Chapter 33
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
Aiden didn’t trust people easily. He could count on one hand the number of people he trusted outside of those on the Dawn while having fingers left over. It went against every natural instinct he had to let this stranger onto the ship and welcome him into their plotting.
But he might be able to help Evelyn get around the block she had on her siphoning abilities. If cordiality with this stranger could help erase the shame that Evelyn’d had hardwired into her sense of self, he would bake him a fucking “welcome aboard” cake.
Aiden assessed Vinnie’s precognitive agent, Mathias, as he walked into the lobby with Cairn.
He was tall, dark, and handsome, as if someone had put in an order to some casting agency for a disarmingly attractive man.
His dark hair was neatly arranged into a cut that flattered the finely carved planes of his face.
Brown eyes glinted with intelligence as they darted around the room, taking in the scene.
He walked with a practiced nonchalance that Aiden could identify, a “nothing to see here, folks, do look the other way while I rob you blind” pace that he’d perfected himself years ago.
Then Aiden watched as Mathias went unnaturally still, his sharply assessing eyes unfocused. Nannette’s words had jolted the man back to reality, and there was a faint blush creeping along his cheeks. He cleared his throat and redirected his focus.
“I’m sure I disappoint the woman daily,” Mathias said, responding to Nannette’s dig. He gave a self-deprecating grin and turned to face Evelyn. Aiden found himself grinding his teeth. “But we all know her standards are impossibly high for most of us.”
Aiden twined a lock of Evelyn’s hair through his fingers, a self-soothing act that served the double purpose of signaling that she was off limits.
Petty? Absolutely, but he was his moms’ son and wasn’t above it.
Out of the corner of his eye, he caught a smug smile flit across Evelyn’s face and felt his pulse start to slow.
Fuck. Is this jealousy?
Evelyn released the death grip she’d had on her latte and let one of her hands fall from the table to give his thigh a gentle squeeze. The subtle reassurance calmed his rushing blood further, and he relaxed the slightest bit in his seat as her fingers traced random patterns on his knee.
“High expectations make for high achievers,” she said as she raised the coffee cup in a salute with her other hand. “That’s the Corrie philosophy.”
“Mathias Ariti,” he said, hand outstretched to shake hers. “It’s a pleasure to meet you at last, Evelyn.”
They shook hands. Aiden was pleased to see that he actually shook her hand instead of just touching it briefly. An actual handshake was a sign of respect and didn’t play to the deference to her title that she hated.
Well played.
Evelyn sat back into the crook of Aiden’s arm as Mathias introduced himself around the room, flinching slightly when he made his way to Nannette.
Didn’t like being called out, did he? He masked the awkward moment well, and Aiden wondered idly if Mathias would be seeking employment after they liberated Tanalia from Emil’s clutches.
With some redirection, the Dawn could turn him into a hell of a smuggler.
The rest of the crew dragged chairs into a loose circle around them.
Tariel stayed on the piano bench, swinging his legs over to face the group.
Lillian had furnished Mathias with a beverage, something dark and fizzy with lots of ice.
Condensation beaded on the outside of the glass, and Mathias’s fingers absently dragged through the beads of water.
Aiden plucked a croissant from the tray of pastries Veronique had set down and placed it in front of Evelyn on a napkin. He saw the corner of Mathias’ mouth flick up quickly before he schooled his face. The swift expression made Aiden’s breath stop.
Just how much has he seen?
The idea of anyone catching Aiden mid-fuck had never bothered him, much.
He did have a habit of hooking up with bartenders in stockrooms. But the thought that this strange man might have had a glimpse of the way Evelyn’s eyes darkened with arousal, heard one moment of her breathy moans, made Aiden want to shove him out the airlock without a spacesuit.
Definitely jealousy. Shit.
The hand that wasn’t twisting Evelyn’s hair was fisted so hard in his lap, his knuckles had gone white. He shook it out and refocused on the conversation.
“Must be nice,” Evelyn said. Mathias met her gaze, a puzzled look on his face. “Your talent. It must be nice.”
“It’s a gigantic pain in the ass.”
Veselko barked an abrupt laugh. “Oh, he’ll do.”
Mathias grinned. “It is nice to be right about things from time to time. Who doesn’t like being vindicated, or knowing secrets?
But I don’t always have control over what I can see.
It takes a ton of energy to focus on specifics, and more to block out the useless, random flashes I can get in a crowd.
To top it off, I had to master another skill to a level that would make it seem preternatural just so people don’t figure out what I can do.
It’s all far more trouble than it’s worth on an average day. ”
“But you can control it?” Evelyn asked. She had been ripping the pastry in front of her into small bites. Aiden suspected it was more to make him happy than out of actual hunger.
“To an extent, yes,” Mathias said.
“Vinnie thinks you can share some training insight with Evelyn,” Aiden said. “I know you’re here to discuss logistics, but we’re going to need to pivot a bit.”
Mathias reached into the shopping bag he’d brought onboard and pulled out a sleek chrome stick.
“This has all the information I have. We have the locations of resistors, progress reports of their training. Weapons cache locations, both ours and Bauder’s.
Media schedules. Maps of occupied government buildings.
If someone wants to upload the data and start parsing the information, Evelyn and I can go train for a bit. ”
Aiden felt Evelyn’s hand squeeze his thigh again. The glare on his face must have been more lethal than he’d realized.
Evelyn and I, my ass.
Lillian grabbed the data stick from Mathias’ hand. “I can upload it and start divvying up the information.”
Mathias nodded, grabbing a napkin from the table and writing a decryption code on it with a pen from his jacket pocket. He passed it to her, and she took it with a slight frown.
“We don’t have time for you to play around cracking their encryption, love,” Elenor said with a chuckle. “You can break into something later. As a treat.”
“You’re right. It just feels like cheating.” Lillian wrapped the napkin around the data stick and shoved it into her pocket. She rose, extending a hand to her wife. “We know where to find you.”
Aiden watched his moms head toward the hallway to the staff quarters. Nannette and Veselko started going over some weapons specs. Cairn and Veronique were asking Mathias about current trends in Tanalian media to best plan their attack on the airwaves.
Tariel had swung his legs back to the other side of the piano bench. He was about to resume playing when a trio of beeps emanated from his back pocket. He pulled the communicator from his pants and looked at the screen, his eyebrows raising in surprise.
“I’m going to go take this,” he said, getting up from the bench and racing up to the observation deck for some privacy.
Interesting. He almost never takes comm calls in private.
Aiden had a brief moment of worry that Tariel’s divorce proceedings had hit a bump in the road.
Evelyn popped more croissant bits into her mouth and chewed. Aiden could almost see the wheels turning in her head. Stars above she was fucking beautiful. Deep admiration for her determination to master her abilities — even though they scared the shit out of her — washed over Aiden.
“You ready to roll, dollface?” Aiden asked. He was loath to lose the feeling of her snuggled at his side, but he wouldn’t stand in the way of her facing her siphoning issues.
“If I put this off any longer I’m going to feel like a wimp.”
“We can’t have that, can we?” He gave her hair a gentle tug and released the stand he’d been passing between his fingers.
Pushing his chair back, he got up and offered her his hand, loving the feel of her delicate fingers in his as he helped her up.
He was floating as he gestured for Mathias to follow them to their makeshift training room in her storage closet.
Evelyn set up another folding chair, then took a seat at the table that held all her various electronic gadgets and started to fiddle aimlessly with an egg timer. Aiden had taken the seat next to her.
Mathias had completely ignored the table and folding chairs and instead had headed straight to the media Evelyn had organized onto the shelves.
He pored over the titles, taking sips of his drink and making excited noises when he came across a film or book he was familiar with.
She appreciated that he was giving her a moment to settle, but if they didn’t get a move on soon, she thought she might scream. She bit her lip and looked at Aiden.
Aiden nodded at her, winked, and cleared his throat. “Having fun?”
Mathias had the grace to look a little embarrassed when he turned around.
“You have a very impressive Old Earth collection, Evelyn. I’m a stunt man in my day job; movies are my thing.
Tanalia is having a bit of a resurgence in Old Earth media at the moment.
They did resistance literature and film so well. It’s striking a chord.”
“I’m sure Veronique will be happy to play to that preference,” Evelyn said. She gestured to the empty folding chair. “Please, sit.”