by Rinelle Grey
She made herself stop talking, taking a gulp of air instead. Why did she suddenly feel like she wasn’t getting enough? She felt all light headed and dizzy.
Kerit took a step back as well and suddenly she could breathe again. “I’m sure it will be just fine as it is.”
Putting the can on the heater, Folly moved around the room, making preparations. Not that there was much to do. Even being more civilised than usual, and using bowls instead of eating straight out of the can, she ran out of things to keep her hands busy before the soup was heated.
Kerit leaned on the bench, watching her, his face serious. It made Folly nervous, so she shuffled around the room, picking up her books and shoving them back on the shelves and kicking the not so clean clothes under the lounge chair.
If she’d known she was going to have visitors, she would have cleaned up.
A grin spread across her face. How could she have possibly imagined, when she set out yesterday morning, that she would meet Kerit, fly to Tadig in a spaceship, run away from an alien, and have a man, here, in her house.
“I think it’s hot enough.” Kerit’s voice interrupted her thoughts, and she turned back to him.
She squeezed past him, her body tingling where it brushed up against his. Feeling the can, she nodded, and pulled it off the stove with a tea towel. “Definitely hot enough.”
The double meaning of her words hit her, and she turned away to hide her burning cheeks. Why had the potential meanings of the word ‘hot’ never occurred to her before?
Because she’d never had a hot man standing in her kitchen, her brain replied.
Shut up, she told it.
She tipped the soup into the two bowls, then handed Kerit the one without any cracks. “The spoons are in the drawer there.” She nodded towards it. She poured a little soup into Chicken’s bowl on the floor.
While Kerit fetched two spoons, Folly sat down on the couch, wedging herself into one corner and holding her bowl of soup on a cushion in front of her. Almost like a shield. Kerit couldn’t get too close without risking chicken soup spills.
Of course, he didn’t even try, sitting on the opposite corner of the couch facing her. He spooned the soup to his mouth, almost inhaling it, barely stopping to breathe.
Folly stared at him for a moment, fascinated, before the smell of her own soup and the complaints of her stomach inspired her to follow his example.
Before she knew it, her spoon was scraping the bottom of the bowl. Not surprising, given that she couldn’t quite remember when her last meal had been. “Do you want desert?” she asked.
Kerit nodded eagerly. Grinning, Folly recklessly opened a tin of rice pudding. Why keep saving her precious cans when the ship in orbit, the Resolution Kerit had called it, probably had more? “I don’t have any more plates, so we’ll have to share,” she apologised.
Kerit scooted over to her end of the chair. “No problem.”
Folly tried to concentrate on savouring the taste of the rice pudding, sweet and lumpy, but Kerit’s leg, bumping up against hers, kept distracting her.
They both reached for the tin at the same time, their spoons and hands bumping.
“You first,” Kerit said.
“Thanks.” Folly scraped out a spoonful of pudding from the bottom of the can, and put it in her mouth.
Kerit’s hand didn’t move, and when she looked up at him, he smiled at her.
Her face heated. She cleared her throat. “Um. There’s only one bed, so…”
“I’ll sleep on the couch. It won’t be the first time,” Kerit said promptly.
Folly wasn’t sure whether she was relieved or disappointed. He could have at least suggested that they could both fit in the bed, couldn’t he? Then she could have rebuffed him. That was the way it was supposed to work.
Not that anything seemed to go the way she expected around him.
“Here, I’ll take that.” Kerit reached for the empty pudding can in her hand, his fingers clasping around hers.
He was leaning forwards, about to push himself off from the couch, his face inches from hers.
The memory of kissing him in the ruins flooded through her, and her body responded.
He was right there. And he’d been nothing but nice to her. Surely she could give herself a few moments to enjoy him…
Before she could change her mind, Folly tilted her face up and let her lips touch his.
As soon as she moved and felt her lips on his, she knew she’d made a mistake.
Warmth seeped through her, into every pore of her body. If she felt like this from just one kiss, how would she feel if they made love? How could she be with him, then lose that?
She moved to pull back as though she could pretend it had never happened.
Kerit’s hand cupped the back of her head and he deepened the kiss.
Tendrils of feeling ran through her body, centring on a spot just below her pelvis. Her breathing quickened.
She should pull back, or push him away, or something. But her body refused to obey her weak commands. Probably because she didn’t really want it to.
Kerit took the empty tin out of her other hand and pushed it off the edge of the lounge where it fell to the ground with a clatter. He lowered himself onto the space next to her, his hand at her waist encouraging her to lie down next to him.
She held back for a moment, knowing she shouldn’t do this. Knowing that it was going to hurt later. But the feelings swirling through her wouldn’t be ignored. They were too intense, too overpowering. She stretched out next to him, fire flashing through her every place her body touched his. His hand tangled in her hair, his lips didn’t leave hers.
It was exquisitely bittersweet. She felt like laughing and crying at the same time and doing neither because she didn’t want to interrupt this moment.
Gently, his tongue slipped between her lips, and she gasped. Her hand clutched his waist, pulling him closer.
His body pressed up against hers felt so good. She wanted him, he wanted her. That’s what this was about. She wasn’t pretending she was in love with him. And he certainly wasn’t in love with her.
How did people do it? Just have sex and then move on? Maybe it was all about the intrigue, the not knowing, and then once you knew, the itch was scratched?
Either way, she was very itchy.
His hand slipped down to her waist, fumbling with the edge of her shirt until it slipped under it, caressing the soft skin, creeping upwards.
Folly’s breathing hitched, and she felt Kerit’s lips smile against hers. His fingers brushed just below her breast.
And there was a knock at the door.
Not a quiet knock either. A loud, demanding, hard to ignore knock.
Folly groaned.
Kerit pulled back. “We should get that.”
But he didn’t move. And since he had her pinned between him and the back of the couch, it wasn’t like she could get up. Folly giggled.
Whoever it was knocked again, even more demandingly.
It wasn’t Da, he didn’t knock like that. Probably Ma, coming all this way herself to tell her to stop telling lies.
“Go away,” Folly called out.
Instead, the door began to swing inwards.
She and Kerit both scrambled to get up, but their legs were tangled and they both tumbled off the couch onto the floor, almost on top of Chicken who was scratching out the remains of the rice pudding tin.
Folly was lying on top of Kerit, staring into his eyes, so she didn’t see who walked into the room.
“This alien can’t be that dangerous, if you have time to roll around on the ground together.”
The voice was distinctly disapproving. And instantly recognisable.
Nora.
And behind her, what seemed like half the settlement, the sea of faces all craning to get a look at what was going on inside the room.
Folly felt her face burning as she rolled away from Kerit and scrambled to her feet, trying to straighten her clothes.
Beside her, Kerit did the same, though with less urgency.
“Well, it’s not as if anyone was listening to us,” Kerit said quietly.
“So you thought this would help?”
“We’ve both been through a life or death situation today, we needed some closeness,” Kerit said tightly. “And who the hell are you, anyway?”
Nora drew herself up, puffing out her chest. “I’m the mayor of Prioris. This town is under my guidance, and since Molly thought that there might be some truth to Tahlia’s concerns, I thought I should come and ascertain the likelihood of danger for myself. I must say, I’m far from being convinced.”
“Fine then. Sit here and wait for the alien to come and get you.”
Gasps echoed through the crowd, followed by loud, excited chatter.
Folly stared at Kerit. He sounded so much like she had earlier in the day that she blinked. He didn’t look away from Nora, so Folly turned back.
The mayor held up a hand and the crowd subsided into silence. Her lips remained tight, and she stared back at Kerit as though they were in a staring competition.
“You’d better come with us,” she said grudgingly. “We can talk at my office.”
It was an admission that she was interested in what they had to say. Folly glanced at Kerit. Was he going to accept it?
“We’ll be there in five minutes.”
Nora’s face took on a slightly red hue. “What?”
A couple of smothered laughs could be heard.
“I said we’ll be five minutes. Is there a problem with that?”
The mayor opened her mouth, then snapped it shut. “Very well, five minutes. But don’t keep me waiting.”
And she swept out, slamming the door behind her.
Folly heaved a sigh of relief and collapsed back onto the couch.
“Are you okay?”
Her head jerked up at Kerit’s soft question.
“What do you mean by that?”
“I mean I… we…” He looked awkward and shifted a little on his feet.
Folly suppressed a smile. How did he manage to look so cute when she wanted to be angry with him? “You mean because we were just…” Suddenly, she didn’t have the words to say what they’d just been about to do, any more than he did.
“Yeah. I... didn’t mean to push you. I just got carried away.”
Folly shrugged and tried to keep her expression neutral despite the fact that she was torn between being grateful that they’d been interrupted and achingly disappointed. “I’m fine.”
She knew her voice didn’t sound fine at all, but she couldn’t find the words to explain. She didn’t even understand herself.
Kerit looked at her for a long moment, then asked, “Do you want me to handle this?”
It stung. “Finally realising that having my help isn’t going to make your task any easier?” she demanded. It was easier to have something concrete, something she could be angry about.
Kerit crouched down in front of her. “I don’t care about that. If they refuse to believe me, then Ty can have a go at convincing them when he lands. I just don’t want their prejudice making you feel bad. You’ve gone through a lot today, I can understand if you’d rather stay here and sleep.”
Sleep was the last thing on her mind. Especially since his words and expression melted her resentment. “I don’t think I could sleep if I tried. And besides, you wouldn’t even be able to find the mayor’s offices.”
“I’m sure there will be people hanging around outside that can show me,” Kerit responded promptly.
It was tempting, to stay away from all the suspicious and pitying stares. But she couldn’t handle sitting here and wondering what was going on. “No, I want to do this.”
Kerit nodded and stood up, holding out a hand. “Let’s go then.”
And somehow, when she took his hand, her fears about facing everyone faded.
Chapter 17
“How about you start at the beginning. What were you doing here again?”
Kerit ignored Nora’s frown and did as instructed.
“Well, we couldn’t stay on Urslat, so...”
“Wait. You couldn’t stay? Why not?”
Kerit hesitated. “That isn’t really relevant to what’s happening here.”
Why did he say that? Now it sounded like he had something to hide.
Apparently Nora thought so too. “I’ll be the judge of what is and isn’t important. Why couldn’t you stay on Urslat?”
Kerit bit back a sigh. “It’s a long story. The short version is that we objected to some of the government’s recent laws.”
Nora’s eyebrows shot up, and a couple of people made disapproving noises in the crowd.
Because yes, there was a crowd. Apparently the mayor felt no need to keep this conversation private.
“Exactly what laws?”
Well, it wasn’t like they were going to be able to hide it. Still it would be better if Tyris was explaining this. Kerit didn’t want to give away any details his brother didn’t want known.
But Tyris wasn’t here. And Kerit could hardly radio him and ask what was safe to share. “Look, it’s not really my story. Perhaps it would be better if you waited to talk to my brother in the morning. He can explain it better than I can.”
“So he’s the one who—what did you say—objected—to the law?”
Kerit didn’t like the way this conversation was headed. But there wasn’t much he could do to extricate himself now. And Folly wasn’t exactly helping. Glaring back at the crowd with her arms folded could probably even be classed as hindering.
“Look, they were going to forcibly abort my sister-in-law’s baby. And those of many others who are on the spaceship with us. We had no choice.”
That caused a pause. The mayor exchanged glances with two other people who stood near her. Kerit had no idea who they were, aides perhaps? He glanced at Folly, but her glare hadn’t changed. Well, maybe her chin was jutting out a little more.
Nora looked back at him. “Since when does the law advocate forcibly aborting babies?”
“A lot has changed since the Colonies abandoned this planet. The discovery of anysogen meant we’ve expanded very quickly. Overpopulation has become a real issue, so the government brought in laws to control who could have children.”
There were knowing nods. “We said that would happen,” one of the aides commented.
“It happens any time you have an overabundance of food or space, it’s just biological,” the other added.
Nora held up her hand and the comments stopped immediately.
“So your sister-in-law broke this rule, then was surprised at the consequences.”
Anger bubbled up in Kerit. They had no idea of what had happened, but they were more than happy to condemn Tyris and Marlee without ever having met them. “My sister-in-law wasn’t part of the Colonies. She was born on the spaceship between here and Zerris with the refuges who escaped from Semala before the meteor hit. She wasn’t aware of these laws, nor subject to them when she fell pregnant.”
“The ship that left Semala?” Nora asked sharply.
Kerit winced. Of course, she would pick that fact out of his story. “Yes,” he admitted. “One of the engineers managed to build a working ship out of the spare parts that were left behind at the ship yards.”
“Why didn’t I hear of this? Why didn’t the mayor of Tadig inform me? We should have been given warning and a chance to select people for this escape ship ourselves.”
Oh, that was her problem. Well that he could explain. “I don’t think the mayor of Tadig knew. Or maybe he left with the Colonies’ ship. Either way, he didn’t go to Zerris.”
“So your sister-in-law is a rebel? Her family chose to flee this planet, disregarding everyone else on it?”
“Look, Marlee wasn’t even born. Stop blaming her for what happened here. The people you should be blaming are the Colonies. They were the ones who left everyone here, and who decided against giving them any so
rt of warning.”
This did cause angry mutters in the crowd.
Nora, though she exchanged looks with her two followers, didn’t look surprised. Kerit filed that piece of information away to examine at a later date.
“So your brother and sister-in-law are on the run from the Colonies, and they thought they’d hide here, on a supposedly empty planet?”
Kerit was glad to have something he could answer without worrying. “No, they’re not on the run. The president agreed to allow them to secede from the Colonies and live on this planet in exchange for the mining rights to Zerris.”
Nora’s eyebrows shot up. “They gave a planet to a bunch of rebels?”
“Well, we had quite a bit of support. Public opinion is against the new population laws, especially the way accidental pregnancies are being handled. They thought it was better to get rid of us quietly.”
“So they sent you to take an already occupied planet? By force?”
“What? No.” Kerit shook his head. “Of course not. We’re peaceful settlers. We don’t even have any weapons. No one thought this planet was occupied. There was no way of knowing any of you survived the meteor impact.”
“And yet, we did. So what happens now?”
“As I said to Folly’s mother, we have a spaceship capable of taking you back to the Colonies.”
“So you’re going to forcibly relocate us?”
How was this getting so mixed up? Kerit expected these people to be glad to be rescued. Why were they attacking him instead?
Folly came to his rescue. “Seriously? Do you want to stay here? All everyone ever does is complain about the lack of equipment and supplies. They’re offering a pretty good deal, a trip back to civilisation in exchange for a useless, destroyed planet. What’s not to like?”
Nora turned her disapproving eyes on Folly. “Why am I not surprised that you’re happy to run off? You never were one of us, so you can’t possibly understand. Yes, we need supplies and equipment, but not in exchange for the planet. We’ve devoted our lives to studying the wildlife here in the caves, and we want to show it to the universe, not give it up.”
