Chapter 24 Divine Intervention
Divine Intervention
Marlowe disappears on the heels of Mae, and I try to stay calm. She didn’t want me to come with her—and that’s fine—but my muscles are tensed to follow anyway. My jaw is tight, and I feel liable to crack a tooth. I stare after them until I feel settled enough to face the crew.
“Kulari.” Devyaan approaches, a gentle hand coming to rest on one of mine—it forces me to notice they’re curled into fists. He looks down as I unfurl them, then meets my eyes. “Let me make you something to eat. Sumna veyan taresh.” Food is good for the soul.
I appreciate his offer, the connection of our shared language, and the pleasant jolt I get from hearing the familiar idiom.
It’s one of my Nayya’s favourites. My churning stomach doesn’t approve but I have too much life experience to refuse food when I know I need it.
I won’t be able to relax until Securitas steps off my ship; no need to starve until then.
Dominik knows Marlowe’s onboard, and he has all the power to use it against her.
This is the very thing she’s been so terrified of, and I’m anxious for her. I could do with the distraction.
So I let Devyaan fuss around me until my shoulders no longer hover by my ears.
He makes everyone lavender cocoa, teaching Vee how to make the delicacy and doling it out whilst we wait for dinner.
The atmosphere is hesitant, but it never stays that way when Beau and Khrys are around.
Beau makes insane claims, and Khrys starts a back-and-forth with them until Devyaan’s laughter rings out and lightens the room.
It’s followed by Vee’s youthful giggles, releasing stress he’d been carrying in his narrow shoulders.
His mother’s been gone for a while now, and he’s rightfully worried. No one has mentioned what Eduard said about trespassing, but there’s tension thrumming beneath the facsimile of calm. Because it’s the last thing I need right now, therefore inevitable, I wait for it to snap.
Everyone keeps their questions to themselves.
By the time platters of elegant sky rolls and solar harvest noodles are slid onto the table, Marlowe still hasn’t reappeared.
My stomach’s so violently opposed to food I can’t stand to sit here any longer.
I’m at the door before Devyaan has even straightened up, and by the time he realises I’m leaving, Vee’s by my side.
“You’re going to find my mum, right?”
I jerk my head towards the door, and we take off without Devyaan protesting—I’m grateful.
We check the bridge first, but Marlowe’s no longer there.
The strange faces standing around my chair set my teeth on edge.
Before today, I’d have simply asked Kit about Marlowe’s whereabouts.
Now I know the ship can be overridden, including her code, I no longer trust the AI.
Vee fidgets, practically jumping out of his skin, as we search a few of her usual hangouts.
For the first time since I’ve known him, he’s quiet.
There’s something so harrowing about his silence when all I’ve ever seen from him is natural exuberance.
I want to comfort him, but it’s not something I was ever good at.
I take action; that’s my solution to everything.
My Nayya needed me to be strong, and my sister needed me to be reliable, so that’s what I was.
What I am. I didn’t learn the intricacies of consolation, but Vee’s downturned mouth makes me wish I had.
In the end, we find his mother in the one place we didn’t think to look first: her cabin. The intercom is activated, and Vee seems perplexed when her voice comes through the door’s speaker. We share a look of confusion. I can count on one hand the number of times Marlowe has spent time in her room.
“Vee?” she calls.
“Yeah. And Captain—Tanisira.”
There’s a pause. “Right. Sorry, I should have come back to the galley after, but I was just... so tired.”
Her voice is tight; I hear the emotion in every word. My fists curl again as I struggle to stay quiet in front of Vee.
“Mum, are you okay?”
“I’m fine, baby. Dev told me dinner was ready,” she says. “Go and eat; I’ll be there in a moment.”
Vee looks to me again, torn, biting his lip.
I wish he were a little less intelligent—he knows Marlowe’s not okay, and he doesn’t want to leave her.
But it’s obvious she doesn’t want him to see her like this, so I beckon him close.
Crouching, I promise that if he goes ahead, I’ll make sure Marlowe comes to dinner.
It takes some persuading to get him to leave. Then I let myself into Marlowe’s room.
She’s slumped on a chair. As the door slides shut behind me, she groans and launches a cushion across the room.
“Get out.”
I fold my arms and wait. With Marlowe’s face buried in another cushion, all I can see is the back of her head, but there’s a pile of tissues in a small receptacle at her feet. I swallow hard, trying to remind myself I can’t just bulldoze in and force her to talk to me. It doesn’t work.
“What did that prick say to you?”
She flinches so violently that it makes me feel ill.
“Mierda.” I scrub a hand over my face. “I’m sorry. I won’t pry.”
But I will smash the Midas directly into Gryphon’s million-watt smile so he wears his fucking teeth like they’re tonsils.
“Go away.”
For a moment, I consider honouring her request. Then Vee’s conflicted expression flashes into my mind, and I do the opposite.
I don’t want to leave Marlowe like this.
Crossing the room and kneeling by her feet, I push the bin away and take the hand I can reach.
She sniffles, and it’s a relief when her fingers tighten in mine.
We haven’t been alone since the observation deck when she almost broke my heart right then and there.
The warmth of her touch soothes some of the agitation from earlier.
I wish I knew what to say, how to make her feel better.
Marlowe pulls her hand away and presses it to her chest, burrowing deeper into the cushion.
“Please. I just need a moment. I’ll be at dinner soon.”
What happened on the bridge? I’ve never seen her this… hopeless, almost. I can’t fix it if she won’t tell me what’s wrong—and I want to make this right more than I’ve ever wanted anything in my life. It shouldn’t feel like rejection; I hate crying in front of others too.
Marlowe’s voice brooks no argument, so I don’t push, but I do take my time getting up in case she changes her mind. She doesn’t. I end up back in the galley, convincing Vee his mother’s just pulling herself together for dinner. He gives me a look so reminiscent of her that I have to turn away.
“What do we do until we dock?” Beau asks around a mouthful of food. Dev smacks them on the arm.
“What do you mean?” Maximus asks.
“Well.” Beau shrugs. “Our jobs have been taken over by that crew, haven’t they? So, what do we do?”
Khrys stretches her arms languidly. “I’m going to take the longest bath ever and then sleep in late.”
Devyaan shoots Julian a glance, and the man turns pink, though he can’t hide the curve to his mouth when he jerks his head away.
“I’ve got a high score to beat,” Beau says, making gun fingers at Vee. “What about you, Cap?”
I’m not going to tell them the only way I’ll be able to relax is if I get to personally kick every single stranger off our ship.
Knowing they’re here is like an itch under my skin.
All because Gryphon is a control freak with more money than sense.
This is the last stretch of the trip; an escort was unnecessary.
I have a pervasive dread that once we land, the crew will be in trouble.
Gryphon keeps proving himself a pathetic specimen—the odds are high he’ll try to make an example out of them.
Never mind that he tried to abduct a little boy.
If I were to report Gryphon to the authorities on Suryavana, how far would an investigation get?
I think about the times my Nayya had to collect my father from the drunk tank of our local station and cringe.
The humiliation was made more acute by the fact that the officers were always kind to her about it.
But I’m not naive enough to believe that was a microcosm of the entire criminal justice system.
“Looks delicious, Dev.”
I’m ripped from my musings by the sound of Marlowe’s voice.
She snuck in at some point and is curled up around Vee.
They look about ready to topple off the seat, but I don’t think he’s going to let her go anytime soon.
Her eyes are pink, her face slightly puffy, her lips bitten. She looks like hell.
I wish she’d talk to me—even now, she won’t meet my eyes. Everyone else pretends they can’t see how wrecked Marlowe looks, and the conversation carries on. But I don’t participate, mind racing as I think through my options. I have to do something.
Liz picks up on the second ring.
“Well, well, well. Miss me already?”
I had to use tricks from my smuggler days to get the call out without using the ship’s main network, and the sound quality is poor. I can hear her laughter well enough, though, bright against muffled noises in the background.
“Hardly,” I say.
“Why am I letting you interrupt my game of poker, then?”
A familiar discomfort slithers through me, but I push through it.
“I need your help.” My voice comes out raspy, and I clear it before trying again. “I need a ship, ASAP.”
There’s a pause, and I hear the murmur of voices, music and all the sounds that come with card games. Goosebumps rise along my arms. I ignore them.
“I’m still a captain without a ship, Tanisira. I don’t have one that I can lend you—”
“No, that’s not what I mean. Look, it’s complicated, but I’ll give you the authority to buy a standard cargo ship for me and send you the creds. It needs to be ready to go at Red Horizon tomorrow.”
Liz whistles. “You’re serious.”