Chapter 15
Nia knew, with certainty, she was once again near Mace when she woke the next morning. Not only because of the unrelenting warmth coming off his body, but because she’d had a dreamless sleep.
That wasn’t quite true. She’d dreamed of her parents. But the nightmares of cerulean birds eating eyeballs had stayed away.
Curled on her side, she felt waves of heat moving into her spine. They weren’t touching, but she was certain if she rolled onto her back, she would meet his body.
Nia lay there, eyes closed, debating whether to test out her theory, when the blanket covering her shifted. Cool air seeped against her skin as he left the bed. The door to the washroom whooshed shut a moment later.
The steam shower hummed. She kept still, listening, and an image of Mace’s chest filled her mind, beads of moisture running through the grooves of his muscles, traveling downward…
Nia swallowed, heart rate accelerating. Something had shifted between them yesterday. She didn’t like it but couldn’t seem to stop it. She’d been aware of him from the second he’d landed on her table on Elara Five, but that awareness had turned into appreciation or something like it.
Self-loathing consumed her, and she gripped her locket through the material of her shirt. This softening toward him couldn’t continue. There should be nothing but hate in her heart.
But thinking the thought didn’t make it true.
Defeat rolling through her, she squeezed the locket, then let go. Escape was the only thing she should be worried about. Brushing the hair out of her face, she rose from the bed. While she had privacy, she opened the compartment under the bed and changed her outfit, stuffing the other one in the sluice beside the washroom to be laundered.
The narrow door slid open. His black hair damp, Mace wore his uniform, his vambrace contrasting with the navy color.
Quickly, she retreated, ignoring the way her heart pounded at his nearness, and the fresh, minty scent coming off him in waves. Stopping on the other side of the kitchen counter, she stared at the refrigeration unit.
Mace followed and reached around her to open the door. “Are you going to have something to eat?”
She grabbed the first thing without looking at it, then sat at the table before opening the packet of concentrated greens. Not her favorite, but whatever. Convincing herself she meant to grab these greens, she bit into the corner and chewed, and followed Mace’s movements out of the corner of her eye.
Instead of sitting at the table, he remained where he was, leaned against the counter, and crossed his ankles to drink his compound beverage. Her mind kept returning to the events from yesterday, but she felt his gaze bore into her while she ate.
They both kept silent, the tension between them growing.
Swallowing the last lump of greens around her unwanted emotions, Nia stood, shoved the packaging in reclamation, and walked to the to the door to wait. She told herself it was to get to the med bay as quickly as possible, to see Kilian’s new leg, and not her need to escape the man who’d become a vulnerability to her sanity.
Neither of them spoke on the walk to the medical bay. Nia kept her mind on the prosthetic, and the rehabilitation process Kilian would need to undergo after the surgery, instead of all of her other rampaging thoughts.
The door to the med bay opened, revealing the place crammed with people. As soon as Mace disengaged her bonds, Nia’s triage skills kicked in and she began with the more urgent cases.
She didn’t hear Mace leave and barely had the chance to say a quick hello to Kilian and Sorley. A broken arm, jammed finger, bruised collarbone, and a multitude of runny noses and fevers, Nia didn’t have a moment to spare until well into her day.
When the bulk of the crowd had thinned, the patients either discharged or remaining on med beds for observation, Nia finally had a minute to take a look at the prosthetic for Kilian. She pulled it out of its foam inlaid box, the length of the limb covered in transparent sterilization film. It was the exact model she’d requested, a PK576.
But the packaging made her heart lurch. This…was exactly how it would look if she’d ordered it directing from the CORE herself. Where had Mace gotten it from? Why hadn’t she asked how it would be obtained? It had to have been stolen from somewhere.
She used to see newsreels on a daily basis, ones where medical freighters were pirated by Tellusians, and medical stations like Elara Five were raided for supplies as well as people. It was what Tellusians did.
Why would she have expected anything else?
When Sorley joined her, Nia forced a smile, pushing all her muddled thoughts aside. She couldn’t change how the prosthetic had arrived and needed to focus on her current patient. But Sorley’s dour expression made the dread inside her intensify.
“I don’t think I can afford this,” he said, his voice almost a moan, his head bowed.
Nia’s fingers twitched on the artificial limb. “What?”
Sorley lifted his hand like he wanted to touch it, then let his arm fall. “We were on the transport to Oberon because I was moving where the work was. Things have been tight lately. And after the night in brig, no one wants to hire me here.” He looked away from her, shoulders slumped.
Nia blinked, a hard knot solidifying in her stomach. The cost of a medical procedure like this—necessary for the person to function as a productive member of society—would be covered by the CORE government. She hadn’t realized it could be any other way. Nia glanced over her shoulder. Kilian strained to hear what they said, his face so eager, her heart shattered.
Her hands tightened around the limb. “Someone had to pay for this?”
“If your commander was the one who acquired it for you, he was the one who paid for it.”
“He’s not my commander,” Nia muttered, angry at everything in the solar system. One more look at Kilian and she squared her shoulders. “I promised your son and I’m not about to break my promise.”
“But I can’t afford this.”
“I’ll pay for it. Or Commander Mace can take my creds until it’s paid for.”
Sorley straightened in surprise. “You don’t have to do that.”
“I do. And I will. End of discussion.” Nia carried the limb to Kilian’s bed, shoulders squared as she offered him a smile. “It’s perfect, Kilian,” she said, easing the worry etching his face. “Kessy, I’ll have your help for this.”
“Yes, sir,” she said, leaving the new shipment of tools she’d been unpacking to join her.
Nia’s eyes lingered on the CORE packaging there too. Then, she shook herself. They sterilized their hands, and Nia unwrapped the prosthetic. Accessing the control panel on the back of the knee, she waited for the limb to beep before settling it in line with his thigh.
After Kessy injected a mild painkiller and numbing agent into Kilian’s leg, Nia removed the regeneration gauze from his wounds. Using her fine detail regenerator, she stimulated each of the nerve endings and ligaments which would grow into the limb itself.
Kilian hissed.
“Are you uncomfortable?” Nia asked him, pausing in the work.
He nodded. “A little.”
“Kessy, another, please.”
“Yes, sir.”
Once administered, Nia continued, and this time Kilian remained comfortable. The ligaments primed, they fitted the prosthetic over the stump. One touch of a button on the back of the knee, and the four plates and the top hissed and shrank to fit the diameter of Kilian’s thigh.
“This is the hardest part,” Nia said, wanting to squeeze his hand, but stopped herself, frowning. She’d never wanted to squeeze the hand of her patient before. It wouldn’t be proper. Touching was only tolerated in a medical capacity.
Kilian’s brow wrinkled, sweat beading his upper lip.
“Kessy, one more dose please,” Nia said.
“Yes, sir.”
Nia shook her head at the medic’s insistent formality, then returned her focus to the prosthetic when the limb beeped once more.
“There,” she said to Kilian. “Now all you have to do is stay put for a day while your body does the work. By tomorrow, you’ll be standing on your own.”
“Really?” Kilian’s eyes rounded, drops of moisture gathering in the corners.
She blinked away a sudden stinging in her eyes, her fingers twitching to call a suppressant. She shouldn’t be having these feelings while tending a patient. “Yes, ah.” She swallowed around the lump in her throat. “The tissues in your body need to integrate with the limb. It takes time.” She motioned to the top part of the limb above his own knee joint. “This will always stay on. You can remove the bottom part, but you won’t need to replace the limb as long as it’s working properly. It will adjust as you grow to accommodate height and weight.”
Focusing on the specifications of the limb helped her ignore the adoration coming from the boy and the uncomfortable sensations in her chest. She needed to step away before she became truly emotional.
Turning, she froze on a gasp when Sorley touched her hand.
A sharp word in another language cut through the room from the doorway. Everyone’s head whipped around to see Mace standing there, blocking the whole door with his bulk. Sorley dropped his hand and met Nia’s eyes.
“I was going to say thank you for doing this,” he paused, “all of it. You didn’t have to after the way I acted. I’m sorry for how I treated you in the beginning. There was no excuse for it.”
“That’s…” Her throat tight, her eyes strayed to Mace. “You’re welcome.”
He looked like he had yesterday, positively murderous. With all the other potent emotions swirling around inside her and no way to block them, his added presence only made her panic. She didn’t want a repeat of what had happened yesterday, but not knowing how to stop another disastrous encounter, she remained stuck in her spot.
The tension in the bay grew, everyone else as frozen as she was. But when Kilian squirmed uncomfortably in his bed, his face a mix of fear and worry, protectiveness washed over her. She shot Mace an accusing look. I will not allow him to agitate this child.
Nia moved to the end of the med bed, blocking Kilian’s view of the door, then crossed her arms over her chest. “Why are you here?” She’d only completed half her shift.
His eyebrows jumped into his hairline, and he glanced about the room. He looked…embarrassed? That couldn’t be it.
Shaking her head, Nia walked closer but kept her arms crossed. “What is it?” she asked, stopping close in front of him. Did he have a medical issue? She glanced at his knuckles. No bruises or cuts today.
“Um,” he started, then stopped, running a hand through his hair.
She cocked her head to the side, totally baffled by this new hesitancy.
“I wanted to make sure you ate something,” he finally said.
Nia’s arms dropped to her sides, her stomach fluttering.
His eyes narrowed “Did you?”
She shook her head slowly.
He scowled. “Then eat.”
“Okay.” She pursed her lips. “That’s it?”
“Yeah. Eat.” He spun around and left.
Nia blinked and stared at the closed door. Mace’s appearance, his demand, muddled her already turbulent emotions. She pressed a hand to her stomach. What the hell was happening to her?
Turning around, she realized everyone stared. Nia grimaced, then returned to Kilian’s side.
“Rather intense fellow,” Sorley said, a pucker of concern marring his brow.
Ignoring the comment, she started to explain Kilian’s rehabilitation process and tried to invalidate the way her heart beat uncomfortably in her chest.