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“Oh.” A strange compliment, but a compliment nonetheless. “Thank you.” Miya giggled. “To think I was worried I was tickling you the entire ride here. Glad to hear you’re not like me who hates hair touching my skin when I’m sweaty. So… you won’t mind if I rest the softest hair in all systems on your chest?”
“Not at all.”
She cast him an amused look. “You sound as though youreallywant me to do it.”
He looked down to meet her gaze for a sec. He flashed her a slight smile, with a hint of fang showing. “Maybe I do.”
Then his unreadable expression was back on.
Did he just… flirt with her?
Either way, Miya was going to take advantage of the opportunity to rest her head for a bit. Just for a few minutes. Then she would try to piggyback-ride him again, before she got addicted to being carried in his strong arms.
Okay, maybe a few more minutes of rest wouldn’t hurt.
And a few more…
Before Miya knew it, her eyelids became so heavy she couldn’t hold them open. Now was not the time to sleep, but her body had other ideas. Especially when it was warm and comfy in the protection of Therak’s arms.
As she drifted off, she thought she heard Therak speak. Or was she dreaming already?
“Such a tiny and fragile thing,” he was saying softly, as if to himself. “Yet you’re more dangerous to me than any alien I’ve ever encountered. What will I do with you, sapphire?”
14
Assassin with a Code
Miya woke up to discover she was still getting the princess treatment, and the suns were shining ever so brightly in the sky. The surroundings had changed, though.
Gone were the sand and the dunes. In their place was red-orange earth with stones and rocks here and there. Therak was in the process of climbing a hill, his hold on her as secure as ever.
“How long did you let me sleep? You must be tired!”
He looked down at her, and his gaze lingered on her face. “You’re rested now. And carrying you is no chore. Like I said, you’re light.”
Miya smiled, touched by his sweet gesture as well as amused. “Like aboringuan’sfeather, I remember.”
She also remembered him calling her a sapphire. Sadly, that had been her dreaming mind talking, not the real Therak. Her, a precious stone that in its natural version was among the rarest and thus most special in the Milky Way? Yeah, and pigs could fly in outer space without a suit.
“Feather-light or not,” Miya kept going, “I should give your arms a break. I’m ready for another piggyback ride.”
His arms tightened around her. “No.”
Miya’s eyebrows crept toward her hairline. “Are you saying you want me in your arms, Therak?”
His gaze darkened as he met hers and his ears twitched. She could swear that meant her question was spot-on, but after some hesitation he replied, “There is no need to switch positions. We’re almost at the settlement.”
“We are?”
“See for yourself.”
Indeed, when they reached the top of the hill, she saw the colonists’ base in the center of a valley not further than half an hour from their current position. The landscape was somewhat depressing: not a single tree or river in sight, just rocks of various sizes on reddish earth that reminded her of Mars before it was terraformed.
But what mattered was they were saved! She and Therak had made it to water, food, and shelter before things had gone bad. And before the fall of darkness: she was no expert in planetside survival, but she knew staying out in the open at night was usually risky.
Yet, a part of Miya was saddened by the fact they had reached their destination. That mushy-brained part of her wished for her alone time with Therak to last at least a teeny-weeny bit longer.
“Looks like a standard human base to me,” Miya commented as Therak began their descent toward the valley. “I’ve transported people and goods to several of Earth’s newest colonies, and the design was the same.”
