Page 59 of Time Forged

“Phew.”She slumped.

That meant she still had a chance.Maybe if she concentrated hard, she could compel her DNA to return to normal?She almost rolled her eyes at that bit of nonsense.At least the medical experts meeting them halfway cut the remaining time to four days.Now to start her dismal day.But with Cylo on her six?

“I’m going to shower.”She paused and beamed at him.“Or do you plan on watching me?”

His cheeks darkened when he ran his gaze over her bare legs.“No, but hurry.Adviser Kanzo will be comming you soon.”

“Why?”She frowned.“Never mind, I suppose it’s important.I won’t be long.”She let the door shut on his face.What would she have done had he said yes, that he’d like nothing more than to ogle her naked body?

Nothing, probably.What a fool she was.

Christmas carols were the only way she could drown out intrusions.She blared them out while hurrying, not wanting to be caught…um…unprepared for whoever this Kanzo was.An adviser wanting to speak to her did sound ambassadorial.She stared at her jeans.Were those too informal?Could she afford to offend an Etterian diplomat by being underdressed?She drew in a long inhale.This was all bullshit.

She stomped to the replicator and ordered tailored pants and a button-up shirt.White made her hair look washed out, and with her lilac skin, she didn’t know what other color would suit her.So black it was.She slipped into a matching bra and panties, then the smartest outfit she’d worn since her court appearance.At the memory, she cursed again, finding she’d been doing that more and more after what she’d been through.Pierce and Dallas wouldn’t believe she had a hidden ‘miner’ vocabulary.Her mother more so.

Black flip-flops completed the outfit since Kanzo wouldn’t see her feet.She hoped.

Her stomach gurgled, so she left for the common.She’d carried her coffee and a grilled cheese sandwich to the table by the time Cylo strode toward her, once again in his uniform.Grateful that he wasn’t in those yoga pants, she thwarted a sigh of relief with a sip of coffee.

His gaze settled on the ‘V’ of her neckline where she’d left a few buttons undone.He didn’t comment, nor did any emotional reaction reach her.She bit into her grilled cheese to hide a moan of disappointment.

He sat opposite her, a plate of steak and a glass of juice his breakfast.Was that all they ate?Because they didn’t have a choice or out of preference?With the rehydrator’s menu being so extensive, she had to assume it was the latter.He ate his meal in silence, his focus on her.She chewed slowly, her mother’s admonishments to be ladylike ringing in her ears.

“You appear paler…” He stroked the knuckles of her hand gripping the coffee.

“Oh?”She lowered the mug to study her skin.“Yeah, I do.”She grinned at him.“Any day now, I’ll be my usual self.”

“And your eyes flicker between gray and green.”

“So Qaff was right.”Which meant the bad stuff still driving the experts to reach her had to be horrific.

“Adviser Kanzo for you, Cylo,” Fyca said.

She dropped the sandwich, wiped her hands on a napkin, then rose, taking the coffee with her.

“I like what you are wearing,” Cylo said, his voice hoarse.

She peered at herself.“Thought something a little more formal might be in order.Just in case.”

He grunted and led the way.

The man filling the screens on the bridge, or as Etterians called it, ‘the comm,’ was handsome.Then again, despite them all being bronze-skinned and black-haired, she couldn’t say she’d seen an ugly man.

Fyca left them alone.

“Adviser Kanzo, this is Lady Wren.”Cylo gestured to her.

She hesitated, wondering if she should be curtseying.Hysteria bubbled laughter in her chest which she hastily tamped down.“Hello, Adviser Kanzo.”His neon-blue eyes told her he had a Dar Eth, but the woman could be Etterian or human.Not that either mattered.

“Good morning, Wren.Please, I’d like to introduce Iddan.”

Cylo’s instant grin told her this was a good thing.

A man with navy-blue skin and white hair and eyes stepped into view.“Hello, Wren.I am Iddan, a Durn.Kanzo tells me you have developed the ability to sense others’ emotions and thoughts?”

She nodded.

“Unless you learn how to block them, you will slowly sink into madness.”His grimace hinted at having endured the insanity assaulting her now.“It is simple but requires a strength of will to maintain.Imagine a door.Use detail.Make it out of any material or markings that you can relate to a specific person.”

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