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“What?” Orion asked, and Kaia realized she’d been staring at him.
No way. She wasn’t asking. Definitely not him, and not for the most valuable resource in the known galaxies. Asking for things made debts, and she was already in over her head. But fuck, her throat was closing in. But he did make her eat this stuff, didn’t he? He wanted her to…
Why couldn’t he have fucking warned her? Kaia watched him, suspicion pressing her dry lips into a thin line. She licked her lips and found the last granules of salt there, melting on her swollen tongue.
“What’s the problem?’ Orion pressed.
“Nothing,” she croaked through her dry throat.
She didn't need to look at him to feel his stare. Kaia was sure then that this had been his plan all along. Well, fuck him. She wasn't gonna cave. She pretended not to feel the weight of his glare, instead folding her hands on the table and staring at her chipping knuckles.
How long that lasted, she didn’t know. Time really dragged when the roof of your mouth felt increasingly like a filter scrub sheet. So when he banged something onto the table under her nose with a clatter, Kaia jumped first from the shock of the noise.
It wasn’t until a second later that she saw the thing slammed before her was a shot of clear liquid, and damn if that didn't make the torture even worse.
“Drink,” he said.
Kaia studied him, searching his face for an unspoken confession of however he was going to make her pay for this. Tracing for signs of a sneer, or a perverted smirk, or that specific glint in a man’s eye when he was getting ideas.
But Orion wasn’t looking at her at all. He was back at his plate, ripping pieces of flesh and shoving them into his mouth. A little irritated, but that was all.
Her greedy eyes gravitated back to the shot of H2O in front of her. He just… gave her the whole thing. Just like that. She brought it to her lips slowly and took the tiniest of sips. As soon as it hit her lips, she had to restrain herself from gulping the whole thing down like a greedy little bitch.
It tasted better than the stuff onRiker 109. She let it sit on her tongue, closing her eyes with the fresh wetness of it. She glanced at Orion, who continued to look like this was nothing. Not even a favor, much less a bribe.
Maybe this would be fine. Solid food. Water being dispensed like it was no big deal. And she wasn’t even on the colony ship yet. Whatever time she had remaining in this life may as well be spent in relative comfort, right?
Yes,Kaia thought.This can work.
CHAPTER13
ORION
As they approached the rendezvous point withColossal, Orion’s irritation simmered to a boiling point.
He'd taken a nap reclined in his seat. He had urged Kaia to do the same, knowing once they arrived there was no guarantee of rest. Not with his mother there to assert her dominance fast as she could manage.
Kaia declined. She was so fucking stubborn—first her food hangup and now her refusal to sleep when heknewshe’d need it. Was everything going to be an uphill battle with this girl?
A good fight in bed was one thing, but he wanted them meek in other contexts. He had other shit to worry about than keeping his woman in line.
Shit.Mywoman.
But the way her eyes lit up when she tasted those fries, and the suspicion morphing to desperation on her face when he poured her some H2O made the skin around the spines on the back of his neck contract with satisfaction. He was showing her a whole new world—a world of abundance and hydration and solid food.
He thought it was a genius plan to let her stuff herself with salt and not tell her what to expect. She’d get thirsty, and then she’d have to ask him for help. For resources. A shot of H2O was nothing to him. But to her, it was a show of his power and generosity.
Except she hadn’t asked. She’d just sat there, glaring like a little animal who saw right through his ploy. Fucker.
Orion watched the port side ofColossalgrow larger before them, stomach dropping into a heavy pit. He hadn’t been on this ship in fifteen years, and hoped he wouldn’t find himself back for at least a few decades more.
No such luck.
He glanced at Kaia next to him, who was staring at that growing speck in the distance with wary eyes as she rubbed her wrists. Orion took her hand, folding it into his own. She tensed, but didn’t resist.
Good girl.
“Nervous, princess?” he asked.
