Page 8 of Salvation
“Would you make one for me, please?”
She nodded, then pulled open the cool-box and rummaged through the meats. Not processed meat he remembered from the grocery store, but the real stuff.
“Ham, if we have any.” Couldn’t hurt to drop a hint. How else would she know what he liked?
“No ham,” she said without looking up. “But, there is Matirancolf, which is almost the same.”
“That’ll work.”
Another nod was all the response she seemed willing to give. Fine. He stifled a yawn and knuckled his eyes. “Why the hell are we doing this?”
“Is that a rhetorical question?” The knife in her hand glided over the surface of a piece of bread, spreading a thin layer of homemade mayonnaise.
“Yes…no. Hell if I know.”
“Because Magister Dacian asked us.”
Well, duh.“I know that. I also know that something must have happened to the Anferthians, but what? And despite our ‘immense talent’, as Dante put it to me earlier, why would they send twoTerrianhealers to deal with it? It’s not like Terrians have any great love for the Anferthians. Hell, the Matirans don’t either, but they do have a higher tolerance of the ’Ferths.” Of everyone, really.
“We are doing this to save lives.” She placed a hefty helping of sprouts on the sandwiches.
He frowned and curled his lip. “We’ll be using our Gifts to saveAnferthianlives.”
“Are you planning to run away again?”
A wave of anger surged through him. “What?”
She shrugged. “You did it once already, and you clearly do not care much for Anferthians, so why would I not suspect you might do it again?”
He slammed his open hand on the surface of the counter. “Iknowsome Anferthians, Saku, and I consider them friends. But if it’s those Arruch bastards we’re supposed to help, let them die.”
Her lips thinned and a faint tinge of pink appeared on her cheeks. “I do not li—”
“Do you know what Arruch means?”
The corners of her mouth pulled down, and she shook her head.
“It means ‘sublime’.” He barked a short humorless laugh, and plowed his hand through his hair. “Sublime. Well, there’s nothing sublime about what they did to us, to our planet. They killed seven billion Earthlings, including my parents.”
Her jaw visibly tightened. “They killed my parents too, have you forgotten? And my two little brothers. But that does not change the fact that we are healers. We took the vow before entering our training. A life is a life, and I will honor my vow and use my Gift even if that life belongs to a member of the Arruch Union. It is why we have been given this ability to heal. It is who we are.”
Damn, she had a point; A really good point. He ran his hand over his face. “The Arruch can go fuck themselves for all I care…and don’t look at me like that, because I can’t be impartial on this.”
He returned her glare full measure. She looked like she wanted to say more, and he was ready with counter arguments. There was no way she’d change his mind about this topic.
A cheery chime filled the strained silence announcing that thecapulushad finished brewing. Sakura turned away, her hands deftly finishing the sandwiches. It was over, for now. He reached into a cabinet, retrieved two cups, then carried them and the steaming pot back to the conference room. From what little he’d learned in the past nineteen hours, they would be spending a lot of time together. And, wouldn’t that be just great?
