Page 30 of Uprooted
“For starters, I know you’re funny as hell even though you tell terrible jokes, that you’re a good friend. Sometimes you ramble when you’re nervous. You’re an only child who has seen more of the universe than anyone else I know. You’re brilliant at your work, and thatyou like a challenge,” he says confidently, ticking each attribute off on his fingers.
“How could you possibly know all that about me?”
“Your comedic timing is impeccable, and you can’t fake that. I’ve seen you with Bri, you make an effort when you're tired or don’t want to be around people. You do it for her so she doesn’t feel so alone here. You talked about moving around with your parents and never mentioned siblings. You’re here, so you must be brilliant. And the challenge—well, that’s just a guess.”
I look at him with new eyes. I would never have guessed that he paid that close attention.
“Impressed, right? Ask me anything,” he says with that cocky assurance I usually find irritating on men, but lately it’s having the opposite effect on me.
I bite my cheek to hold back a smile. “Are we going to get in trouble for this?”
“Eating noodles? Well, technically speaking I’m not supp—”
“Not the noodles,this,”I motion back and forth between us.
“I’m more of an ‘ask for forgiveness not permission’ type,” he says.
“Well, I’m more of a ‘follow the rules and not get kicked off the planet’ type.”
“I think there is a way we both get what we want,” Aro says with confidence. “We’ll have to wait and see how that goes. Next question.”
“How old are you?” I ask.
“30 Earth years,” he answers.
“What’s your job here?”
“I’m a captain. I tell these knuckleheads what to do and when to do it.”
“If you weren’t here right now, where would you want to be?”
“Honestly? I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else right now,” he says and nudges my knee with his under the table.
“How many times have you used that line?” I ask. There is something about him that brings out this side in me. Maybe he’s right about me liking a challenge.
“Once—just now,” he answers without hesitation.
“Tell me about your family,” I say.
“That’s not in the form of a question. You’re going to have to rephrase.”
“You mentioned a sister before. What’s she like?”
“Kiera. She’s a few years younger than me. We are really close.”
“What do you want to be when you grow up?” I ask.
“I don’t have much choice in the matter. My father is Bajimr for the pt’Burosa House.”
“What’s that?”
“He’s the head of one of our ancient noble houses. And at some point, I’ll take over.”
“I didn’t know I was speaking with royalty. I would have been more deferential,” I say with a tiny bit of sarcasm. I’m impressed it’s taken him this long to tell me about his identity. In my experience, people with proximity to power want to make sure everyone around them knows it right away.
“Sometimes people get weird when they realize who I am,” Aro says.
“Well, I’ll probably say something weird. At least it won’t be about that.”
