Chapter 10
Nova
The first thing Nova did when she woke up was look out the window. Miran had left the shutters open, and to her relief, the storm was over. She could see the clear night sky.
“How do you feel?”
Miran’s question made her jump. She shifted her gaze to watch Miran jump up from his seat and rush to kneel at the side of the bed. She must’ve slept hard not to have woken when he got up from the bed.
“Fine, I think,” she said, sitting up. The moment she swung her legs over the edge of the bed, he reached for her ankle. The label had changed color. It was ready to be taken off.
Sitting back on his heels, he unwrapped the bandage and revealed an ankle without any swelling. The bruising was almost all gone, and when she flexed, there wasn’t even a twinge of pain.
She let out a relieved breath. “That’s perfect.”
He leaned his face close to her ankle, as if he could see through her skin and into the joint. “It looks much better.”
Tugging her foot out of his grip, she stood up to test her leg.
“Be careful,” he warned, holding his arms out as if to catch her. Was it weird that he kept his eyes on the floor? She pushed his arms out of the way and took a confident step past him.
“It feels great,” she said, bending her legs to test the ankle. It was only a little stiff. A walk around the room loosened it up.
“All better,” she announced.
Miran got up from the floor, still not looking at her, and tapped on his data bracelet. She expected him to be affectionate after they’d been intimate, but he was acting like she was a co-worker.
She didn’t like it.
Ignoring his odd behavior, she looked around the room. She noticed that the food box from earlier and the delivery section of the med box were both gone. The part of the med box that Miran got to keep was sitting on the floor next to his pile of gear.
Folded neatly on top of the med box was her wild-human costume and the Fielden clothes. Looking down, she became aware that she was walking around the room naked. She was so used to being partially dressed or fully undressed around other circus workers that she hadn't noticed.
Was that why he wasn't looking at her? Were the Hissa overly modest?
Striding over, she was pleasantly surprised to find that all her clothes had been cleaned and were free of sand.
She didn’t feel like putting on the tight wild-human costume.
Instead, she pulled on the loose-fitting Fielden cloak.
It wasn’t until she had them on that she realized she’d been a little cold, and the light clothing was the perfect amount to be comfortable.
Turning around, she found Miran staring directly at her with a relieved look on his face. So it had been the clothes. Testing the theory further, she strode up to him and didn’t stop until she was almost touching him.
He raised his arms, as if he was about to embrace her, then dropped them and stepped back.
“We should talk,” he said.
Was there any sentence more loathed than that one?
Crossing her arms, she made sure her face was perfectly blank. She didn’t care what he was going to say. Their time together meant nothing to her. She was leaving anyway. Nothing he was about to say would bother her.
At least that’s what she told herself even as she fought back tears.
“I wish I was a less honorable man,” he began.
What did that even mean?
The door chimed at the same time his data bracelet sounded, interrupting whatever else he was going to say.
“I ordered food before you woke up,” he explained, striding to the door.
Out in the hall was the same Fielden that delivered the last food box. She handed over the new one and turned and left without another word.
Wow, Miran was pissing everyone off .
He didn’t seem to notice.
“I’m not hungry,” she said, moving to examine the offering in the room’s vending machine. One of the drinks the machine offered caught her attention.
That was how she’d escape.
She heard him set the food box down on the table. “Please try to consume a little food.”
Ordering several different drinks out of the machine, she forced a smile on her face and walked over to the table. She set the bigger one in front of Miran, then sat down with the smaller one in front of her.
“Sure, I’ll eat. You should join me.”
He let out a sigh and opened the box. Pulling out several containers, he set them on the table before sitting down. Neither of them moved to open any of the containers.
She needed him to drink, but he probably wouldn’t do that until he ate. He wasn’t going to eat until she did.
Ignoring the knots in her belly, she popped open one of the containers and picked up a bite and popped it in her mouth.
He didn’t follow her example. He kept his gaze on the table between thim, his mouth in a tight line. Why was he so upset? He was going to tell her he didn’t like her. Or maybe he was going to give her instructions on how to be better at sex in the future.
He could be about to explain that she’d need to do better with future clients.
It certainly wasn’t to tell her that he loved her and wanted them to run off together. That was too much to hope for.
She barely got that bite down. After that, she gave up on eating. “What is it?”
“I need to apologize,” he said. “But I don’t want to.”
That wasn’t what she expected, but that shouldn’t surprise her. Nothing had gone as planned so far.
“What’s your apology and why don’t you want to say it?” she asked.
“I took advantage of you,” he said, his shoulders slumping and his head falling forward.
“Because you bought me?” she asked, thoroughly confused.
He looked up, obviously surprised by her confusion. “Because we had sex!”
Hope unfurled inside her. “You liked what we did?”
“Of course I liked it,” he said. “If I died tomorrow, I’d be a happy man because I got to taste you. Sinking my dick deep inside you was as close to an otherworldly experience as I’ve ever had. Your body is sublime, and your pleasure is captivating.”
His bold words and proclamation made her insides warm. “You liked me?”
“You’re slick is ambrosia," he murmured, his face relaxing into a softer expression. “The sounds you make when you come are the most beautiful sounds. Nothing in my life has ever felt as good as your body wrapped around my cock and convulsing from climax.”
Eager to feel all of that again, she reached out to touch his face. “Want to do it again?”
He looked regretful. “I need to tell you some things first.”
She withdrew her hand with a little frown. “But you’re not rejecting me?”
“By the moons, no,” he said. “But after I tell you everything, you might not want to be near me any longer.”
“Is this where you admit that it’s all a lie?” she asked.
“Lie?” he repeated. “What’s a lie?”
She rolled her eyes. “You know. That there isn’t some perfect place you're taking me. It’s okay, you can admit it.
We could run off together. I know I can get another job, and I’m sure I can find something for you to do.
You’re big and intimidating, especially when you're wearing that armor and weapons. No one would give us a hard time.” An idea occurred to her.
“We could travel as a solo act! Travel from station to station and entertain some people. I knew a couple of families that did that. It’s good money.
We could totally do my wild-human act. You could pretend to be my keeper. ”
“No, I didn’t lie to you about anything,” he said. “The problem is that I left things out.”
Her excitement disappeared. “What did you leave out?”
“You didn’t have to pick me,” he said.
“Pick you to buy me?” she asked.
“Pick me to have sex with. There are many warriors who would all want you to pick them,” he said.
“I took advantage of you by sleeping with you before you got to meet any of them. We’re told that we can’t propose to the humans until we’re back on Hissa.
Otherwise, we’re taking advantage of humans who’ve been abused and traumatized.
We’re given strict orders about how to interact with newly recovered humans.
We receive lectures about how the human we recover might latch onto us because we represent safety, not because they actually want us.
It’s important that after a lifetime of slavery, the human has the right to choose their partner. ”
It took her a moment to take in everything he’d said. It was just so ridiculous! He was so sweet and naive to believe everything he was told by his employer. His sincerity gave her hope that they could stay together.
But first, she needed to wipe that sad look off his face.
“Do I seem traumatized to you?” she asked.
“We were told that trauma can take many forms and be very complex,” he answered.
She went with another tact. “Do I act like I’m scared of you?”
“You ran away,” he reminded her, making her snort out a laugh.
“Because you bought me,” she retorted. “I wasn’t letting you guys take me to someplace unknown. Everything that happened after we got here was my choice.”
“You aren’t capable of making those choices,” he said.
Anger rose up in her. She didn’t tamp it down.
“Oh really? What makes me incapable of saying no? I’m not saying that there might be women out there who say yes because they're scared, but has anything I’ve done made it seem like I was one of those women?
I’m the one who kissed you on the shuttle and again in the bathing room.
Me! I made that choice because I enjoyed it.
I liked what we did afterwards. I might’ve been a slave, but I’ve never been subservient. ”
She tapped the table as she made her point. “I’ve never had sex before you, and I’m looking forward to doing it again. But if you think I’m that pathetic, then I’m not having it with you!”