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And to be honest, I kind of fucking love that.
Chapter 17
Fiona
“How are we supposed to find something if we don’t know what it is?” I survey the room in front of me. It’s a storage space that’s completely full of boxes. Somehow, I don’t think this is where we’re going to find Quinn’s mystery treasure.
Or bounty.
Or whatever the hell he’s looking for.
“We’ll know it when we see it,” he insists, and I know I’m going to have to trust him. We spend the afternoon sorting through boxes, stopping only for a quick meal of dried food. The food on his ship is a bit lacking, but it’s better than what I was having in my cell at the auction house, which was nothing. I’ve only been with Quinn a few days, but already I’m starting to feel healthier. There’s something to be said for good company and good sex.
“Another box of parts,” I say. Every box seems to be parts. Parts for what? I don’t know. The ship, I guess. We mark the boxes we’ve gone through and keep going. I’m amazed at how many we get through and I have the feeling that Quinn was doing this on his own for a very long time before I arrived.
Part of me thinks that’s completely boring, while another part of me just thinks it’s sad. How lonely must he have been? How hard must it have been to be locked up here on his own?
“Can I ask you something?” I lift up a box and set it on top of another one I’ve already sorted through.
“Of course,” he’s looking at a box full of screws and nails. “Anything.”
“Were you lonely?” I ask.
“Lonely?” He looks up at me and raises an eyebrow.
“Before I…” Before I weaseled my way into your life, I want to say. Before you saved me. Before I walked into your world and decided I don’t want to look back.
“Yes,” he says. He saves me from having to complete my sentence, and for that, I’m grateful.
Then we keep looking.
We sort boxes for hours in silence. At one point, Quinn turns on some music and I can’t help but dance a little bit at the sound. It’s a song I don’t recognize, one I can’t remember ever hearing before.
“Is this an Earth song?” I ask.
“It’s one from Sapphira,” he tells me.
“Your planet,” I murmur.
“The one and only.”
“Tell me about it?” It’s a question. I’m almost begging. I’m starting to realize just how little I know about the planets surrounding Mirroean. I’m starting to realize just how far away from my home we really are. I thought I knew a little bit about Dreagle, but I was wrong.
What else don’t I know about?
“It’s called the Hidden Planet,” Quinn stops sorting through the box he’s staring at. He’s sitting cross-legged on the floor, and he pushes the box to the side and rests his hands on his legs. I feel like this is about to get serious, so I do the same.
“Why is it called that?” I wonder.
“For a long time, only Sapphirans lived there.”
“No Earthlings?”
“No anyone. No Mirroeans. No Martians. No one. It was only us. Our world was neatly tucked away where no one could find it, hidden among the stars.”
“So what happened? What changed? I mean, obviously, something had to change. You’re here now,” I say. “And I assume you have humans and Martians and Mirroeans on your world now.”
He looks thoughtful as he thinks back, and for a moment, the stress of the day fades from Quinn’s face. How much more handsome must he be when he’s not trying to find things? When he’s not busy capturing and saving people?
