Page 13 of Salvation
Chapter Five
Nick rose from his chair. Life had gone from crazy to over-the-top insane. Never once had he thought he’d ever go back to Matir after graduating from the Collegium of Healers. He suppressed a groan before it could escape. At least the reason to go was solid, and desperate. He was in it to the end now.
An arm slipped through his. “How about that coffee now,sobin?”
He gave Ora the best smile he could under the circumstances. “I have a better idea. Scrambled eggs.”
“Oh, that would be lovely. I have not had those since Maria made them for us at Camp One. Does this mean she’s back in town?”
“No. She and Ramon are very happy living in the Los Angeles Basin. And…they’re expecting.”
“Expecting? Expecting what?”
“A baby, Ora.” It’d been a while since he’d encountered a language-induced misunderstanding. After seven years they were less frequent, but sometimes they still happened.
“Oh! That’s wonderful news. I will viscomm them once I am back aboard theSparta.” They moved toward the now open secret door. “But where will we get scrambled eggs?”
He gave her a mischievous grin. “Graig.”
Ora’s eyes went wide. “This early in the morning, and unannounced? He will do no such favor for us, you must know that.”
“Not for us, but Simone will be there.” He gave her a conspiratorial grin. One unannounced visit warranted other. “She’s not going to let us starve.”
A gleam sparkled in Ora’s eyes, her expression echoing his. “Excellent strategy. Graig never says no to his lovely wife.” They stepped out the front door and into the sunshine. “I want to see her before we leave anyway...and Graig too. Come on, my personal terrain skimmer is parked behind Ambassador K’nil’s residence.”
Relief conflicted with a pang of guilt that the skimmer wasn’t parked at Alex’s cube less than an eighth of a mile away. It may be cowardly, but as much as he missed his sister he wasn’t ready for that confrontation yet.
Five minutes later they were in Ora’s skimmer winging their way to Graig and Simone’s cube nestled in a small valley in the hills. Nick relaxed against the cushioned comfort of his seat, the million dollar question burning inside him. He couldn’t just ask point blank, though. Ora would shut him down before the words were out of his mouth. She could keep a secret better than Fort Knox could keep a gold bar. Subtlety worked best with her. He’d get her guard down with small talk first, then slip in Dante’s wife.
“So, how’s life on the science vessel?”
One corner of Ora’s mouth tipped upward and she shrugged. “TheSpartais a work of technical and scientific art. It has longer range capacity than any ship in the fleet, including flag ships like theAtlantisor thePolaris.”
“Cool.”
“That’s not the question you really want answered,sobin.”
Crap. She was already onto him. So much for being covert. “Never could put one over on you.”
“And you never will.”
He pushed himself upright in the seat. “Okay, tell me everything you know about Dante’s wife.”
Ora huffed through her nose and cast a side-long glance at him. “I know nothing.”
“Bullshit.”
She flashed him a tight smile and banked the skimmer southeast. “It is not a happy story. I trust that anything I tell you will remain between us.”
Whoa.She wasn’t kidding. But he was too curious to take it back. “I will never betray your trust,sobin.”
“I know.” This time her smile was warm, and a little sad. “Dante was twenty-one cycles when he met Zumari. He and Graig saved her and her friend from a Nightshade assassin. Dante was given charge of her healing. They fell in love, but in the end….” She visibly swallowed.
If Zumari was a Matiran name, he’d never heard it before. He leaned forward in his seat. “She died?”
“Worse.” Ora blinked her amazing tawny eyes several times in quick succession, but there was no way he could have missed the tears she fought to control. “For all intents and purposes, she is dead. And it is vital she remain so. The reasons are classified.”
Jesus. This couldn’t be true, but Ora was one of the most honest people he knew. He released a harsh sigh and slouched back in his chair. What a fucking nightmare for Dante. “I’m going to vomit.”
