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There she was. But why was she going there?
Speeding up my pace, I walked into a dingy curiosity store, wrapping my hand around the bells on the door to keep them from jingling as it closed behind me.
In a moment, I found her entering a small section to the side of the shop. I snorted at the shelves. There were books in all alien languages but by far the greatest number of books were in human languages.
Even on their dying world, the humans still valued their paper books. They held them as sacred, even bringing one or two books in their cargo when they traveled as refugees.
Once on the station though, the sacredness wore off fast enough when faced with hunger. And so the books ended up here. Well, not here, exactly, but in any number of curiosity shops that catered to those with enough disposable income to enjoy fanciful things.
It always struck me as absurd, this human fascination with reading. I studied the books, pacing the aisles and tracing one of my fingers over the spines of the books. The last time I read something from cover to cover was probably when I was much younger, barely able to talk.
Curling up with a story never felt that important. It didn’t win a battle, or outthink my enemies. I had no use for it.
Not so for humans. One or two of the refugees who earned out their contract had even gone on to establish small presses on the station. They put out pamphlets and translated books from various alien languages into human languages. Who bought them, I never cared to find out.
But apparently the answer was Emma.
“Do you have this in a human copy?”
My eyes closed, and my heart leaped as I froze in an aisle. It was her voice, soft and smooth like a lullaby.Please, tell her yes. Let her have what she wants.
“I can check in the back,” the clerk snapped.
“Oh,” she replied sheepishly. “Okay, thank you.”
I could have slit the Talimarian’s throat for that tone he used with her. She bought one of his stupid things, for seven galaxy’s sake. Why would he be so up in arms about checking in the back? It made no sense to me. How could he not have fallen over or swooned over her from just one glance at her face?
“Here you go,” the clerk said. “Only one copy. Not many people ever want to read the original Mondian version and I don’t get that many human customers that want to read it. But you’re welcome to buy it.”
I turned around slightly, peering out from the side of my hood as I surveyed her by the merchant’s desk. She had a volume cracked open to one of the first pages.
She doesn’t skim. She reads through things. Meticulous. I like it.
I couldn’t read the human language, but one sight of the Mondian subtitle on the cover made me shiver. ‘The History of Deathgate.’Either this is an insane coincidence, or she knows more about the plot against Havek than I realized.
I picked a good one to bring to my side.
“This is perfect, thank you.”
As she reached for her percomm, I spun around back to the shelf. I heard her pay for the book and watched as she walked out the door. She held the book so daintily, and when she cracked it open, she didn’t stretch the covers or pages. She wanted to keep it preserved in its old condition.
Even if she knew about the plan against Havek or that he was sent to Deathgate, why would she have wanted an older copy? That didn’t make sense.
Unless she cares enough about history, which, judging from the way she held the book so gingerly as not to bend the spine, I assume she does.
That only made her more attractive to me. I turned back to the books. I had to concede. She wasn’t going to leave my thoughts. I had to have her, and maybe then I could continue the mission Alkard sent me on.
If I seduce her and get this obsession out of the way, I might finally be able to do this job with a clear head.
Technically, I would be doing this for the sake of the mission…right?
EMMA
While I made my way out of the marketplace, I thought of Tazhr.
While I was shocked at his brute strength, his forceful nature, there was a strange delicateness to his touch.
My cheeks burned as I put a hand to my lips, as if I still felt his finger resting there.
