Page 14 of Salvation
Ora nodded. “The feeling is familiar.”
“Does he ever see her?”
“No. But he tends her one remaining family member. Her great-aunt, from her maternal family.” She swiped the back of her hand across her cheek. “Yes, his cover story for your mission is true. The old woman is ill. She has been for a while, but the end is now inevitable and she is asking for Dante.” Ora met his gaze. “The timing is purely coincidental, I assure you.”
Nick released his breath, heart thumping in his ears. Of course it’d be true. Something like that couldn’t be made up if they expected to fool the Arruch. God but his chest ached with the weight of this latest development. This morning had been one gut-punch after another. Dissenters dying for no good reason because of politics, leaving Terr and his family, having to tap into a Gift he didn’t want in order to try to save them from a disease that might be incurable. And now this. Son of a bitch. Sometimes life just sucked.
~*~
Sakura frowned at Nick and Captain Solaris’s backs as they retreated from the ambassador’s office. It seemed like they were more than just “cousins” to her. Cousins didn’t walk around arm-in-arm like that, did they?Shenever had with any of her boy cousins. Was that why Nick had made it clear to the council that they had nothing to worry about? Their healers weren’t the least bit interested in each other.
Not that his relationship with Captain Solaris was any of her business. The achy feeling in her chest was only because she was leaving Terr, nothing more. Besides, men only wanted one thing from women. She had learned that painful truth at sixteen.
Never again.
“Sakura?” Magister Dacian’s voice pulled her back to reality. He had the kindest brown eyes, a lot like her father’s. “May I walk you to the dorm? You will need to pack.”
Packing. Her entire body seemed to sag under an invisible weight. Yes, she did have to pack. She should also viscomm Yukiko to let her know she would be leaving for the Collegium. Her friend would think it was because she had finished her foundation training early, which was not unexpected or unusual.
“Are you well?” Worry lines creased the area between Magister’s brows.
She gave him a nod and tried to smile. “I am all right. Just tired.”
Understanding settled onto his angular features. “Let’s get you back then. The other students should be at the infirmary, so the dorm will be quiet enough for you to nap first.”
Nap or pack, it just didn’t matter which she did first, although her body seemed fond of the nap option. She hunched her shoulders and followed him out of Ambassador K’nil’s office.
~*~
What would her mother think? Sakura exhaled against the smooth surface of the interplanetary transport ship’s portal, the fog from her breath on the thick glass cleared almost as it formed. No doubt Mama would be ecstatic to know her only daughter was doing something as impossible as traveling through space to help people on another planet. She, as any loving mother, would also be terrified that the passenger transport might be obliterated by an asteroid. And her father…Sakura could only imagine how torn he would be over this trip. A bitter-sweet ache filled her heart. Before the invasion, her family had been her life. Now….
The man in the recliner next to her shifted and made a rough, buzzing noise, drawing her attention away from the pin-point lights in the black darkness of space. Nick slept, his mouth hanging open. Now,thiswas her life. No, that was a very unkind thought. They only had one room between them aboard the transport, and Nick had insisted she use it. He had slept out here in the common area for two nights now, and for that he deserved her gratitude.
It would be nice if Magister Dacian was the one over-seeing her registration at the Collegium of Healers, and escorting her to hertem altrous, but Nick was not a horrible second choice for Magister pro-tem. Maybe she could convince him to take the cabin tonight so he could get at least one night of uninterrupted sleep. Otherwise, he would be exhausted when they arrived on Matir tomorrow.
Her heart fluttered. How would it be to step foot on a new and different planet, one that was not the world of her birth? Once, Alex had told her Matir was a lot like Terr, yet different. A few of the plants and animals were supposedly similar, but most were not and the sky was pale lavender. That would be interesting to see.
“Diseepula Yah-mah-tah?”
Sakura blinked up at the compact, hairless Yilla man standing in front of her. His ping-pong-ball-size black eyes peered at her from among the leathery folds of buff-color skin, almost like a Shar-pei. It was a wonder he could see. His hearing, on the other hand, was probably not a problem. With ears fanned like an Anferthian male’s ears, and three times as large, how could it not be? What was his name again? Arrgu’u. That was it. Arrgu’u the ship’s purser, and he had demonstrated how seriously he took his commitments to the passengers.
“Hello, Purser Arrgu’u. Is it dinner time already?”
Arrgu’u shrugged his thick shoulders. The Yilla equivalent of a nod—nodding being difficult for a being without a neck.
“The repast is serving now,” he announced through his translator. “You wake Healer Bock, please come to dine?” He pronounced Nick’s last name as though he had a ball of phlegm stuck in his throat.
“Of course. We will be there in a moment.”
She allowed her gaze to follow him as he circulated through the common area alerting other passengers that dinner was ready. Her fellow travelers were mostly Terrian or Matiran, but the crew was an eclectic collection of alien races, most of whom she had never heard of before this trip. Who knew there were so many variations of sentient life forms in the galaxy?
A small, rumbling vibration in her stomach reminded her of her priorities. Food first, people watching later. She gave Nick’s arm a one-fingered poke, once, twice…. He snorted and opened his eyes. “What?”
“Dinner time, Magister Bock.”
Annoyance flashed in his eyes. “Don’t call me that.”
“But, you are my magister now.”
