Page 125 of Seven Oars
Rosamma started.“He did?”
“He took your cruiser. And he took that cunt Alyesha with him.”
Alyesha left?
She hadn’t said a word to any of them. Just slipped away, abandoning them in this hellhole to fend for themselves.
“What about Ucai?” Rosamma asked quietly.
“They slit his throat. His body’s in his sleeping node, waiting to be pitched.”
Rosamma hugged her knees tighter as if to stop herself from falling to pieces.
Even in this heat, she was cold. She’d lost too much energy. There was no replacing it.
“I’m sorry,” Rosamma whispered, and her words were meant for the other women more than Fincros.
He turned in her direction.“That’s not all.”
Her eyes flew to his face, searching his once more implacable features.
“Before he went, Keerym changed all the pod release codes. No one can leave the station.”
He walked out, and she stayed behind, shivering in the heat.
Chapter 17
It was Gro who found Rosamma in the Engine Room. Gro, who pulled her out and practically carried her back to the Cargo Hold.
“When did it become my job to search and rescue people?” she grumbled, and her voice was thin, tight with worry.“First Daphne, now you. What happened to you?”
All Rosamma could do was put one foot in front of the other, propped up by Gro.
“I had a slight energy mishap in the Engine Room,” she whispered bleakly.
It had happened. She’d given it all to him. There was no undoing it.
She’d answered his questions, endured his nearness, not an easy feat. It took an effort on her part. Just being near him.
There had been a subtle connection. Just him and her…
But he was the wrong man. So wrong. Why couldn’t it have been Phex?
Her thoughts tangled.
The Striker made her senses curdle and her emotions churn. She hated this helpless unease, her fear of him, and that new, inexplicable pull to be near.
He’s always been near,her mind whispered.Since the capture.
“What were you even doing in the Engine Room?” Gro asked.“Hacking the thermo system together, trying to bang it into shape like that dopehead mechanic, what’s-his-face?”
Rosamma had a baffling urge to laugh.“In a way, Gro, yes. Can you feel it? It’s not as hot anymore.”
Gro only shook her head as she pulled Rosamma across the threshold to the Cargo Hold.
She barely made it to her mat before crashing down. Her eyelids felt heavy, as if hyper-gravity still clung to them. Her arms, when she tried to lift them, felt even heavier.
The end was near, she could feel it.
