by Kait Gamble
“Alex was in one of the cells.” Even the memory of the horror she’d felt the moment she’d spotted him had her stomach roiling. “No one would tell me why he was incarcerated, but I’m sure my father was the one who put him there.” Auri pressed her back to the glass to hide the fact that her legs wobbled like a newborn foal’s.
“God, your hands are freezing.” Kateryn rubbed Aurelia’s numb fingers. “You look like you’re about to faint.” Kateryn dragged her down so they were both sitting on the floor.
She probably was. Auri felt as though she was staring at Alex behind glass again. The helplessness she felt then was overwhelming her now, just as it did then. She gritted her teeth. She wanted the tears, but she wasn’t going to fall to pieces. Not in front of this girl. “I wouldn’t leave him there. I think he knew I couldn’t abandon Alex in that place.”
Kateryn’s hands clamped down on hers. “What did Captain Popkiss do?”
It was working. Kateryn was rapt.
Auri gave her a tiny smile. Her father’s sneering face appeared in her mind, his voice hoarse with a torrent of emotions as he retreated into his ship. She could hear him laughing about killing three birds with one stone as the doors to the ship closed. Auri puzzled over that one for some time after their escape. After getting rid of herself and Alex, she could only come to the conclusion that the prison was the last “bird” he wanted to be rid of. Though she’d probably never learn the truth.
“He delighted in telling me he hadn’t expected any more from me and that I deserved to die, along with my mongrel lover.”
“Wait.” Kateryn lurched back as if Auri’s hands had caught on fire. “What are you saying?”
“I think you know.”
“Captain Popkiss caused that explosion?” The blonde was up on her feet and pacing small circles now. “How did you get away?”
“It wasn’t easy.” It was a blur, actually. She’d managed to get Alex out of his cell after bribing a warden, but by then it was already too late. The succession of explosions had been mistimed or something had gone wrong, resulting in many of the prisoners escaping and joining the pair in the fight to get off the little rock of a planet.
She refused to rub at the goose bumps that rose on her arms at the memory of the monster of a man who’d cornered them. Alex fought like a tiger and kept him distracted long enough for Auri to find a weapon. She grabbed a broken metal pipe and waited for an opening.
She could still hear his shouts to “Do it!” when Alex managed to wrestle him around.
She hesitated.
The inmate didn’t.
The prisoner was the second person she killed. Her hesitation made Alex the first.
The next thing she was able to remember was sitting in the middle of the chaos, cradling Alex’s body. She was completely unaware of everything else going on around her until someone picked her up and slung her over his shoulder.
“Miss?”
The soft voice brought Aurelia back to the present. “Where was I?” She hated that her voice was weak thanks to the memories; however, from the look of concern on the girl’s face, it worked in her favor.
“I think I get the idea. You really don’t have to continue.” Kateryn put a comforting hand on Aurelia’s. “You’ve all been through a lot together, haven’t you?”
“We have. So you can understand that I won’t have you speaking badly about them.”
“If you trust them, then so can I.” Kateryn helped Auri up before wandering over to the staircase to peer at the men below. “So, which one of them saved you?”
“Everhard, I think. I can’t be sure. I was in shock at the time and everything happened so fast.”
Kateryn’s lips drew back in a strange, almost pensive grimace. “Why do you call him that? Surely it’s not his name.”
Laughter managed to bubble up past the lump in her throat. “No, it’s not. His name is Everhard. It was a natural evolution of his name, given his penchant for the ladies.”
“Oh. Oh!” Kateryn’s cheeks flushed. “I see.”
“Just be careful around him. He’s got a way about him. One second you’re talking about a rogue asteroid. The next you’re promising him your firstborn.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
“I’m serious. What we see of him is what he wants us to see. His loyalty lies with whatever will get his neck out of a noose. He’s as devious as he is handsome.” Auri gauged the girl to see if the little kernel of misinformation took.
Kateryn’s eyes roved over him appreciatively. “He certainly is handsome.”
Auri was sure she once had the same expression cross her face when she thought of Everhard, back when they first met. Handsome he was. But when she found out what he’d done to end up in jail, she was disgusted with herself for being enamored with a con artist.
Then he’d changed her mind again.
Auri recalled the night she found him drinking alone in the galley on one of her drink raids. It was just a year after they had escaped Mercury. A usually proud man, he was crumpled face-first on the table. Even through the haze of alcohol, the pain etched on his face was too real to be ignored.
It wasn’t until after many shots of bourbon loosened his tongue that she realized he wasn’t the rakehell everyone assumed he was. Each fact that fell from his lips was like one bombshell after another.
He had a fiancée.
She was the only woman he’d ever loved.
She’d killed herself just weeks before their wedding.
In retaliation, Everhard had hunted down and conned each and every woman who had a hand in ruining the reputation of his beloved to the point where she’d felt she had no recourse but to commit suicide.
Auri couldn’t blame him for what he did. In fact, she admired him for it.
Kateryn’s next question dragged her out of her reverie. “What about the haftik?”
The haze that memory clouded her mind with evaporated as anger flared at Kateryn’s use of the slur. “Don’t ever call him that.”
Kateryn shrank back a little from the force of her words, but Aurelia wasn’t sorry.
“His name is Bamford. ‘Bam’ to his friends.”
“Sorry. What happened to him? How did he get like…that?”
“He was injured in the war. Meri patched him back together and created a new life-saving method at the same time.”
“You mean Bam’s the first haf…the first?”
“He is.”
“Then Meri is Dr. Meriwether Prior.”
“Junior. Yes.”
Kateryn looked suitably awed. “Reports were that he disappeared without a trace with another doctor linked to some secret work for the government. A Dr. Banbury? There were rumors that they’d both been killed or killed each other. I can’t remember which.” For a moment Kateryn looked star-struck. “How…why were a boy and a genius of his caliber in prison?”
“It’s a long story.”
As the pair told it, Meri had found Bam hovering near death in a triage unit during the Franco-Sino-Russian dispute over minerals on the Moon. Just a teen at the time, Bam had been caught in the crossfire when the battle had spilled over into the colonies. Bam was one of the many unlucky ones.
Hailed a genius by some and reviled as a modern-day Frankenstein by many others, Meri was perfecting a new technique of using artificial means to replace limbs and organs at the time. Bam was his first success.
Bam was arrested some months later in an attempt to break into a military hospital to “borrow” a large supply of a drug Meri was addicted to. A headstrong teen, Bam took the most direct route to save the life of the man who’d saved his.
Meri was imprisoned not too long after for what Auri figured were fabricated charges to get him behind bars.
A few m
onths after that, artificial limbs were marketed and celebrated as miracles of science.
Too much of a coincidence for her liking.
The blonde was undeterred. “What about Keys? He seems like an interesting man. Quiet and brooding. I bet under that calm, he’s all passion and fire. Or so I’m guessing. Still waters and all that.”
Auri’s gut twisted a little.
“And it doesn’t exactly hurt your eyes to look at him.”
Now her stomach could have rivaled the mechanics that went into Bam’s arm. Not that it was any of her business who thought he was attractive or not. None of her business whatsoever. “Keys’ story is a bit complicated. Just like the man.”
“I wouldn’t expect any less.” Kateryn observed Keys for a long moment before turning to Auri. “I bet his story is a good one.”
“Good” wasn’t the word Auri would use to describe it. “He hasn’t told me much. He doesn’t like to talk about it.”
She knew enough—he’d told her about it on one of the worst nights of her life since the prison explosion.
She and Keys were caught off guard while scavenging what they thought was a derelict. A member of the crew had escaped their notice and shot Keys through the abdomen before taking the shuttle. Trapped overnight without Meri or any type of medication to help him, she knew he thought he was going to die.
She hadn’t been entirely sure he wouldn’t.
Feverish and in more pain than she cared to imagine, he’d told the story in fragments while all she could do was hold him and listen to him purge his soul.
Auri hadn’t felt so utterly useless since.
Keys’ younger sister came to him one night, broken and beaten by her beau. Being who he was, Keys couldn’t allow the man to get away with violating his sister and went after him. The man fought back. What the other man failed to realize was that the wealthy businessman he knew Keys to be grew up in a world far less opulent and was as quick with his fists as with his mind.
It ended with the man dead and Keys in jail.
Auri didn’t really want to ask him for any more details. She wasn’t even sure he remembered telling her all that.
“Oh…” Kateryn took the lack of an answer in stride as she considered the subject of conversation for a long moment. Staring at the back of his head, she asked, “Is he dangerous?”
Quite. But she wasn’t going to tell Kateryn that and risk her crawling back into her shell. Auri watched him share a quiet word with Bam and felt a smile creep across her lips. “He’s a good man. I can think of none better. Even if he doesn’t believe so.”
Kateryn’s brows arched. “Are you two…you know…”
That was direct. And none of her business. “No.”
“You seem very close.”
“Believe me, there’s nothing going on.” She doubted anything would, no matter how much she wished it. The man saw her as someone to protect—a sister, even. Nothing else. “He’s my best friend.”
“But you want more.” Kateryn bobbed her head. “I sure would.”
Any woman with half a brain would fight tooth and nail for a man as fine as Keys. Aurelia just couldn’t see the point, when it would go nowhere.
She’d had enough of the questions. “Why don’t you tell me a little about yourself, Kateryn?”
“There’s not much to tell, really.” Her fingers started worrying the hem of her shirt. “You already heard the most interesting bits.”
“You’ve told me the more depressing parts. Surely, if you think back, there are some tales that remind you of better times. What about life as a Castleton? That must have been filled with share-worthy stories.”
“I think you already know the answer to that question. It was your usual array of parties and posturing.”
Auri remembered going through a good deal of that herself. “I bet. How’s your cousin Geraldine doing, by the way? She was a good friend.”
Kateryn’s jaw slackened a tiny bit. “Geraldine? You knew her?”
“Yes, of course. We used to mope together during parties. She was the only girl I knew who was even less feminine than I was.”
“Last I heard, she was doing well. I’m sure she misses you too.”
“As I do her.” Sighing, Auri shook her head and started down the stairs. “If you’ll excuse me then. I’ve got things to do.”
“Oh, of course.” Kateryn smiled. It was the first true smile Auri had seen from the girl. “Thank you for the talk.”
Auri lifted a shoulder, too busy ruminating to answer.
Kateryn glanced at the empty kitchen. “I guess… I’ll go and get some food.”
“Everhard can deal with that. We still need to contact your father, my dear.” Meri motioned toward the contraption he’d haphazardly fashioned from what looked like random ship parts.
“Oh, of course.”
Meri gave them a questioning look over his shoulder as he and Bam led her away.
She shook her head at Meri, whose lips pursed in thought.
Everhard shook his head. “So what do you think?”
“She’s a great liar. She didn’t bat an eyelash when I asked about her fictional cousin Geraldine. But I think I’ve gained enough of her confidence that she might be more forthcoming about herself. I just wish I could figure out why she’s here.” She winked. “In the meantime, just do what you do, all right?”
He clapped a hand to her shoulder. “Of course.”
Aurelia nudged Everhard’s hard stomach with her elbow. “What’s left of the cash is in the bag upstairs.”
“I’m on it, my lady.” He saluted mockingly before going about his quest.
Keys turned to her and shrugged. “I guess that leaves us to decorate.”
Aurelia knew Keys was trying to bait her, so she didn’t bite. “We need to decide what we’re going to do once we leave this place. Don’t let them get too settled. We won’t be here long.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Don’t start that again,” she chided.
“You do realize things might not go as you plan.”
“You have no idea what I’m planning.” She chuckled; of course he did. He knew how her mind worked. She sobered when he barely cracked a smile. Time to get serious. “You think I don’t realize that? What I’m trying to do is prevent the undesirable from happening.”
“You also realize you can’t plan for every eventuality?” Keys released an exasperated breath when she said nothing. He grabbed her by the shoulders and pointed her back toward the stairs. “It’s pointless worrying about it now. We’ll deal with whatever comes. Like always. Why don’t you get some rest?”
She sighed, not bothering to disguise it. Auri knew she wouldn’t hear the end of it until she actually got some rest. And when had that happened last? She couldn’t recall a night she got five hours straight, let alone a whole night. So she relented. “Alert me when Meri gets that thing working.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Her brows arched sardonically. “And you get some rest too.”
“Maybe y’ two should get some ‘rest’ together.” Bam waggled his brow. As if they could miss his meaning. “Y’ both could use a good night’s ‘rest’.”
“Shut up, Bam. Any progress with the coms?”
“Meri thinks he’s getting close but I wouldn’t get my hopes up. Y’ know wha’ he’s like when he gets workin’.’Close’ can mean anything from ten seconds t’ three years.”
“We should go give him a hand then. Maybe we can make that happen sometime today.” Keys jerked his head toward the stairs. “You get some sleep. I’ll come get you the moment anything changes.”
It was because she knew Keys was as good as his word that she complied.
Well, as much as she could.
Aurelia wasn’t sure how well this was going to work. After telling that story, the last thing she wanted to do was sleep and dream about Alex all over again. She knew Keys was just trying to look out for her when he’d suggested she get some rest, but he had to know she’d just end up staring at the ceiling or out the window.
She kicked her pack, sending it skidding into the wall, and sat down next to it. From there she could keep an eye on the stairs and see the window and at least try to get some sleep.
Chapter Four
It could have been several hours or only a few minutes before she heard heavy boots unsuccessfully trying to creep up the stairs.
Auri could feel his scrutiny as sure as she could hear his soft breathing. She couldn’t help the chuckle when he sighed. He knew.
“You can stop pretending.”
Aurelia opened one eye to look up at her first mate. “Do I at least get points for looking asleep?”
“Sadly, no.”
She levered herself to sit against the wall. “Damn.”
Keys slid down the wall to sit next to her. “Everyone’s asleep, save Meri and the girl. He’s on a roll and she’s fascinated, apparently.”
Interesting.
She looked at Keys and could see the exhaustion on his face as if it were a mask weighing it down. “You should try to get some rest.”
“I will if you will.”
On an exhale, she laughed and slid back down. Auri tugged on his arm until he followed and they were both using her pack as a pillow.
“What are our chances of sleep tonight? History dictates that the moment both of us lose consciousness, something always happens.”
Keys let his head loll to look at her. “We’ll just have to take shifts then, won’t we? I’ll draw up a schedule so that one of us is always awake for the rest of our lives.”
“You plan on sticking with me for that long?” Auri teased.
He lifted a shoulder. “If I don’t, you’ll just get yourself into trouble.”
Aurelia laughed and closed her eyes. “I always find myself in plenty of trouble with you around.”
* * *
For a self-confessed insomniac, Aurelia fell asleep almost immediately after fitting herself up against him. He could count on one hand the number of times he found himself acting as her pillow. Keys wished it would happen more, if only so that she could get more rest.
