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It seemed to Nova to be a very important point, but she just shrugged and listened to Lauren prater on about her amazing marriage.
“That’s all I had to tell you,” she finally said. “Oh, and Altair has no experience with women so don’t judge him too harshly when you go home tonight. He’s been lonely a very long time.”
Nova’s stomach turned. Was Lauren suggesting she submit to whatever fantasies Altair may have had about his wedding night?
She’d been warned that the mission would be dangerous. She’d been given full permission to use force against Altair if necessary, though now that she’d seen him she wasn’t sure she could win against him in hand-to-hand combat. He was twice her size, and she had nowhere to run away.
Nova thought about the other women that had been kidnapped with her, how scared they must be not knowing what was going to happen to them or if they would be safe tonight.
Lauren finished talking and opened the door to the hallway. “We’re all done here,” she called out. Nova had the feeling she was eager to get away. “Altair will feed you dinner,” Lauren said, and Nova’s stomach growled. “You must be hungry after your long trip.”
Trip?
She made it sound like Nova had been on a vacation instead of stolen from her home.
Altair walked back into the room. “Let’s go.”
He looked at Nova then turned and walked back out.
She followed him out the door, dragging her feet, hating how sure he was that she would do as he said. If her mission wasn’t to spy on him, she would have walked out the back door. Instead, she walked behind him as he made his way out of the building.
The lawn in front of the building had been decorated for a party. Long tables with large platters of food were scattered under colorful streamers forming a canopy above. People sat at the tables all chattering loudly. She recognized a few of the girls that had been locked up with her on the ship. They all looked to be in shock.
But Altair didn’t lead her to a table, instead he continued walking down the street toward a vehicle on wheels.
He opened the door and held it open for her to get in. Every one of her instincts screamedno, don’t get in with the stranger who wants to harm you.But again that was the whole point of being there in the first place, and the only way that she could leave the planet.
“What’s the party back there?” she asked instead.
“The people of the Baedden clan are celebrating their wedding ceremonies.”
“Why aren’t we joining them?”
“Get in,” he said. No explanation necessary.
* * *
The vehicle stopped in front of a house identical to all the other houses on that street.
“This will be our home for as long as we are living in Baedden,” Altair said as he walked through the front door in front of her.
The inside was as unimpressive as the outside. A quick scan revealed nothing of value. The room looked almost empty with a plain couch being the only furniture in the living room area. She counted four doors, two on each side of the room. It was all very underwhelming. She couldn’t help but analyze and value every object in the room. It was a force of habit, part of her routine as a thief, to constantly be on the lookout for something to steal. But there was nothing in that room worth taking.
The dining room table in the corner had already been set for two people.
Altair disappeared behind one of the doors and came back holding a platter of food and set it in the center of the table.
“Sit,” he said, sitting down at the table himself.
Nova followed his directions, mostly because she was starving, and on the off chance that she was going to have to fight him, she didn’t want to do it on an empty stomach. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d eaten anything. They’d fed her on the spaceship, but they’d traveled for hours to get to Baedden from the spaceport, and it’d been hours more to get her cleaned up, dressed, and to the ceremony.
“What is that?” she asked, eyeing Altair as he picked up the plate in front of her and filled it with food from the platter with a large spoon.
“Meat and vegetables.”
Nova had been to a lot of places in the system, but food always came in the same prepackaged meals. Then again, she’d only been to the civilized places. There was nothing worth stealing in the backwater planets or stations.
“Eat,” he said, placing the plate in front of her.
