Page 31 of Into Orbit
‘Yes, Captain,’ I answered.
She gave a wordless growl. ‘I am at a loss for what to do with you both,’ she bit off. ‘Ishouldstand you both down and send you home. I would be within my rights to do so, and it’s no less than you deserve.’ She turned her back on us and flicked on her wall screen. ‘Unfortunately …’
I stared at the screen. ‘Oh, greengods.’
‘Precisely,’ the Captain snapped. ‘Preciselythat, First Guard.’
Willow frowned. ‘What am I looking at?’
I supposed that all he would see on the Captain’s screen would be a radar image full of noise – the glow of a star, the hard light of planets and moons, and four moving blips.
The thing was, there should have only beenonemoving blip – us. No other craft was registered to be in this quadrant. The smaller blip I knew to be the ship we were trailing at a distance – the ship we’d used elevated unit travel to catch up with, the ship belonging to the cephalopod prince. The ship that we thought Maeve’s friend might be aboard.
One of the others, I supposed, would have been the Roth ship that set off our alarms. Its trajectory showed that it had been close to the cephalopod’s ship; it was now veering further and further away, presumably after the starling’s light show. The proximity between the two ships suggested it was the cephalopod’s starling consort – the one that had taken Maeve’s friend from the club – that had gone supernova, rather than a Roth prisoner; it could have been a defensive action. If so, it was an effective one; Roth eyes possessed a pupil like Maeve’s – if shaped differently – and I guessed that there wouldn’t be too many beings on the Roth ship still able to pilot.
I didn’t feel bad for them.
But there was one more ship, entirely unexplained, coming up fast behind us.
‘Do we have visuals?’ I said abruptly.
The Captain met my gaze. ‘You’re not going to like them.’
‘Ah,’ I managed.
‘Ah?’ Willow repeated. ‘What –’
‘Another one,’ I said grimly. ‘Another Roth ship.’
Willow stared at me, then raked his hands through his hair. ‘I didn’t think they came this far out!’
‘They don’t.’ The Captain switched off her screen. ‘Hence the reason I will not send you back to Tir in disgrace. But by the green gods, Ashton, you arethis closeto being demoted and having Adair take your place.’
‘Adair is a fool, Captain,’ I growled.
‘Adair wasat his postduring theemergency, Ashton Unclaimed, not mooning after an alien,’ the Captain snarled. ‘I’m trying not to think about what else might be going on here. You know the rules of a First Guard. I’d wager you know them better than I do, Ash. Any familywishing to claim you for their own needs myexpress approvalbefore I evenconsidertaking the proposal to the Tirian Grove. As you are yet to seek this, you seem to be dancing on the point of afatalbreach of duty. This is not to mention that this involvesmy daughter, and ifany beingtouches her without herexpress invitation and ongoing consent, I will remove multiple parts of their bodieswith my teeth.’ She loosed a growl. ‘Given the circumstances – and given that I believe the human would have torn bark from you if did anything to upset Elswyth – I will cover for you this time. Next time, I’ll toss you out the airlock.’ She took a step forward. ‘Not only that, I will strip you of your title, your commendations, and ruin your reputation in every Forest on Tir before I do so. Are we clear?’
I dropped my eyes. ‘Yes, Captain.’
‘Get out of my sight,’ she said. ‘But out of my sight andto your posts. That is adirect order.’
I gave her a swift bow and strode towards the door.
‘Ashton?’ she called after me. ‘I am ready to consider a proposalany time. And I will consider with an open mind. But if you break the rules, you willnotfind me understanding.’
‘You’re doing that thing,’ Willow said, when we were far enough from the Captain’s quarters that we could both breathe again.
‘What thing?’
‘The thing where you and the Captain have a conversation – one that I can understand – on one level, and another conversation – one that is perfectly indecipherable to me – on a second.’
‘We don’t –’ I started, but stopped when Willow’s fingers brushed my elbow.
‘Ash,’ he said softly. ‘What’s going on?’
There was a storeroom ahead to my right; when we got there, I swiped my fingers over the sensor and swept Willow inside as if we were looking for something. The moment the door slid closed behind us, I pushed him up against the shelf and kissed him hungrily.
He sucked my bottom lip, groaning as I pushed my thigh between his. ‘I know this move,’ he grumbled. ‘You’re trying to distract me.’
