Chapter 9 #2
To shut him up, Niir leaned toward the vendor so his disk could be scanned and the necklace paid for.
Calinae just stared at the gems resting against her skin. She looked up at him. “Thank you. You didn’t have to buy this for me.”
He cupped her chin in his hand and lowered his mouth to hers. He kissed her, long and deep. Maybe it was because of the sexual pull of this station. Maybe it was the knowledge that they would share a room that night and he didn’t think he could fight this thing anymore.
Her hands wrapped around the metal bands crossing his chest. She tugged him closer and deepened the kiss.
“Perhaps the lady would like a matching bracelet?” asked the vendor, fingers dripping with his offerings.
Calinae broke the kiss as Niir growled menacingly at the foolish vendor. She let out a chuckle and tugged him along. He went, intoxicated by her.
“I’m hungry, Niir,” she said as they left the market. “Is there a food replicator around here?”
He almost laughed. “If we’re here, we may as well eat at the best restaurant on the station.”
Ulli Falls was a towering waterfall built against a crystal cliff. Caverns were carved into the rock up and down behind it, offering private dining spaces behind walls of water. Lifts took diners up to their tables.
Niir and Calinae settled into their seats in a dining nook about halfway up the cliff side.
So far, this experience had gone better than he had hoped.
She seemed to enjoy his company. Aside from the fact that she was utterly awed by her ultra-luxurious surroundings, she was taking all this in rather well.
It was hard to believe that two Earth weeks ago, as Anna told him, the group of females had been rounded up and removed from a terti flower production facility, where they’d been forced to work in squalor.
Now here she was, dining in a place that was most certainly financed in part by the sale of those flowers and money made on the backs of people just like her. The irony wasn’t lost on him.
“Are you enjoying yourself, Calinae?” he asked her as they finished their main course and the staff assigned to them cleared the table in preparation for dessert.
“It’s just all so much.” She fingered the necklace, then let out a little laugh. “Honestly, I think I see what you mean by simple pleasures. I am glad we won’t be here long.”
“Some decisions will need to be made,” he said mildly. “We cannot roam space indefinitely. There is the warlord to deal with.”
Calinae’s eyes closed. “I don’t see how I can go to him, knowing what I know.” She shook her head. “But I fear his retaliation would be terrible.”
“We don’t exactly know what the warlord will do,” Niir said. “In fact—” he was cut off by the arrival of a female walking into their dining space.
He recognized the eight-foot-tall alien as his informant sent to gather information about the females’ origins and the future plans for them.
“Niir,” said the lavender-skinned female.
She leaned down to kiss his cheek. Dripping in gems and moving with the unhurried grace of the affluent, Pittar was the picture of high-born luxury—which she was, when she chose to be.
Bored heiresses often made the best informants.
They did in this case. “I thought that was you I’d seen earlier.
You Virilians do stand out. I didn’t know you were visiting Elos. ”
Niir smiled at the lie meant for show. “A pleasure to see you, Pittar. This is my companion, Cali.”
Calinae’s eyes widened at the use of her nickname, which he knew, of course. He didn’t want her true name getting out and Cali, or variations of it, were common.
Pittar’s purple gaze turned to Calinae with predictable interest. “My, my, you are lovely. I hope you are enjoying the station. First time here?”
“Yes,” Calinae replied, blinking up at the female. “It’s quite…something.”
“Isn’t it?” Pittar smiled widely, showing off a mouthful of small, sharp teeth. “Enjoy yourself, dear.” She patted Calinae’s head like a pet, murmuring, “So lovely,” before stepping back and turning to him.
“Nice to see you again, Niir. You must let me know next time you plan to visit.” She pressed her cheek to his. “Be careful,” she whispered, and a rare skitter of worry pricked along his spine.
When Pittar leaned back, she took his hand and squeezed it, before gliding from the dining space and leaving them to finish their meal.
In his palm was the small chip she had given him. It contained the information he had requested. The speed with which she obtained it alarmed him. Her warning didn’t sit well with him, either.
“Who was that?” Calinae asked, looking confused.
“An old friend.” He returned to his seat, and the servers resumed bringing out the dessert course, which he was no longer hungry for.
He knew a frown pulled at his brow. He purposefully relaxed his jaw, which was clenched.
Calinae clearly wasn’t buying it. She opened her mouth, presumably to ask more questions, but he leaned toward her and brushed his lips along her cheek, to her ear.
“She’s the one I told you about,” he rasped, even as her scent made his head swim. “My contact.”
She fell silent. He pulled away with effort. Every part of him wanted to bury his face in her hair and sink into oblivion.
“I don’t think I’m hungry anymore,” she said.
“Me either.” The chip was burning a hole through his palm. He stood up and held out his other hand. “Why don’t we go back to our room?”
She hesitated, then rose and wrapped her fingers around his. Her grip was tight and her skin cold. Suddenly, the opulence of the Elos station had lost its shiny appeal. One look at her and he knew that if she had her way, they would be back on the ship, tucked into a familiar space.
They left, leaving dessert untouched.
As they exited the Ulli Falls dining area, Niir placed the chip against his V-link. It attached to the small unit tucked behind his ear. Pittar’s message instantly loaded into the device and began playing back.
He listened to it as they walked to the guest suite wing of the station.
Pittar had done a good job. As he suspected, the warlord was not behind the creation of the females, but rather, a nameless male that she could not uncover.
She had learned—apparently with little effort—the names of those who were scheduled to receive the other thirteen females.
Niir knew, or knew of, most of them. None of them were individuals he would entrust with the well-being of anyone.
He hadn’t seen any of them at this station, which did cut down on complications.
They would still need to be cautious. Some were known terti powder producers, eliminating any doubt as to what some of the females would be facing once they were handed over, or, frankly, sold.
This was trafficking, pure and simple. The fact that these females were born in a laboratory did not make it any less so.
Niir’s stomach turned as he listened to his fears being validated. By the time they found their suite and were inside, he was weary with the weight of his thoughts and with the burden of knowing that the time had come for Calinae to know the full truth.