10 Some Sights Cannot Be Unseen
Some Sights Cannot Be Unseen
T he next morning, Temmi woke before dawn.
Or, rather, an hour that’d be considered predawn if she hadn’t been hurtling through empty space.
Outside her window, the black void spread endlessly, consuming.
Gazing into deep space made her stomach wobble.
Only thirteen more days until their arrival on Expan and the start of filming. Dread rose like bile into her throat.
Her new commbridge showed a notification from Kalvin. She touched the screen, and the device projected the message into the air.
Kalvin: I’ll have a guard escort you to the med-bay in two hours for your vaccines. That’ll be followed by some lessons and a few shots for your promo.
Temmi marveled at the hologram, then tapped to respond with a thumbs-up.
There was a small press of resistance when she touched the air—like clicking a keyboard.
Very cool. After throwing on a mixed assortment of outfits from the new wardrobe Manny had brought in for her, she messed around with her CB until she managed to pull up a map of the starship.
Her goal: the library. Time to entrap a prince.
Outside her cabin, the corridor walls were awash in blinking lights and pictures of prominent Expanese citizens.
Dignitaries, senators, university presidents.
There seemed to be no end to the too-bright visages of Expan’s elite.
Theoretically, most of them would’ve headlined their own season of Love Galaxy at one time or another.
A pair of black-visored guards flanked the library’s entrance. As Temmi approached, her pulse instinctively climbed. Did the guards’ presence mean the prince was inside? If so, would they stop her? Send her back to her cabin?
Better to go for it and ask forgiveness later. Temmi made straight for the button that would release the library’s door. The guards reacted about as much as marble statues. She wondered, briefly, if there were even humans behind those dark visors.
Inside the library, rows of elegant shelves swept away from her in every direction. Books of all sizes, some of them even seeming to be made of paper , lined a rich, dark wood. A faint whirring came from a circulation vent in the ceiling, along with the feather-light brush of cool air.
Nix Expani relaxed in a plush armchair amid a circle of plush armchairs, in the library’s center, a giant tome open on his lap.
For a moment, Temmi studied him. His shoulders were hunched academically, his mess of thick dark hair obscuring his face.
He wore unadorned black pants and a faded sweatshirt printed with ECU across the front.
Expan Central University. Scot was still a student there, likely in his final year. Temmi realized she was about to once again live in the same city as her ex-boyfriend. The thought unnerved her.
The prince glanced up. Temmi startled, feeling like she’d been caught doing something she shouldn’t, and accidentally stumbled against the shelf to her left.
A book went flying. The sharp point of a bookend pierced the outside of her palm, and a shock of pain lanced through her hand.
Color warmed her neck, spreading to her cheeks.
Great first impression, Tem, she thought, imagining Ollie laughing.
Clumsy stalker is certainly what Nix is looking for in a woman, he’d say .
She dove after the falling book, but the prince was already there, bending to pick it up.
“Artemis?” His lips seemed to hold back a smile. “Er, I mean, Temmi, right?” Thin, metal-framed spectacles adorned his face. He hadn’t been wearing them the first time they’d met. They made him look more human. Almost approachable.
He held out the fallen book to her.
Temmi inclined her head deferentially, accepting it with her unin jured hand. She shoved the smarting one (was that blood she felt dripping down her wrist?) into her trouser pocket. “Your Highness.”
“Nicky.”
“Right.” Why was she so nervous all of a sudden?
She hadn’t been nervous the other night in the conference room.
But two days before, her family’s future hadn’t depended on his falling in love with her.
And if Temmi was being honest, she didn’t have the slightest clue how one convinced another human to fall in love with them.
With Scot, she wasn’t sure it had ever been love.
They’d met when she was seventeen, sneaking around X72-1’s university campus between shifts at work.
She’d unofficially been auditing a good number of advanced physics and theory courses.
Scot had taken an interest in her—in retrospect, his interest had only ever been in her ideas.
And after him, she hadn’t tried dating again.
Hadn’t wanted the burden of future betrayals.
People hurt people. Love wasn’t enough to overcome harsh realities. So, why bother?
“You look—” Nix cocked his head quizzically, and Temmi found herself dying to know the end of that sentence. “I didn’t realize you read Old Terran,” he said instead, standing.
Temmi glanced at the book in her hands. A language she couldn’t read was scrawled across the cover. She was still crouched low. Oh, shit, she was being awkward. This entire exchange was awkward. At this rate, the prince was going to send her home before the show even started.
“I don’t.” She forced herself to her feet. Nix was tall; she barely reached his chin. “This book happened to be the victim of my unique, not at all debilitating clumsiness.” Oh, that was cringey. Somewhere on X72, Ollie was grimacing on her behalf.
But Nix cracked a grin. “Not an Austen fan, then?”
“Austen?”
“Jane Austen? Pride and Prejudice ? One of the only surviving Old Terran works? Elizabeth Bennet? Darcy? I once read a fascinating dissertation on the ways that single narrative of fiction has entrenched itself in a culture two thousand years distant. Interested me enough to track down a copy of the novel in its original Old Terran. Truly a literary marvel, though much of the context was lost on me.” He seemed to catch onto the dumbfounded look Temmi was certainly wearing. “Really, nothing?”
She shrugged, placing the book back on the shelf. “Old Terran literature doesn’t make it out to my corner of the universe. And I’ve never been much of a reader, anyway.”
“Then what, may I ask, are you doing in a library?” He retreated to the circle of armchairs and, with a well-manicured hand, pointed to one. “Come, sit.”
How to best take advantage of this situation?
Temmi quickly considered appealing to the prince’s ego but banished the idea immediately.
It wasn’t in her to kiss anyone’s ass. And something told her Nix Expani had enough women willing to kiss his ass.
So, she decided to go for friendship. It was more palatable than romance.
Not that she had a great wealth of positive friendship experiences to go off of—what she had was a history of allies.
Mates in lockup; fellow Graveyard kids. People who came into her life for a season but never stayed.
“I came to the library looking for you, actually.” She settled onto the soft cushion of an armchair. “Was hoping we could talk.”
“One night on the Twin Eagles and you’ve already managed to interrogate someone for my location. I’m impressed.” Nix resumed his own seat, retrieving the book he’d been reading from the floor. “Can I ask you a question, Temmi?”
“Of course.”
“Why the sudden change of heart?” He laid the book across his knees.
The tome was, again, not in any language Temmi understood. How many tongues did Nix speak? Not relevant right now, she told herself. Answer his question.
“Let’s just say I was reminded of the opportunity .”
“You’re after my money, then?” But he didn’t say it with any degree of disappointment or insult. Simply matter-of-fact.
Temmi shrugged. “You saw my home planet. I’ll be honest: a reality dating show isn’t something I would normally consider putting myself through, but I’m thinking about more than just myself.”
“I appreciate the candor.” He removed his spectacles, folding them and placing them on the end table beside his armchair. “Maybe, with time, I can convince you I’m more than credits in an account.”
“If I’m being honest, Your Highness”—( Nicky, he said)—“I harbor no delusions of finding love. Or even wanting it. Would you really choose me , a girl who’s only on the show because she caused a minor media incident?
I’m not a fool. So, don’t play me for one.
I am, however, interested in the exposure opportunity.
And the longer I’m around, the better chance I’ll have of making a life for myself beyond the trappings of my landfill planet. ”
“You’re really quite straightforward, aren’t you?”
“I wasn’t aware there was any other way of being.” Which was true. Temmi had never seen the point in being demure about what she really thought or wanted. It was probably why everyone always found her to be a pain in the ass. Well, that and her arrogance.
“I like that about you.” Nicky’s smile manifested in full, heart-stopping glory. Damn, he was a beautiful man. “It’s rare, in my experience, to find people willing to speak so candidly.”
“Keep me around, and I promise to always tell you how it is.” Temmi gave him a winning smile of her own. Her left hand twinged painfully. Wincing, she eased it out of her trouser pocket.
“Whoa.” The prince’s dark violet eyes went wide. He pushed out of his seat. “You’re bleeding. A lot.”
Temmi glanced at her hand. Bright crimson blood oozed from an ugly gash in the side of her palm, dripping down the length of her fingers. More than one droplet had already stained the rich carpet. Shit. And now that she was paying attention to it, the inside of her pocket was quite damp.
“You need to visit the med-bay.” Nix held out an elegantly gloved hand. “Come on, I’ll take you there.”