Page 25 of Across the Crimson Sands

The ringing ears, the stinging eyes. Gicca leaf. It had to be.

I pieced it all together as I slumped into a chair, raking my fingers through my sweat-drenched hair.

Idiot.

I should’ve seen it coming. I’d taught her about gicca and its effects myself.

On the bathroom mirror, she’d left a message in lipstain: Your move.

I cursed and shook my head. Only fury could bring her back now. A raging mind knows no limits. I tore around, gathering my stuff to start again. My heart thundered, more alive than it had been since the war.

Davor and the team flashed in my mind. Celestia help me, they’d never let me live this down.

If I didn’t get her back, I’d have to explain how I’d educated my mark on the very poison she’d used against me.

Fuck, the boys would eat this up.

And that wasn’t going to happen.

I set off from the room, blood pumping with purpose. She fooled me, there was no getting around it. She lured me into a false sense of security starting back in that desert. I should punch myself for how stupid I’d been, mistaking her cunning for acceptance.

She wasn’t being quiet, she was studying me. She wasn’t curious, she was gathering the means for her escape.

I could imagine her now, boarding a spaceship for where the fuck knows. I’d had enough delays already, and unless I intended to comb the entire universe for her, I knew I had to set out before her trail got too cold.

I left the hotel in a hurry. There was only one place she’d go. With the remaining ticket in my hand, I stepped up towards Little Smelton’s only spaceport.

The dinged-up depot of this desert outpost bustled with people in the midday sun. I had a fire in my steps, but I soon realized I’d better ask around to see if anyone saw which ship she took. Off-putting as a Vinduthi warrior is talking to strangers, I needed information and I needed it fast.

I saw a local tavern full of customers half-drunk before their respective flights. I sat at the bar and pulled up the photo Gorin had given me of Arilee.

“Hey, friend,” I said, gesturing for a quick brew. “Just a cold one, before I board my flight.”

He slid a glass bottle my way. “That’ll be 20 credits.”

I paid him, leaning forward. “I’m also looking for someone. Human girl,” I said quietly.

“Haven’t had any of those today. But try Bucky’s down the road.”

While I took his suggestion, I found a similar answer at Bucky’s.

“Have you asked at Theil’s? He gets a pretty big human crowd from time to time.”

Something didn’t line up. By the fourth try, I realized I was being led door to door on purpose. Could it be that my slippery little human managed to convince these shop owners of something to make sure I’d run into a cold trail?

Damn, she was good.

If I wanted to find her, I had to be better.

I couldn’t help but admire the lengths she’d gone to put this distance between us. When I got her back, and I would, I’d have to face facts that the fun was over.

Unless next time she decided to fuck me. I wouldn’t put it past her.

I decided to take a more liberal approach with the next shop owner, reaching right across the till to grab him by the scruff of his tentacles.

“Hey, let me go!” he yelped. “I said I haven’t seen a human.”

“You know, I keep getting the same word everywhere I go,” I said, tightening my grip. The wind within him tensed with my fist. “If I didn’t know better I’d say someone wanted to die today.”

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