Chapter 2
CHAPTER TWO
The flavor of pineapple on her lips shocked Evelyn awake.
Every other time in the last five years that she had returned to the land of the living — well, the land of the hospital droid — it had been a sterile affair, accompanied by a gentle robotic voice announcing that a droid was about to take her vital signs and put her through the exercises necessary to keep her muscles from atrophying during her stay onboard.
Pineapple was absolutely not something Evelyn had encountered on the ship.
“Mmm. Pineapple,” she murmured.
The next thing she registered was that the pineapple flavor was emanating from soft lips that were pressed against her own.
An interesting development.
Evelyn opened her eyes to see a man hovering over her with a dawning look of horror.
He was neatly tucked into what looked like a spacewalk suit.
His deep brown hair was a little on the long side, parted in the center and pushed behind his ears.
He was wearing horn-rimmed glasses, which must be for the aesthetic since eye correction surgery was cheaper than a sandwich in this part of the galaxy.
He had a neatly trimmed beard, and little crinkly lines in the corners of his brilliant green eyes that indicated he smiled a great deal — when he wasn’t gaping at a stranger he’d just locked lips with.
Way nicer to look at than those weird, faceless droids.
Handsome or not, it was a little strange that he’d opted to wake her for her vital sign checkup by kissing her awake. Surely that went against some code of ethics.
“My breath can’t possibly be that bad, can it?” She blew into her hand.
No stench of rotting garbage. Good.
Evelyn preferred to handle most situations with humor.
It was always best to save emotions like crushing mortification for alone time.
Rejection, desire, ambitions — all things best not discussed aloud and dealt with privately.
But she knew she could only get away with so much stuffing, and when the feelings on display weren’t her own, she was much better at coping with them.
This man looked like he was debating the merits of vomiting or passing out, and just sitting in her pod wasn’t going to help him make a decision any faster.
He was taking steady steps back from where she lay, the color draining from his golden skin with every footfall.
“So did Emil find some money in the budget to hire an actual phlebotomist, or are you here to service the droids?” She tilted her head to the side and studied him.
He didn’t look like the kind of man Emil usually hired.
Hair too long, and too much evidence of joy around those mesmerizing green eyes.
Then again, you never could tell with technical staff.
This finally seemed to snap his attention back.
“Service the droids?”
“Yeah. Are you like, some sort of nosey repairman, poking around on a medivessel you’re supposed to be tuning up? No judgment. I’m nosey, too.”
“I am absolutely not a nosey repairman. Or a phlebotomist for that matter.” His hand tugged at his beard and he started to pace. Finally he turned around and looked her in the eye. “I think I’m supposed to be a rescue crew.”
Think?
Evelyn sat up. This just wasn’t a conversation to be had lying flat on her back. It probably wasn’t a conversation that was supposed to be happening at all.
The last time she’d come up, the droid had informed her she’d completed five years of the ten she’d agreed to serve for the sake and safety of her people.
Surely that couldn’t have been five years ago.
She was supposed to be tested at least once a year to make sure she could maintain the level of Amplification energy she was expelling for Emil.
It was an ironclad condition of the treaty her father had signed — The Agreement, as she thought of it.
“Rescue? I’m pretty sure removing a political prisoner from custody would probably negate the terms of the treaty she’s being held under.” She shoved the sleeves of her pajama suit up as she studied his face. He was looking everywhere but at her.
He ran his hands through his hair. The man looked as confused as she felt, which only reaffirmed her suspicion that Evelyn needed to take control of the situation.
She climbed out of the stasis pod and immediately started looking for her fuzzy slippers.
She couldn’t take charge barefoot. Her things were normally proffered to her by the droids when she woke up, and she had no idea where they kept them.
It always seemed silly to her that they’d outfitted what amounted to a cell with things that were supposed to soothe her.
She was asleep for ninety-nine percent of her existence; what did she care if they kept her books within arm’s reach?
Evelyn found her slippers in the bottom drawer of the dresser and slid her feet into them.
She wiggled her toes, luxuriating in the shearling lining.
The man adjusted his glasses and seemed to be nodding to himself. He cleared his throat, and Evelyn turned to see him holding out her bathrobe. Taking it, she slid it over her pajamas, tying the sash on the last piece of her conversational armor.
“Hi. I’m Aiden, and I’ve been sent to retrieve you,” he said, finally looking at her again.
Maybe the robe helped? Vaguely more formal?
“I’m Evelyn. I don’t think I’m supposed to leave; I’ve only been here in these charming accommodations for five years. I’ve another five to go before I can wander off.”
He pointed to the calendar on the wall. “Would you reassess that position if I told you that this calendar is about ninety-five years out of date?”
Evelyn’s stomach did an unpleasant flip, and the color drained from her face as his words sank in. She backed into the stasis pod, the machine holding her up as she did a slow blink. Then another.
The information, while appalling, was not entirely surprising.
Emil had broken his word. She didn’t know why she’d expected better of him.
Na?veté, on her part, she supposed. Aunt Corrie had been right.
There had been nowhere near enough GPC oversight to ensure he would stick to his half of the treaty.
Emil Bellica was an unmitigated bastard who would stop at absolutely nothing to get what he wanted, and what he wanted was to keep Evelyn locked away as his personal magical power supply for the rest of his life.
And Evelyn had just walked into that room and signed her life away with no hesitation, like an absolute moron.
Fuck that.
The sting of betrayal was enough to crack the tight grip of control Evelyn always held on her power. For a moment, the air around Aiden wavered in her mind’s eye, and the taste of his energy danced through her.
Lock it down.
She took a deep breath, tugged on the knot of her robe sash, and pushed her power back. Now was not the time to lose control.
“Alright, Aiden. Let’s wander.”
The plan was simple, as plans went. It largely amounted to staying behind Aiden and being as quiet as possible.
He had told her the ship seemed abandoned, but they both knew that there had to be some level of oversight onboard.
Evelyn did a quick once-over in her room, snagging the few precious items she had been permitted to bring onboard the medivessel and shoving them into the pockets of her bathrobe.
The e-reader that held her favorite dozen books.
A locket from her sisters. Letters from her mother.
Her father’s pocket watch. The pockets bulged, but everything just fit.
“Ready when you are,” she said.
Aiden nodded and adjusted his glasses again. Evelyn wondered if the green of his eyes would pop more or less without the bulky tortoiseshell frames surrounding them.
Focus. Do not imprint on this poor man like a baby duck.
He cracked open the door and took a slow step out into the corridor. When he gestured to Evelyn to follow him down the hallway, she took a deep breath and left the room that had been her prison.
The moment her foot hit the corridor floor, a klaxon bellowed and angry red lights started to flash. Droids that had been dormant began to boot back to life, their start-up sequences synchronized.
“Well, shit,” Aiden said. “Plan A is out the window. Time for Plan B: Keep up, and don’t get hurt.”
They took off down the corridor, but with Aiden’s longer legs and correctly chosen footwear, keeping up was easier said than done.
Fuzzy slippers were not made for running down corridors.
They made it halfway down the stairs before dozens of droids started to pour out of the door marked STORAGE, breaking off in groups of four to comb the labs on the bottom floor.
The droids began speaking in unison, repeating the same message every three steps.
“Evelyn Alpertti, return to your chamber. For the safety of yourself and others, it is essential to return to your pod chamber.”
Aiden turned around, gripping her firmly by the elbow, and hauled Evelyn back up the stairs. He yanked her down until they both knelt, peering over the ledge.
“Purely out of academic curiosity, how were you planning on getting me out of here?” It was more of a hiss than a whisper, but Evelyn couldn’t be expected to maintain her composure when her heart was thrumming overtime in her chest.
“You were supposed to be a load of discarded cargo, so the plan has admittedly required some revision,” he hissed back. Aiden seemed to realize he was still holding her arm and released it abruptly with a sheepish grin.
Evelyn’s nose crinkled up. “Cargo, my ass. What were you going to do, carry a dozen crates out one at a time?”
“No. Of course not. I was going to levitate them out one at a time. Gingerly.” Aiden’s cheeks flushed a little in embarrassment. “Look, I’m very good at stealing things. This is my first extraction. It apparently requires different hardware.”