Page 6 of Crave
He guessed she was more rattled by the rock than she’d let on if she was voluntarily interacting with him. “Is that one of the reasons you left Earth?”
“I left Earth because I made too many mistakes.” She lifted her chin. “Somehow I had this idea—clearly another mistake I’ve made—that things couldn’t get worse out here.”
“Is it so awful to be someone’s light?”
From the corner of her eye, he watched as she swayed from one high-heeled boot to the other. “What do cave-dwelling orcs care about light?”
He busied himself with the instruments he’d set up around the rock, but for once he wasn’t paying attention to the readings. “Didn’t Adeline tell you? The i’lva has ignited between her and Teq.”
“I heard her talking with June. But I didn’t know what it meant.”
“The i’lva,” he repeated. “It means the light in the darkness. Although perhaps light isn’t quite the closest translation. Guide, perhaps, or a path through dark and lonely ways.” He forced himself to stop tinkering, turning to face her. “That is what we need.”
Kinsley stopped moving, wasn’t even breathing as far as his antennae could tell. “We? Need… Who’swe?” Her voice pitched higher with each word.
He gestured over his shoulder at the rock. “I think Roxy could be a way for us.”
“The rock? Oh. For a second I thought you were talking about…” She exhaled a gusting breath, as if a micrometeor had punched a hole through her, letting out the air.
He tilted his head. “About what?”
“Nothing. Never mind. Doesn’t matter.” Her voice descended again with each word. “You think the rock can guide us to what, exactly?”
“Another fortune. One we can actually offer at the auction.” He hesitated. “And maybe something I can use for myself—you too.”
He couldn’t quite understand the way her eyes closed for a moment, as if trying to hold back some of that escaping life.
“Kinsley?” He started to reach for her again.
Her eyes snapped open and she took a step back. “So you want me to translate for the rock while you find this fortune?” Though he nodded, she kept staring at him with an air of incredulity. “And you’d trust me to tell you?”
“Why wouldn’t you?” He wafted his antennae through the tension between them, as if he could sieve the recycled atmosphere for her disbelief.
She let out another hard breath with what sounded like annoyance. “Because in case you hadn’t noticed, no one trusts me.”
“Then this is your chance to prove them wrong.”
She drew herself up as tall as she could, which almost reached his chin. But he did not think it was intended as a moment of pride, more like some outrage. “You don’t even know what you’re asking.”
“True. That’s why I need Roxy—and you.”
“You want to make a pact when you don’t even know the prize?” Crossing her arms over her chest, she glared at him, which seemed an oddly hostile way to seal a deal. “Fine. I’ll want my cut in galactic credits.”
“The orcs share all profits, and of course you can use yours however you wish.” Some strange impulse tugged at him, and he had to squelch the urge to demand she tell them what exactly she wished. “You could buy more Earther coffee or more colorants for your hair or—”
“Leave theDeepWander?” She drew herself up even taller, and yet somehow in this moment she seemed smaller.
“If that is your wish.” The words felt wrenched from some hidden place within him. “The contract with the IDA is for dating only, and you could leave at any time. That was always the agreement. Of course, since you sneaked onboard, you aren’t really part of that contract. And you haven’t really dated anyone yet… Have you?”
She looked away. “This just isn’t what I thought it would be.”
“You mean launching yourself into outer space didn’t solve your problems?”
She flashed her small, square teeth at him, but it seemed more like a threat than a bid to share amusement. “At least I’m farther away from some of them.”
He’d noticed that too, how she was always pushing away, like a walking, talking personification of the repulsor beam theDeepWanderused to deflect their way through asteroid fields.
But since Kinsley hadn’t actually signed on to date—much less mate—any of the orcs, and he wouldn’t have ever been a contender anyway, why should it matter to him that she would leave the first chance she got?
