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“And just what is it that you think, Tor, is wrong with my 'wisdom?'”
There was a long pause. I wanted, very much, to stand closer to Rhys, close enough to touch him, to put him between me and Tor. And maybe that was what was happening here.
I hoped so.
“What’d she say to you?” Tor growled, gesturing in my direction. “That’s what I wanna know.”
Rhys seemed to grow taller in front of me. He folded his arms and stared Tor down for a moment. Then he cocked his head.
“I see. You think this new protocol is because of something Alenasaid.”
Tor was cracking. He stared back at Rhys, but he had a look beneath the surface of his eyes like he wished he didn’t have to, like he wanted to look away. He was losing confidence in himself;Icould see it, so surely Rhys could as well.
“Sure seems like maybe you don’t trust us,” Tor growled, finally. “Don’t see what else it could be.”
Rhys stepped toward Tor, and their difference in size, which had always been the same and very noticeable, seemed suddenly hyperbolic. Rhys was looking down at Tor, and Tor fixed his gaze on Rhys’s shoulder. His jaw clenched angrily.
“You have one thing right, Tor. I don’t trust you. But that doesn’t have anything to do with Alenasayinganything to me. I don’t trust you Tor, because you go right up to the line.” Rhys moved toward Tor, putting me behind him as he did, but still holding my elbow.
I had never seen Rhys so close to Tor, and now that he was, it was clear how much stronger and larger Rhys was. He got right in Tor’s face, looking down, to say the next part. “And now I’m starting to think… I’m starting to think maybe any trust I put in you in misplaced, Tor. And maybe you can’t be trusted with Alenaat all.”
Tor’s muscles clenched along his jawline, so tightly I thought he might break his own teeth. His eyes moved back and forth as he calculated, and then, through clenched teeth, he spat:
“Got it all wrong, Cap.”
“Who did?”
A ball of muscle slid along his jaw and back. “Idid.”
Rhys put a hand out to Tor’s shoulder and squeezed it. Tor didn’t react, but anyone could see that Rhys was pushing his fingers deep into Tor’s muscle, and that it had to hurt quite a bit. “That’s good,” he said. He shook Tor’s shoulder a little. “I was starting to think there was some kind of problem.”
“There’s no problem,” Scar said, looking sideways at Tor. Then back at Rhys. “No problem, Cap. Makes sense, right Tor?” he looked back at Tor, who was still glaring at Rhys.
But Tor dropped his gaze and looked at Black, who glared back at him. “Sorry about that, man,” Tor said.
He didn’t sound especially sorry.
Tor looked back at Rhys. “Won’t happen again, Cap.”
“No,” Rhys said, and I could see that this single word had the same effect on all four of them as it did on me: a chill right down to the bone, along with a sense of relief. “It won’t.”
He turned abruptly to look at me. His eyes moved up and down my body, lingering on my eyes. Something displeased him greatly, and I felt a sudden spring of tears stinging my eyes.
He stepped past me, turning over his shoulder to talk to either Black or Doc. “Bring her to my quarters when you’re finished. Recreation is postponed for today.”
CHAPTER10
Alena
“Interesting move.”
This was Black’s voice, and it made me open my eyes.
I briefly couldn’t remember where I was. The dark tones of the walls in my quarters were not before my eyes. Then I remembered: I had fallen asleep, turned to the wall, after I had been brought here by Black.
“Leave us,” Rhys had told Black, when we arrived at Rhys' quarters. This was unusual. The two always seemed thick as thieves, to coin an expression from their slang-filled language. Black, however, had not resisted this order.
Rhys’s expression had softened after Black left. He had approached me, and I stood, uncertainly, clutching my robe. I had become accustomed to my life on this ship, and even though it was taboo and foreign, and I was used like a toy, I had always felt like I knew what to expect for the most part. There had never been any violence, or anything like what I had seen today. I felt unsettled.
