Page 15 of Anna's Bounty
Rovos squeezes my fingers and then lifts them to his lips, where he places a light kiss on the back of each hand. My heart races, only this time it’s not from anxiety. Or at least not entirely.
“Thank you.” I clear my throat and break eye contact. “The reason I, uh, freaked out earlier isn’t because I thought you, or the others, might rat me out. I realized that,” I suck in a lungful of air and let the rest rush out, “I realized the mantis-aliens—I mean, the Xar’ads—know what I am. I overheard them talking. About what I am. They were gloating, something about pleasure houses and a bidding war.”
When I chance another look at Rovos, his expression has turned tense. “Did they mention which houses?” he asks through clenched teeth.
I swallow. “Um. All—all of them.”
His hands slide from mine before he turns away. With a roar, he brings his fist down on a metal table, causing the instruments to fly off in all directions.
When he turns back to me, his eyes are dark, “You’re sure. You didn’t mishear?”
“I’m sure,” I tell him, regretfully.
“Vittu!” The word doesn’t translate, but the way he says it makes me think it’s a nasty alien curse word.
With one hand clenching at the roots of his hair, Rovos blows out a breath of air, puffing his cheeks as he does it. He gives me one last look before pulling his alien iPhone from his pocket. “Igid, are you finished patching the hole yet?”
Instead of a picture, a shower of sparks appears to erupt from his hand.
“Just welding the last bit,” comes Igid’s tinny reply.
“Good. Did you find anything on the database?”
“No.” The sparks vanish, and Igid’s hologram pops into the picture. She’s wearing an enormous pair of goggles, and the corners of her mouth are turned down in a frown. “They’d already wiped it.”
Rovos clenches his teeth at the news. “We need to leave. Right now,” he growls. “The Xar’ads know about the human. They have already been in contact with the pleasure houses.”
“Vittu!”Igid curses. “Okay. I won’t be long.”
Shoving the device in his pocket, Rovos turns to face me, his expression pinched.
“I’m totally fucked, aren’t I?” I ask him, trying to keep the tremble from my voice.
His brows crease, but he says nothing. I’m not sure if that’s better or worse than him agreeing with me. A lump forms in my throat, and I blink rapidly when the threat of tears sting the backs of my eyes. Christ! How much can a person cry before they run dry? Shouldn’t I be out of tears by now?
“Shhhhhh,” Rovos hushes me, and his hands cup the sides of my face, brushing his thumbs under my damp eyelids. “Do not worry,Keresta.”
“My name is Anna,” I correct him. “Anna Johnson. NotKeresta.”
“An-nah.” The sound of my name comes out as a rumble, and, I’m not gonna lie, hearing him say it in his sexy alien-accent sends a flutter through my stomach.
“Annah,” he repeats, softer this time, and he leans forward until his forehead rests against mine. “You have my word that my crew and I will keep you safe.”
“Thank you,” I whisper. “But I can’t ask that of you.”
“It is done,Keresta.”
I open my mouth to ask whatKerestameans when Igid’s voice comes from his pocket. “I’ve finished with the patch. Brace for detach in three… two… one… detach.”
The ship bucks, and I grab on to Rovos’ shoulders, steadying myself against the jolt of the ship detaching. As soon as everything has settled, he lets go of me and pulls the device from his pocket.
“Set a course for the Prime Nebula and then comm Treto and Sone. Tell them we will set up a rendezvous point after they drop off the captives.”
“Done,” Igid clips and Rovos drops the device back into his pocket.
“Let’s get you settled,” he says, helping me to the ground.
With my hand gripped in his, he leads me through a labyrinth of narrow halls without stopping until we’re standing at the end of a hallway. “You can stay here,” he tells me when a door slides open.
