Page 27 of Anna's Bounty
All right, Anna, there is no going home, and these are the cards you’ve been dealt. Time to think of it like a fresh start, instead of a rejection.
“Do you need me for anything else?” I stand up on my shaky legs.
Igid shakes her head, pressing her lips tightly together. She doesn’t stop me when I leave, and for once, I don’t get lost on my way back to my room.
When the door slides shut behind me, I wish there was a way to lock it. My feet carry me across the room, and I climb back into the bed, pulling the blankets over my head, where I curl up on my side and release the flood of tears I’ve been holding back.
* * *
Standing in front of the screen, I watch as the space station comes into view.
Until now, a space station was a pieced-together clump of tubes. We don’t even have an anti-gravity converter, which, according to Igid, is a fairly simple piece of tech. What I’m watching grow steadily larger is nothing like the ISS. This space station is roughly the size of Earth’s moon, and it looks an awful lot like something out of a movie.
“Where is the cloak Rovos gave you?” Igid asks, coming to stand beside me.
“It’s still in his room.” Along with the rest of the disguise she pieced together for me to hide the fact I’m a human. Hopefully. The longer I’ve had to process this plan, the less it gives me the warm fuzzies.
“Are you sure this is a good idea?” I ask her for at least the tenth time.
Igid blows out a breath but keeps her eyes on the view screen in front of us. “Volethos is an honorable male,” she says. It’s what she always says.
Because it doesn’t really answer my question or ease any of my fears.
Watching as the space station grows ever larger, my stomach clenches. This morning was the first time Rovos allowed himself to be in the same room as me and, even then, it was only long enough to drop off my disguise. He couldn’t even wait until I was fully awake before tossing the items at the foot of my bed.
“You’ll wear these when we leave the ship,” he said from the doorway.
Pushing myself up on my elbow, I rubbed the sleep from my eyes. “Rovos? Wait.”
Surprisingly, he did.
Scooting myself up so my back rested against the headboard, I wrapped my arms around my bent knees. “I know you don’t want to hear this, but…” I took a fortifying breath. “This plan of yours, it doesn’t feel right.”
“Annah,” my name rolled from his lips, almost like a moan, like saying it pained him as he focused his gaze on the floor in front of him rather than on me. “This is for the best.”
“The best for whom?” I snorted.
“For you.” When he looked up at me, his eyes were the color of polished emeralds. Without even a speck of gold. “Please, trust me that this is the best for you.”
Before I had a chance to argue further, he vanished into the hallway.
Despite his self-imposed distance, the draw I feel toward Rovos remains. Especially when I see the way he watches me when he doesn’t think I’m looking. Or how his eyes only flash gold for me. So when he asked me to trust him, and his eyes stayed clear and green, was he not being honest with me? Or with himself? He can pretend all he wants that I mean nothing to him, but his actions tell a different story.
What should I do? Do I call him on his bullshit? I refuse tobeg himto admit he has feelings for me, but at the same time, I want someone to fight for me. To want to keep me. And I want that someone to be Rovos.
Of course, I shouldn’t want to be kept. Instead I should be focusing on how to keep an entire planet safe. It’s a sobering feeling, realizing that literally billions of people are depending onmeto keep my shit together and figure out how to keep Earth off the universe’s radar.
I may not be physically strong, especially when compared to Igid or Rovos, but I’ve got inner strength and enough determination to make the best of this. Even though I don’t like this plan, what other options do I have? Whining about the unfairness of it won’t change anything, so I may as well hike up my big-girl panties and make the best of a shit situation.
“Be strong, Anna. Everything will work out the way it’s meant to,” Igid tells me as we stand side by side in front of the view screen.
I nod and hope that includes keeping Earth safe too.
“Come. We will dock soon, and Rovos will want you to be ready.”
Falling into step behind her, we make our way back to my room, where I reluctantly don my disguise.
All too soon I’m standing at the back of the ship wearing the flight suit Igid altered for me. A smooth mask dangles from my fingers. It has a built-in voice regulator to hide my language, and it covers all of my face, hiding my identity. A heavy cloak completes the ensemble, draping around my shoulders and effectively hiding everything else.
