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I’ve always been able to tell when people are lying, but it’s different when it’s fucking aliens. They’re hard to read. The worst part is his smirk. He seems to know he has the upperhand and something about that is making me feel incredibly uneasy.
And horny.
Holy shit, what do they put in these drinks?
“Do you have proof?” I ask him, after coating my tongue with theincarnet. It’s floral and sweet, surprisingly light as it slowly goes down my throat.
“Proof of what?” he asks.
“Of life. You said you saw Layla, you said she was in love. How can I believe that? You want me to just take your word for it?”
He cocks his head as he considers this. Before he answers, I take a bite of the food. It’s heavenly, spicy and acidic in a way that I’m not familiar with. “I didn’t have to tell you she was alive,” he says as he watches me eat. “You should understand that’s a testament of my goodwill. I’m trying to help you, Penn. I’ve been trying to help you since you got here.”
I don’t have any reason to believe that. Not exactly. “Little quid pro quo, huh?”
“I knew you were reasonable,” he says, running that long tongue over his sharp teeth. He eats slowly, with his hands, and his eyes flash pink for a second as he drinks me in. “Believe it or not, that’s one of my favorite things about you.”
“You hardly know me,” I say.
“I’m aware of that,” he replies. “And yet I’m already finding things to love.”
The way he says that, the way he stares at me, it makes me feel like I’m on fire. I think he’s going to walk it back, considering how it sounds, but he does nothing of the sort.
It takes everything in me to focus on the task at hand. This is useful information, but I need to prove its veracity before I can do anything about it. Corvus might not be as much of a trustworthy ally as I thought, considering the listening and tracking device he put on me, but I can’t exactly flush him out and leave myself with no allies in case I need to escape. Especially after I kill Atlas.
But if I can pit Corvus and Keon against each other, that might give me enough time to rescue Layla. If I have that, then I’ll get out of here alive…and maybe I won’t even need to get my hands dirty killing Atlas.
I just need to be smart about it. I need to bide my time.
I need to make him believe I believe everything he’s telling me.
“You are brazen,” I say. “Whisking me away from a guard, pissing off your boss-–it doesn’t seem like the best move, especially if what you wanted was some time to talk discreetly between the two of us.”
“What makes you think that’s all I want?” he says, his gaze sliding down my body until it stops on my breasts. “I want to ravish you until you can hardly walk.”
“What if he kills you?” I ask.
“I’m not insane,” he replies. “I wouldn’t do it without his permission.”
I open my mouth to find out what he means by that, but he keeps talking, clasping his hands in front of him.
“So, Penn,” he says. “I told you what I know, now you tell me. What do you know about the rat?”
I lick my lips, shaking my head. “I didn’t even know there was one until you pulled that tracker off me.”
He narrows his eyes. I don’t know if he believes me. I find myself a little pissed that Corvus placed it on me in the first place, actually—he was so confident that no one would be able to notice.
“Where did that thing come from anyway?” he asks. “I presume you didn’t buy the piercing like that.”
“I was outfitted with equipment from First Wave,” I say. “They gear us up before the job starts. I’ve been wearing it ever since I got here.”
“So it works across dark space?” Keon asks. “Forgive me, but I find that difficult to believe.”
“No,” I shake my head. “It pings a First Wave satellite in orbit around Aelydon. I don’t know exactly how to find it, just that there’s an extraction team there that will help me if I need it.”
Okay…pretty clever for working on the fly. But I have to wonder if the device implanted in my leg does the same thing.
Is Corvus listening right now?
