Chapter Five
Aubrey was in her room at her terminal when she got the notice that Avery was off the station.
It had taken sixteen hours, and because Avery hadn’t gotten the contract education, she didn’t know that the five-year contract was reserved for rented help.
She would learn, and it would come as a nasty shock.
Aubrey got a notification, and she smiled as she answered. “Hello, Harwin.”
“Aubrey, you are looking—”
“Blind?”
“Are you?”
“No, but the future is rushing and roiling around me. So many futures, so much life and death, and I am seeing it all. It’s giving me a bit of a headache.”
“No sign of your mate?”
“Vress? He should be here today. I am in my best elf princess costume.”
“Are you excited?”
“Nervous. The worst thing that happens is I pretend to be blind. I don’t have a bond, so this is just a snag-and-go. They are going to be glad to see the back of me.”
Harwin grinned. “Why is that?”
“I have been telling any curious Terrans what their matches look like or what occupations to go for. It is taking a lot of the assessment time away, and they can’t bill for it.”
Harwin laughed. “Your sister?”
“She’s been gone for three days. She’s off with Eliana and going to have a very tiring time until her DNA activates after their fourth child. Then, she will be a little bit stronger and a worthy consort.”
Laughter came through the com. “That’s actually a pretty good revenge. She gets what she wants, but she has to wait to get the credit.”
“Sadly, a little insecurity will make her a better person. Well, it will occupy her for a while.” Aubrey didn’t fool herself.
If she weren’t around, Avery was actually a responsible person, but their parents had forced proximity, and that had forced comparison, and that had forced hostility. The rest was history.
Knowing what had happened, if Aubrey didn’t enact some kind of justice, she would be considered weak, and that wasn’t good for the oracle.
They chatted a bit, and Harwin smiled. “Are you ready to travel?”
“My pretty-pretty stuff is packed and ready to go. Why?”
“Vress is on final approach. The station called Ra. They are shitting themselves. Vress hasn’t been seen out of his system for a very, very long time.”
“So Ra was the responsible eldest, Kethen was the jock, and Vress was the brooding brother?”
Harwin grinned. “Aren’t you lucky? Anyway, he’s going to arrive today.”
“Hooray. The station is fun, but a lot of the humans are treating me like a carnival attraction. At least the older races seem to know what they are looking at. They ask with manners.”
“Ra really wants to meet you.”
“Delightful. Tell my pilot, even though I don’t have one.”
“Ra will send him a message.”
“Good. I am not excellent at playing telephone.”
Harwin chuckled. “Well, you seem to have settled into your body. You look pretty good.”
“Thanks. I mean, I want to go full Rivendell, but I am not going into hock with the station beyond what I already have.”
Harwin chuckled. “You aren’t. The Hmrain and other bondholders have paid you for every suggestion and direction you have given them.”
“Wait, they pay the oracle?”
Harwin grinned. “Yes.”
She picked up her tablet and brought up her accounts. “Wow. I can afford some shiny things, ‘scuse me. I have to head to the jewellers and see what they can sell me that makes me look more sparkly. I have to compete with a shiny sister-in-law.”
Harwin laughed, and they ended the call.
Humming happily, Aubrey got to her feet, shook out the skirts, and walked over to the door, checking for her guards before opening it. She smiled. “So does anyone want to come with me to the jewellers? I have money to spend. And then we can get some fancy tea and those fluffy pastries.”
Her detachment grinned, and off they went.
The station was familiar now, and the path to the bondholder section of the building was glossy and elegant.
She walked over to the jewellers and explained what she wanted. They looked at her head, smiled, and went to find something that matched her description.
A deep voice said, “Shop here often?”
She smiled and kept looking. “It is currently my only option.”
“No bond?”
“No shuttle or ship.” She glanced at him and froze. “Oh, hello, Honoured Vress.”
He smiled at her. “You insist that you are my match, and that is all I get?”
She looked at him seriously. “Yes.”
Vress looked at her and said, “How are you making purchases?”
“I have been paid for my sight. I only just found out, and I need something shiny. My head is the only part of me not sparkly, and I feel it keenly.”
The jeweller brought over a box and held it open. The headpiece levitated, and she smiled. “May I try it on?”
“Of course, Oracle. Do you require assistance?”
She smiled, eased her fingers into the hovering arrangement of chains, lifted it, moved the centre so she could see it, and settled it on her head.
The jeweller grinned. “It is perfect.”
Vress frowned. “It is too simple to match that gown.”
“Yes, but it is in my budget, and I won’t be a pauper when it’s paid for.” She smiled at the jeweller. “I will take it.”
She slid her hands through her hair and settled the headpiece back in the box before she flicked her hair into order.
Vress cocked his head. “Is your hair always that short?”
“It grows, but I needed to cut ties with my old life symbolically. Hair is easy.” She shrugged.
He looked at her. “Would you have it repaired?”
“You mean longer? Sure, but not on my funds.”
He smiled slowly, showing a lot of sharp teeth. “You are budget-conscious?”
“Sure. I had to accept the dresses because that came with the white eyes, but I eat when folks invite me, or we end up at the places with the best cheap food on the station.” She glanced at her guards. There was chuckling around her.
Vress nodded. “My own experience with companions contained a bit more avarice.”
“Ah, well, I am not a companion. I am a consort or nothing, and anyone taking me on must deal with those who come to consult the oracle.”
He blinked. “This is not going as I imagined.”
She reached out and patted his chest. “I know.”
His eyes widened. “You touch me without fear?”
“Of course. I mean, sex is going to take all my nerve, but it has been a while.”
“You know I destroyed one of my companions?”
She met his gaze. “I know. I know why. I know how. I even know where, if you want me to point it out at your home.”
He shuddered. “Why aren’t you terrified?”
“Because I know why.”
“Tell me.”
“She had been holding you off. You hit rut, and she attacked you with a blaster. She broke her contract, and she ended up falling to her death off the top of the parapet. Her lover was exposed and sentenced to death, and you swore never to take a companion again. You came here now out of curiosity. You were pulled, and nothing has interested you in over a thousand years.”
“I am definitely interested.” He stroked her hair. “So you saw it all.”
“I saw what would have an impact on me. I don’t know how to use a blaster, and I find males annoying at the best of times.
I have been betrayed recently by one who was a lover and the other who was a friend.
I will not colour you with their brush, and if you wish for someone to watch with suspicion, we will cease this interaction and go our separate ways. I am in no mood.”
He leaned back. “You speak like a Hmrain.”
“According to recent scans, I am just missing the wings, though I have the marks.”
Vress’s wings flexed. “You do?”
She reached out to pay for her headpiece. His hand covered hers and took the charge. She frowned and stomped her foot then froze. “That was weird.”
He grinned. “You don’t normally throw micro-tantrums?”
“Nope. That was a first. You stopped me from spending my money.”
Vress laughed. “I hope to do it again and again. Are you willing to join in a contract with me?”
“Buy me dinner, and we will discuss it. What is your favourite cuisine? They can do a lot of stuff here.”
He nodded, and his own guards shifted nervously. He smiled slowly, and she held up a flat hand. “Save it. There is no contract at play, and sexy flirting is going to fall on deaf ears until there is a contract.”
He laughed and offered his arm.
“Sorry. Can’t. We are unbonded. Dinner first. I will walk near you, and that is all. Now, what style of food do you prefer?”
“What can you digest?”
“Pretty much anything, but I don’t like food that moves on its own.”
“Noted. Zyrchek?”
She smiled. “Yes, please.”
“You will have to lead.”
She chuckled. “Ladies and gentlemen?”
Her guards formed up. One of them took the jewel case for her, and they began to walk through the station. Vress fell into step with her walking train, and his guards were at his side.
He was looking a little befuddled, but he had a smile on his lips as the people of the station moved out of their way.
The Zyrchek restaurant was a five-minute walk, and when they were seated by the astonished but discreet staff and she was settled, Vress looked at her. “Why are you willing to have me? You could choose any Hmrain.”
“If you decline, I am sure that the sight will provide me with an option.” She looked over the menu. “I have seen us together thousands of days and thousands of ways.”
She made her selections and then looked at the exceedingly rigid Hmrain she had taunted.
He looked at her and said, “I thought sexy teasing was off the table.”
“For you. There is a power dynamic here. I am the weaker partner, and I get to do a lot of the teasing. It’s a rule or something.” She grinned. “Order your meal, Lord Vress.”
He blinked. “Bossy.”
“I am hungry, and it’s called assertive.”
He snorted and began ordering an incredible array of items.
She smiled.
“I really want you against me right now.”
“After the contract.”
Vress raised his hand, and one of his guards handed him a contract tablet. While they waited, Vress tapped rapidly on the tablet before nodding. “Here, add anything you wish.”