Chapter 4
CHAPTER FOUR
Evelyn tucked her hair behind her ears and squared her shoulders.
The fact that she was being . . . Rescued?
By pirates. On a party vessel. She supposed it wasn’t objectively any less weird than any of the other things that had happened to her since she entered into The Agreement with her father and Emil.
At least this was giving her an opportunity to stretch her legs.
Is a rescue only a kidnapping if you’re displeased by the person who’s shown up for you?
Cairn was clearly showing off his skills as a pilot as he brought the jump ship in for the smoothest manual docking she’d ever felt, either to put her at ease or to annoy Aiden.
From what little she’d been able to judge of him so far, Evelyn suspected his motivations were equally divided.
She had liked the man immediately; his rakish charm and competent manner had put her at ease at once.
“Home sweet home,” Aiden said. He was standing at the entrance to the corridor they had entered the bridge from.
A trio of candy wrappers circled in the air next to him, he seemed to be juggling them with an absent-minded lack of focus.
When he noticed where Evelyn was looking, the wrappers sailed into his hand.
“Sorry. Cairn tells me it’s a disconcerting habit. ”
“Creepy,” Cairn said. “I say it’s a creepy habit.”
“I don’t mind,” Evelyn said. “It’s actually sort of nice to see something familiar after so long.”
Aiden nodded. “Shall we? No need to put the helmets back on. We have a clear path back to the lobby.”
“After you.”
Evelyn hefted the helmet up off the floor and hugged it to her body as she followed Aiden and Cairn down the corridor and through the hatch to the docking bay of the Rising Dawn.
The helmet was a far cry from the zing she’d felt holding Aiden’s hand as they’d drifted through space to the jump ship, but Evelyn would find her comfort objects as they came.
Captives can’t be choosers.
The floor was tiled with black and white penny tile, black flowers dotting an ivory background.
The walls were a soft yellow, and one wall had the ship’s name painted in bold red script.
There was a small stand with leaflets describing the ship’s amenities next to the doorway Aiden and Cairn were heading through.
She grabbed one and tucked it down the front of the spacesuit.
Hopefully it wouldn’t migrate too far down her body before she could get the damn thing off.
They exited into the lobby, and Evelyn had to stop herself from audibly gasping.
The room she found herself in had gorgeous snowy marble tile set in a herringbone pattern.
A sparkling chandelier dangled in the middle of the room, highlighting a glossy black piano.
Jewel-toned velvet chairs and small, leather, two-person loveseats spiraled out from the piano area in loose clusters.
To the right was a full bar with a shining green marble top, threaded with white streaks. White marble cafe tables and golden chairs dotted the area surrounding the bar. There was a black wrought-iron spiral staircase that led up to a balcony and observation deck on the second floor of the atrium.
Every place Evelyn turned, she could see greenery. Monstera, philodendrons, and birds of paradise grew in clustered pots and planters. Pothos climbed the far wall and danced along the inner pole of the staircase.
“Piracy pays a lot better than I thought it did.”
“What, this dump? She’s not much, but she’s home,” Cairn said, and Evelyn could hear the struggle not to laugh come through in his brogue. “L.I.N.D.A., where is my beautiful wife?”
The ship’s computer responded, “Welcome home, Cairn. Veronique is in the galley.”
“Oh, good. We can have dinner. I wonder what they’re making.” Cairn headed off towards the bar, stopping at a planter near the piano. He stuck his finger into the earth, then ducked around a corner and re-appeared with a watering can.
“Your ship’s computer is named Linda?”
“Yeah, L.I.N.D.A. — Linear Integrated Neural Data Array. She’s top of the line.” Aiden said, the tips of his ears going pink.
For a thief he sure has a lot of tells. Cute ones, too.
“She sounds lovely.”
“I am both top of the line and lovely. Whom am I speaking to? I will be adding your voice print to my memory banks.”
“I’m Evelyn Alpertti. Pleasure to meet you, L.I.N.D.A.”
“Meddling artificial intelligence nuisance,” Aiden muttered under his breath. “This is the way to the galley. We need to make a hand scan so you can get to the crew’s areas.”
Aiden led Evelyn to the smoked glass doors on the far side of the bar and gestured at a box mounted on the wall.
“These scanners are mounted at the doors that lead to all the crew areas of the ship. We just need to scan your hand and then you can get anywhere you’d like to go on board.”
“Are you sure you want to let me have unfettered access to the ship? I mean I could try to run away. Or eat all your cocktail cherries.”
Aiden grinned, and the smile lit up his too-serious eyes. She felt heat rising in her cheeks.
I need to train myself not to blush every time he looks at me.
He reached for her hand. “I’m willing to risk the cherries.”
Evelyn put her hand in his. It was unnecessary, as they were still several feet away from the wall.
She was perfectly capable of guiding her own palm to the plate when they reached the scanner.
But she couldn’t help herself; she craved the subtle zing of electricity that seemed to shiver through her at Aiden’s slightest touch.
The hair-raising awareness of sharing Amplification with him paled in comparison to the way her body seemed to come alive in his presence. She shivered at the gentle touch of their hands, and her eyes found his. The grin had fallen from his face, his gaze was serious again.
Without looking away from her, he guided their hands to the plate. Wordlessly, he covered her hand with his as she tried to pinpoint the exact shade of green his eyes were.
“New handprint accessed. Assigning to Evelyn Alpertti.”
She bit her lower lip, and his gaze focused on her mouth. She shuddered a little as his nostrils flared and filed that information away for later.
Cairn cleared his throat. “Now that that’s done, can we eat? I’m starving.”
Evelyn ripped her eyes away from Aiden’s as he snatched his hand away from hers. She noticed the tips of his ears were now a deep red shade. She could feel the heat in her own cheeks increasing.
Busted.
“What have you got to eat on this rust bucket?” She turned to Cairn and grinned. “Anything palatable?”
“Rations. Honestly, it’s a bleak life here in space, lass, but we manage.”
Aiden shook his head as he held the door open for them both. “Why do strangers make you get a thousand percent more Scottish?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Aiden. Evelyn and I are old friends.” Cairn winked at Evelyn as he passed by her to walk to the galley.
“Yeah,” she agreed. “We go back almost as long as you and I do.” She grinned at Aiden and followed Cairn down the hallway.
They passed walls the same cheery yellow as the docking portal, with the same penny tile on the floor.
Evelyn could hear voices coming from the open doorway up ahead, and she could smell onions and garlic in the air.
Her mouth started to water. It suddenly hit her that she hadn’t had a proper meal in a very, very long time.
Pineapple candy couldn’t hold a candle to whatever was simmering up ahead.
“Honey, I’m home. And we made a friend!” Cairn boomed as he walked through the doorway.
He made a beeline for a short, delicate-looking woman with warm tan skin and a pile of glossy brown curls on her head.
The woman turned around in time for him to sweep her into a dramatic dip and give her an enthusiastic kiss.
The conversation had stopped when Evelyn and Aiden walked into the galley.
In addition to the woman Evelyn assumed was Veronique, two men and three women were seated around a long wooden table that served as the crew dining room portion of the galley.
The other half of the room looked like a commercial kitchen, but this corner felt homey and warm.
One of the two men seated at the table was slim, with deep brown skin.
He wore glasses and had an elegant air about him.
The other man was younger, muscular, with a black goatee and top knot.
Two of the women were older than anyone else in the galley, save maybe the elegant man.
They were a study in contrasts: one tall, slim, with hair and skin coloring that matched Aiden.
The other was shorter, curvier, with Aiden’s eyes and a sleek grey bob.
The last woman at the table was around Evelyn’s age — or the age she’d been when she’d entered her stasis pod.
She was pale, with dark auburn hair and deep blue eyes.
Her well-toned arms flexed as they reached behind her head to tie her hair back.
“You probably have guessed that Cairn is saying hello to his wife, Veronique.”
“I did assume that, yes.” Cairn had told her about his wife on their short flight, and his description was dead accurate. Evelyn had thought he was exaggerating her beauty, but the twinkling eyes and plush lips were as described.
“You’re quick, Evelyn. I like that about you.
” Aiden grinned and gestured to the two older white women sitting at the table.
“These are my moms, Elenor and Lillian. The man in the glasses is called Tariel. The man with the goatee is Veselko, and the last woman sitting is Nannette. Everybody, this is Evelyn. Apparently, she’s the score. ”
Evelyn awkwardly waved at the table. Everyone but Elenor gaped at her.
“This is not a score. This is a person. What the ever loving fuck has Vinnie got us involved in, Aiden?” Nannette demanded. She was the embodiment of the phrase ‘beautiful when angry.’ Her russet hair reminded Evelyn of cinnamon sticks, and her pale cheeks flushed with color.
“Oh, real nice.” Veselko elbowed her. “Be polite. We have a guest. Act civilized.”
“I’ll show you civilized.”
Elenor stood up from the table and walked towards Evelyn and Aiden. Her sleek grey hair bounced as she moved toward them, and Evelyn could see that she was right about those green eyes needing no ornamentation.
They must come from a planet with affordable gene manipulation. Definitely GPC. Too expensive on an unaffiliated planet.
“Honestly Aiden,” Elenor tsked. She reached her hands out to Evelyn. “This poor thing is still in a spacesuit.”
“Blame Cairn. He was starving to death.”
“Blame Aiden. He has no manners, and I know you raised him better than that, Elenor.”
Evelyn couldn’t help but smile. She hadn’t been around a happy family in longer than she cared to remember. Hers had sacrificed warmth to the pressures of rule decades before The Agreement had been signed.
“It’s okay, ma’am. I’m actually in my pajamas under this suit, so it’s a relief to meet everyone in vaguely more suitable attire.”
Evelyn heard Cairn say, “Suitable! She’s funny!” to Veronique in what she imagined he thought was a whisper. Veronique patted his hand in the intergalactic short hand for “Yes, dear.”
“Aiden, did you abduct a person?” Elenor turned to her son, eyes narrowed. Evelyn was glad she wasn’t on the receiving end of that look. “In their pajamas? And then not give them a chance to remove their spacesuit?”
“In my defense,” he said, “I don’t regularly kidnap people.”
Twenty minutes later, Evelyn sat at the table with a heaping bowl of pasta in front of her.
She’d shed the spacesuit and sat instead in her robe and pajamas.
She’d inhaled three pieces of garlic bread and was now happily devouring a serving of bowtie pasta with chunks of juicy grilled chicken and small creamy balls of mozzarella cheese, all swimming in a garlicky, red marinara.
She was alternating bites with gulps of blackberry and peach iced tea.
She didn’t think she’d had a better meal.
They had collectively decided to put off the discussion of what was going on until after they had all had dinner. Evelyn was happy to observe the dynamic around the table while she ate in silence. She took the opportunity to make mental notes about the crew.
Elenor and Lilian were obviously very much in love. Tariel was a precise eater, taking measured bites. Evelyn enjoyed watching his elegant hands move to cut his chicken or adjust his glasses. All his movements were deft, precise.
Maybe he’s the piano player.
Veselko was gregarious with Cairn at their end of the table, telling a story about a snowstorm that Cairn kept interrupting to contradict the details of.
Nannette just looked jumpy, like she was sure that Evelyn was about to sprout a second head at any moment that she would have to shoot off her shoulder.
All the while, Aiden sat next to her, not joining in on the conversation overmuch, eating little, and making sure her iced tea was refilled and that she had more carbs available. It was ridiculously endearing.
When she couldn’t eat another bite, she set down her fork. She wiped her mouth with a napkin and turned to look at Aiden. He was pushing around a bowtie in his bowl, pretending to eat.
“I think I’ve been a pretty good sport about all of this, but I think I’d like to know why I’m here now, Aiden.”
The conversation came to a grinding halt for a second time that night.
“Join the club,” Nannette said.
“Okay, cards on the table,” Aiden said. He set down his fork and proceeded to tell her about the woman who’d hired him, the job he was supposed to be on, and the trip through the facility that led him to her pod chamber.
Cairn threw in the odd editorial comment, having seen everything through Aiden’s glasses.
“And then I woke up,” Evelyn said. She didn’t need everyone at the table to know she’d been woken up by a kiss from a stranger.
“And then you woke up,” Aiden agreed, obviously relieved.
“Yep. You sure did.” Cairn grinned. Evelyn arched her eyebrow at him and he winked at her. She was surprised he hadn’t taken the chance to needle Aiden again.
Interesting.
“It seemed, to say the least, hinky,” Aiden said. “The overprotective droid squadron that tried to subdue us on the way out also seemed off. So my question for you, Evelyn Alpertti, is who the hell are you, and why were you in that stasis chamber?”
Nannette gasped, wide eyes turning to Evelyn. “Alpertti? Princess Evelyn Alpertti? Of Tanalia?”
“You’ve heard of me?” Evelyn huffed a bitter little laugh. “That’s a first.”