Stealing the Dragon’s Heart by Kiersten Fay
23
“Would you shut that shit off?”
Vin was sitting next to Aidan at the mess hall table watching replays of Onnika’s tournament on his handheld. Aidan couldn’t watch it. Couldn’t listen. He couldn’t relive it again. They’d been playing and replaying it over the feed nearly nonstop, sometimes in slow motion. Aidan had his own handheld, but he was just staring at images of local maps, trying to look busy. It would be a couple more hours before they could leave Latherial.
At his outburst, Vin shut down his device. “Sorry, Captain. It just gets more amazing every time—”
“Go install the shield generator or something, would you?”
He cracked his knuckles. “Already done.”
“Then go clean the galley.”
“Caryn took care of it. I think she’s a stress cleaner.”
“Where are they now?” It was clear who he meant.
“Remember, they went to the marketplace to get some extra clothes, since it looks like they’re going to be with us for a while.”
“Only until the next habitable planet,” he insisted, having decided not to leave them here on Latherial with that roughneck stranger…who Onnika had refused to talk about. “And shouldn’t they have been back by now?” Aidan had forbidden them to go alone, so Priya, Lear, and Asher had offered to go with them. He hoped Priya and the others didn’t get suckered into letting them spend too much…and that they hadn’t run into trouble.
Vin mirrored his thoughts. “I told Priya not to go haywire with the spending, but you know…women.”
“It’s fine,” he grumbled.
Just then, they heard footsteps approaching. Onnika appeared in the hatchway. The instant Aidan saw her, a knot loosened in his chest. Her hair was damp and wavy as though fresh from a shower, and she wore a lacy new dress that exposed her sleek legs and seemed to be held up by a single loose knot tied around the back of her neck.
“It’s fine,” he repeated to Vin, forgetting he’d already said that.
For once, Onnika seemed unsure, standing there looking contemplative and almost self-conscious, but it was clear she wanted to speak to him alone.
Without taking his eyes from her, he ordered, “Vin, make yourself useful and go fix something.”
“Sure thing.” As Vin passed Onnika, Aidan heard him mutter, “Sweet moves out there.” Then he was gone.
Silently she stepped to the center of the room and linked her hands together in front of her…and waited. It wasn’t clear if she was expecting an interrogation or another tongue-lashing or both. Obviously he needed more information about her situation. Sure, she was fundamentally immoral, a thief and a liar, borderline obnoxious at times, but if she was desperate enough to nearly get herself killed to stay on his ship, then he could trust that her reasons were pretty severe. But he didn’t want to push her…just yet.
“You hungry?” he asked.
Her eyes darted dubiously. “Um…maybe a little.”
He gestured to the seat across from him. “I’ll make us something.”
He kind of enjoyed her confused expression as he headed into the galley. He returned shortly after with a couple of hastily made sandwiches, a bottle of Angilius liquor, and two glasses. Still seated, she looked adorably contrite.
He set her plate in front of her and softly observed, “You’re not yourself.”
“Um, you’re not yourself.”
He smiled at that and opened the bottle. “We’ve both had a day. This should help.” He filled their glasses before reclaiming his seat and taking up his handheld again, acting as if all of this was normal.
He sensed her gaze on him for a long moment and felt a sick kind of pleasure that he’d managed to tip her off kilter, if only a little. Welcome to my world.
After she took a sip of the liquor, he asked, “How is it?”
She gasped. “Bubbly!”
He glanced down at the perfectly clear liquid, seeing no bubbles. Then he raised his glass to his lips and took a sip. Fizzy liquid coated his tongue, little bubbles forming and exploding on contact. Strange. “It was Zeek’s idea to get it. He likes to think he’s cultured, and they only make this here on Latherial. You want something different?”
“No, I like it.”
He shrugged and went back to looking at his oh-so-exciting maps.
“I don’t get what’s happening right now,” she admitted. “Have I entered an alternate reality?”
“I don’t believe so, but honestly, who knows these days?”
“Aren’t you going to ask about that guy again?”
“Nope. I don’t care anymore.”
The statement seemed to affect her more than he’d intended. A volley of perfectly unguarded expressions paraded across her face: first shock, then fear, then, strangely, grief…and a tiny quiver in her lower lip. The quiver was swiftly chanced away by stony anger. “Well, fine, then. Good. About time.” As if that was that, she stood to leave. Of course, she snatched up her drink and sandwich.
Exasperated, he said, “I didn’t mean it like that, Onnika. Sit down.”
She paused, turning to glance back at him. “Is that an order, Captain?”
“It can be if that’s the way you want it.” He hadn’t meant for it to sound teasing or alluring, but it did. And maybe that was what brought her back to her seat. Once more she abandoned her anger in favor of sheer confusion.
“How many of those have you had?” she asked, pointing to his glass.
“Just that little sip.” With that, he pretended to focus on his handheld—Ah, these maps are so thrilling—but all his attention was on the woman across from him. He was curious about what she would do when her defenses were down. He was letting her stay on the ship…for now. He wasn’t demanding answers from her. She had nothing to fight against.
“O-kay.” As though at a complete loss for what to do, she sat there for another long moment. Then she took a tentative bite of her sandwich. Her eyes flitted around the room like she was expecting an ambush.
Without looking at her, he said, “I was thinking I might go practice on the AVFS later. Care to join me?”
She shot out of her seat and leaned forward with her fists on the table. “Okay, what is going on? Are you screwing with me?”
He calmly took another sip of the bubbly concoction.
“Yell at me already,” she continued. “I did something that really freaked you out, and you were going to straight up murder that dude if I hadn’t done it first.”
“What makes you think I was going to murder him?” He would have, of course. Even if they’d both made it back intact, the second that fiend decided to go after her, his ass was dead.
She straightened and crossed her arms over her chest. He tried not to notice how the action pushed the mounds of her breasts higher. “Well, because you’re basically in love with me.”
He nearly choked on his drink. “Are you mad?” Then he saw that glint return to her eyes, the one that said she thought she’d regained some kind of upper hand. He huffed. “You’ll say just about anything to get a rise out of people, won’t you?”
“Am I getting a rise out of you, baby?”
He shook his head in disbelief. “You think you’re so cute.”
“I do in this dress. Don’t you think?” She moved out from behind the table so he could see her fully and did a twirl. The fabric flared out, showing a hint of her upper thighs.
He might have said she looked mouthwatering in just about anything, but he got the sense that her teasing had turned malicious, like she was trying to break him down or win a game when he didn’t even know the rules. He turned back to his handheld. The screen had gone into power saver mode. He covertly turned it back on. “It looks fine, I suppose, as far as knockoffs go.” He didn’t even know what knockoff meant, but he’d once heard a female refer to a dress as one with disgust in her tone, so he was pretty sure the reference worked here.
“Just fine?”
“Mm.”
She was on the move again, but he refused to look up simply because it was what she wanted, and he would remain in charge of this interaction.
Then suddenly she inserted herself on his lap, one arm draped around his neck. “What about from this angle?”
His body stiffened slightly, but he otherwise managed to hide his surprise by keeping his eyes on his handheld and shifting it to his other hand. He only realized afterward that his damn traitorous free hand had snaked around her waist.
“What are you looking at?” she asked.
“Maps of the region.”
“For the next part of the race?”
“No. We won’t get those until we’re permitted to disembark.” He couldn’t tell if she was just curious, or if she was angling to get her hands on those again.
She rested her head on his shoulder. “So you’re just sitting here looking at maps that you probably won’t need for the race?”
“Yup.”
“Does it calm you?”
The question caught him off guard. “I suppose.” It was better than watching the feed with its constant replays of Onnika’s brush with death.
“If I said I was sorry I scared you, would you believe me?”
Again, that wasn’t what he expected. “Maybe, if you meant it.”
“I do. Not that I would do anything different, mind you.”
Dumbfounded, he finally met her gaze, “You wouldn’t?”
She traced a line on his shirt with her finger. “No. I had everything under control out there.”
That touch felt better than it should, but he refused to let it distract him. “Didn’t look like it from where I was standing.”
“Well, I did. Right up until the end there. I didn’t think I’d run out of air so fast.”
Anger simmered. “You would have risked your life like that again, even knowing full well what was about to happen? Are you kidding me with this?”
“Just being honest.” She gave him that devastating smile of hers. “And you’re right, it does hurt the first time.” She pointed to her pouting lips. “Hurts right here.”
“You’re unbelievable.” Yet his gaze was riveted.
“And you really want to forgive me.”
“I don’t.” He did.
“Would you forgive me for a kiss?”
“Depends on the kiss.”
“Oh, it’ll be a good one.” She leaned close and ran her lips lightly against his.
He wasn’t sure which one of them deepened the kiss, only that their hands were on each other, both pulling and tugging to get closer, to plaster their bodies together, their lips entwined in heated breaths and dancing tongues. His handheld toppled to the floor as his fingers threaded through her hair. Her nails ran along his scalp. With her breasts so tantalizingly close, brushing along his chest as though begging for his notice, he was helpless not to take one in his palm. Her back arched, letting him know she liked his touch. He kneaded her flesh until she let out a little encouraging whimper.
From that sound alone, he knew he was done for. Onnika had won this round…but apparently, so had he. Having her in his arms was a balm to his ire, and the tightness in his chest eased.
Suddenly she broke the kiss. “Someone’s coming. Do you want them to see us like this?” She was breathing heavily, her eyes on his lips.
He didn’t hear any footsteps. “I don’t care.”
“Yes,” she sighed, “you do,” and she hopped off his lap.
With a growl, he started to drag her back, but the sound of boots on hard metal helped to clear his mind. She was right, he didn’t want his crew seeing him so compromised.
Onnika righted her dress and then grabbed her sandwich and drink before darting through the corridor that led to her room. And then he was left with the fucking rise she’d gotten out of him.