Page 80 of Auctioned to the Convicts
“You okay?” Sersie asked. “You look upset.”
Hell, she’d never been good at hiding her emotions.
“I love the flowers. Thank you.” She didn’t have to force herself to smile.
As she leaned in to kiss his cheek, Sersie turned in to her, aligning their mouths perfectly. His tongue swept through her mouth, reminding her so beautifully of the other night in the kitchen before those miners had tried to breach the fence.
Sersie broke the kiss, his hazel eyes shining as if he’d just discovered a new plant.
“What? You think I’m afraid of showing my affection in public?” Sersie asked.
“She’s probably just surprised you’re stupid enough to do it in front of Ky’Li,” Ren said.
“He won’t touch me,” Sersie said.
“Is that right?” Ky’Li challenged, rising from the table. “And why is that, exactly?”
Hannah really wanted to stand between them, but she wasn’t always going to be around. These guys needed to learn to get along.
“Because I’m no threat to her.”
“Not the logic I would have gone with, Sersie,” Ren said. He seemed to be enjoying Ky’Li’s obvious displeasure as much as he was trying—apparently—to keep Sersie alive. “You’d be better off telling him you’re the source of that medicine Vaughn keeps doping him with and that you can make it a lot stronger if he touches you.”
“You’ve been drugging me again?” Ky said, turning on Vaughn. “Is that why I fall asleep early every night before I get to seek out my sha’vi?”
Hannah’s mouth dropped open. “Vaughn?”
Vaughn merely shrugged. “That’s the work in the mines tiring you. I just keep you from pounding Ren into the ground here and there. After all, I’m the one who has to clean up the mess if you injure him, and then I have to work extra hours if he can’t make his quota.”
To Hannah’s shock, Ky’Li sat back down without another word and stared into his stew.
Had Ky’Li backed down without a word, growl, or menacing stare?
“I hope you like the flowers,” Sersie said, breaking the silence.
“I love them! Thank you!” She kissed him again, making sure the kiss landed on his cheek this time. “I’m not sure we have a vase here anywhere. Ren?”
“Supply closet. Left-most cabinet, shoved to the right behind spare solar cells.”
“You mean the third bedroom.”
“That’s what I said.”
“I’ll get it,” Sersie said. He returned a minute later with the vase.
The vase was a work of art, fluted at the top with a long, thin sturdy neck that flared into a wide curvy base that provided visual balance to the top-heavy umla flowers Sersie fed through the neck. Swirls of black onyx coated the metal, leading from the base upward to the flowers.
“The vase is gorgeous,” Hannah remarked, running her fingers along the smooth, raised black lines to the flowers where she stroked the silky petals.
“Ren’s been working on that for two weeks,” Sersie said. “I didn’t know you had finished it. I didn’t mean to ruin the surprise, Ren.”
“You thought I was making that for Hannah?” Ren laughed it off. “It was an experiment in metal bending and the use of which materials provided the best cohesion of onyx to the metal considering the metal contains spec amounts of podite. Podite significantly changes the temperature of the vase when exposed to sunlight.”
“You made that for me?” she said, smiling.
“That’s what you got out of what I just said? And no, it wasn’t intended for you. It was an experiment, nothing more, but you may certainly use it for Sersie’s flower or any others you find in the jungle.”
“Experiments don’t call for visually pleasing lines.”
