bored, almost. “One way or another.”

He turned and walked away. His footsteps faded, steady and unhurried, and the silence he left behind was worse than anything he’d said.

Jarran’s shoulders ached from the tension in them and his cuffed hands shook. He looked at the empty space where Durik had been and sat down on the floor next to Evie. He dropped his face in his cuffed hands. His breath shuddered out and he pressed his fingers to his eyes and tried to think.

A hand touched his arm. Small fingers wrapped around his forearm, above the cuff.

“You’re not Pella Rin.” Evie’s voice was quiet and steady. “You know that.”

“He’s going to use you,” Jarran said into his hands. “To get to me. He’ll use you to force me to cooperate.”

Her grip tightened on his arm. “You can’t worry about that.”

He lifted his head. “Can’t I?” She moved closer, so that he could feel her warmth through the sleeve of his shirt.

Her light brown eyes were tired and scared, but clear. “If you do what he wants, the Sifters will be empowered and wreak chaos. They’ll destroy thousands of lives, killing as they go.” She swallowed, as if gathering her courage. “I am not worth the lives of so many.”

He turned to face her more fully. “You are worth everything to me.” There was no way to overstate it to her. She had to understand. “Do not ask me to sacrifice you to stop some unknown outcome.” He held her gaze. “Because I cannot do it. I absolutely cannot. I would end myself before I allowed Durik to touch you, and I will take Durik and most of this ship with me if he tries.”

She was quiet for a moment. Her thumb moved against his forearm. “Jarran,” she said breathlessly. “I—I don’t know what to say to that.”

“Say you’ll never question what you’re worth to me again.” He knew his voice sounded harsh, but he couldn’t soften it. “Say I’m worth something to you, too.” That last bit slipped out before he could stop it. Now that it was out, he needed to hear her next words as urgently as he needed to take his next breath.

Her gaze locked with his. “You are worth a lot to me,” she breathed. “Even though I wish otherwise. I was supposed to help you heal, but this…” She looked up at him with confusion and sincerity and attraction. “I didn’t expect to feel something for you.”

It was enough. He’d take it. He leaned over and caught her mouth in a rough kiss. His lips moved over hers for a long breath, demanding and giving. Testing, to see if she’d pull away. She didn’t. Instead, she sighed, and her body softened as she leaned into him. Her shoulder pressed against his chest, and her head tilted to deepen the angle.

He breathed in the scent of her and closed his eyes. This was a moment he’d like to sink into, stay in, and continue, but they both knew moments didn’t lend themselves to lasting long. So he took what she offered and kissed her sweet mouth until she sighed and pulled back.

She believed in doing the right thing. He wanted to believe in it too. But the cold certainty sitting in the pit of his gut told him that if Durik put a blade to her throat, Jarran would do whatever Durik wanted. He would stand where Durik told him to stand and speak into whatever transmission feed Durik pointed him at. He would become Pella Rin again if that was the price of keeping Evie alive.

TWELVE

Jarran looked around in distaste. “This room hurts my eyes.”

He was right. The suite was absurd. Evie stood in the doorway and stared. Behind her, the guard who’d escorted them from the cell pulled the door shut and she heard the lock engage with a solid, definitive click.

It was enormous and sumptuously appointed. Plush furniture upholstered in deep jewel-toned fabric was placed around the central room. In an alcove, a bed that could have fit four people was draped in layers of silky pillows and sheets. She saw a wardrobe in there too, with divided sections for a Virilian male and a human woman. The ceilings were high and the lighting was warm and diffused. Against another wall, tucked into a nook, sat a top-of-the-line meal replication unit. A bathroom opened off to the left, visible through an archway. She could see a glass tub large enough to swim in, with polished fixtures and a stack of thick towels. To say the suite was sensory overload, after being locked in a bare cell, was an understatement.

But she knew what this was. Durik had planned this switch to pure comfort as a reward for future compliance. They could very easily find themselves back in the cell.

“Well,” Evie said. “It’s a step up from the cell.”

The guard had removed Jarran’s mag-cuffs before locking them in. He rubbed his wrists absently, where the skin was chafed. “We still can’t leave.”

“That’s true.” She bit her lip and looked around. “We need to find a way out of here.”

Jarran’s gaze sharpened. “We’ll have to search every corner of this strange…space.”

It was doubtful they’d find an escape. Durik had likely made sure the suite was as sealed off as the cell they’d been in.

“All we can do is try. In the meantime, let’s get something to eat.” Evie glanced at Jarran’s blood-stained, torn jumpsuit. Her heart squeezed as she saw there was still soil on the knees of his pants where he’d been working in the agricultural bay. “And get into some clean clothes. It looks like there’s a wardrobe in the sleeping area.”

Jarran looked down at his soiled outfit. “I am filthy.”

“You and me both.” But more so him. “You need to bathe more than I do.” She glanced inside the bathroom area and spied a tubular steam shower next to the bathtub. That would be quicker and easier than a long, leisurely soak, although that would feel good after spending so much time on the hard floor. “I’ll figure out the food replicator while you’re in there.”

Jarran followed her gaze into the bathroom. His brow furrowed. “Do you know how to use that apparatus?” He waved a hand in the general direction of the steam shower.