Chapter 40
CHAPTER FORTY
Aiden was resigned as he walked back through the lobby.
There was plenty of information for everyone to pore over in the coming days.
He, Elenor, and Mathias had spent a good chunk of time debating the best methods of delivering arms to rural communities, then delivering Evelyn to make her declaration of intent to the Senate.
He understood why Nannette had wanted to shoot down Mathias’s plan to arm farmers. Aiden also preferred not to let bystanders get hurt if he could avoid it. He just couldn’t see a way through the coming weeks that could.
He dropped in on Veronique to chat with her about ideas that had sparked while going over the data with Lillian.
She and Tariel had set up story boards in his workshop and were plotting out the first few videos they wanted to compose.
They had a solid focus for the start of their first sprinkling of propaganda ads.
Leaving them to their planning, he’d intended to swing back by the armory, but he heard more loud bickering in the hallway and turned around instead. Aiden didn’t want to be on the wrong end of one of Nannette’s throwing knives.
Not again.
Instead, his feet took him where he’d wanted to go all along, back to the storage space full of Evelyn’s media. He slowed as he approached the doorway.
Evelyn was sitting on her folding chair, her eyes closed.
One of the plants Cairn had taken possession of was on the table next to her.
Aiden leaned against the doorjamb and crossed his arms, settling in.
He liked observing Evelyn when her focus was elsewhere.
You learned the best things about people when they didn’t know you were looking at them.
Her chest rose and fell in slow, steady breaths.
He could see the tension in her shoulders, in the faint line that appeared between her eyebrows as she focused on the task at hand.
It looked like there were tear tracks on her cheeks, and Aiden worried that she’d been pushing herself too hard, too fast. There was the faintest glow around her, like someone had shone a spotlight on her.
The plant on the desk also glowed. Aiden watched as the plant started to wither away, like a stop motion film of a decaying specimen in live action.
Then, the glowing stopped. The plant was, in his estimation, a lost cause.
Cairn is going to be so bummed. Impressed, but bummed.
But within moments, the glow returned, and the process reversed itself, the plant working its way back to life.
Aiden thought the little seedling might even look better than it had before Evelyn had worked her talent on it.
“That was fucking cool,” he said.
She jumped in her chair and turned toward the doorway, her hand flying to her chest.
“Sorry, sorry. Being a creep over here. Still. Fucking cool,” he said, walking over and sitting in one of the empty chairs.
“I’m glad you think it’s cool and not that you want to run screaming in the other direction,” Evelyn said. She bit her lower lip and returned her gaze to the plant. “It is cool. It’s scary, but it’s cool.”
“I, personally, think it’s kinda hot that you could mummify me if I got out of line,” Aiden said.
The teeth returned to her bottom lip. Well, fuck.
“Dollface, it should be scary any time you mess around with a weapon, whether that weapon is a blaster or a knife or the ability you’ve kept locked away in a corner of your mind.
But it’s also a big deal that you can do something so powerful that so few people understand,” he said.
Aiden grabbed her hand and held it in his.
So soft. “Respect for exactly what weapons do is the thing that keeps you from using them unless you absolutely have to.”
She squeezed his hand, and something in Aiden’s chest relaxed.
He often put his foot in his mouth, but when he did, he tried very hard to extract it as quickly as possible.
He never wanted Evelyn to feel bad about herself.
In his estimation, she was far too spectacular to ever suffer from self-doubt.
Not on my watch.
“You know, I gave myself a little pep talk that sounded a lot like that,” she said, a brief smile graced her lips.
“I am very wise,” he said, managing to keep a straight face until her eyebrows shot up. He grinned at her. “Okay, the moms are very wise, and I’m a good parrot.”
“That sounds very likely,” she said, laughter tinging her words. Aiden felt victorious. He would gladly lambast himself six times a day if it kept the self-doubt out of her eyes.
“To their credit, I’ve never blasted off one of my own toes,” he said. “And I know how to maintain all of my toys.”
Evelyn waggled her eyebrows. “Noted.”
Pretending that his phrasing was deliberate and not a very Freudian slip, Aiden tugged Evelyn’s hand and encouraged her onto his lap.
He wrapped his arms around her waist and nuzzled the spot beneath her ear, relishing it when she shivered.
He felt her press her thighs together and smirked into her neck.
“Not fair,” she muttered, twining her fingers with his.
“Dollface, playing fair is for suckers,” he said. “We sure as shit aren’t going to play fair to get you your planet back. And I’m never going to play fair if I have the chance to get my hands on you.”
“Is that so?” The question was a hoarse whisper on her lips. She ground her hips against his lap, and Aiden could no longer ignore the hardening length in his trousers. Holding her tight against him, he flexed his hips, loving the feel of her soft ass against his hard cock.
“That’s the spirit, dollface. My good girl’s a quick learner,” he rasped against her ear.
She twisted her neck back, presumably to steal a kiss, and Aiden felt her freeze in his arms. Her head was at a strange angle. He followed her gaze to the open doorway and understood the sudden cold plunge in her attitude. With a final squeeze, he loosened his grip on her waist.
“I think you’ve had enough breakthroughs for one day,” he said. “You need to recharge and rest. We need to drop Mathias off tonight, but I think the moms are going to make dinner before we send him back to 14 And.”
“I wouldn’t mind a break,” she said. “What do you have in mind?”
Aiden grabbed her hand and pointed to a small fleck of soil. “Dollface, you’re filthy. We must get you cleaned up and into something more comfortable.”
“Who am I to argue with facts?”
“I do find it best to bow to the evidence in cases like these.” He patted her thigh, and she got off his lap. Hand in hand, they stepped out of the storage room to head back to their quarters when the security klaxons started to bellow.