Page 32 of Claim
“But how…” June glanced at Mag, shocked for a third time.
His tusks jutted, antennae stiff—but he was not surprised.He’d known thePratorimwas working for Illgattoa.But when?
It didn’t matter.The bitter creep of realization made her sag in his grasp.Even as he’d confessed to her, making her feel special, even if just for a night, he’d been keeping his own secrets about the troubles closing in.Because they weren’t confidantes or friends or lovers.He didn’t really want or need her.She’d just happened to be in close proximity.
On the datpad, the Ajellomenes waved a tentacle.“Apex,” it called.“Your debt comes due.”
“Not yet.”Mag tapped his own datpad, displaying a countdown timer running in the background.“The auction isn’t over, and your dawn hasn’t come.”
Before the ringing bravado in his words had faded, a message flashed on his datpad.June’s wrist unit buzzed as well with an incoming Luster notification, marked as a paid announcement, which she knew was even more expensive than their virtual billboard ads.Of course she couldn’t help but glance at it.
An image of one of Sil’s most intricate sung stones, which he was calling Beauty of the Deep, appeared along with a warning:Fake.
A cold flush of outrage surged through her as more accusations scrolled beneath the lie, almost too quickly for her translator to interpret.“It’s not fake,” she burst out.“That’s not true at all.”
ThePratorim’s captain smirked.Considering he was Sauronilan, there were a lot of fangs exposed.“Not true that it’s not fake?”When she sputtered, he hissed a mocking sound in return.“In your own words you say nothing like this exists anywhere else in the universe.So how are we to believe it’s here?”
“That’s ridiculous,” she countered.“We have the sung stones in our hands.”
On the datpad screen, Illgattoa burbled like a drowning victim, an Ajellomenes laugh.“You having them doesn’t do you any good though, does it?You need others to want it in their hands.”Bubbles blurred the thick suckers in a waving gesture.“Also, there are rumors those stones are dangerous, whispering of deviant trickeries.”
“Deviant trickery?”June wished she had Mag’s big boots so she could stomp them in frustration.“What we brought isn’t fakeordangerous.The stones are powered with beauty and hope and dreams and love and…” Hearing her own litany of simple, naïve, little words, recited like a discount store anniversary card from a planet she’d left behind, she fell silent.
Even their apex didn’t believe they had fortune enough to escape their fate.And hadn’t she herself sketched out their disguises, as if theythemselvesweren’t enough?If evenshecouldn’t believe…
Across the core, datpads flickered, Illgattoa’s rumor spreading like a virus.Sil’s Beauty of the Deep glimmered like a captured spiral galaxy on the auction screens again, but even as she watched, despairing, the bid price dropped.
The Sauronilan snarled out another evil, hissing laugh.“It doesn’t matter what’s true.No one here would waste credits on”—the Sauronilan pitched his sibilant voice to mimic June—“hope and love.Dreams won’t fuel a ship.And neither beauty nor might can stand against a puny lie that at least gets you through the night alone.”
She twisted to Mag, searching his black gaze in desperation.“They can’t do this.”But she heard the doubt in her voice.
“It’s already done,” Illgattoa chortled.“Captain Szakh, be ready to take theDeepWanderunder tow when the Luster closes.”One large sucker covered the screen, and the datpad went dark.
The vreign of Luster Station was strolling by, and she twisted loose from Mag’s slackened grip to race after the alien lord.
“Sir,” she said, struggling to keep the anxiety out of her voice.“Your auction is being sabotaged.You can’t let this happen.”
The Dastard studied her, his gaze flicking only once to the screens, which she knew were bleeding their accounts even as the bid price continued to drop.“Because no one wants you?That is not sabotage.”
“But that message isn’t true.The Beauty of the Deep and all the other pieces aren’t fake or dangerous.That was just a lie to…” She knew she couldn’t give away Mag’s secret debt, not even now.“A lie.Is that the community you’ve built here?Who would want to be part of that?All these crews joined you because they believed it was better than being alone, but if theystopbelieving…”
The vreign looked down at her.“Maybe.Not all dreams survive the break of day, and even the shine of stars goes dark in the end.”
“June.”Mag gripped her arm, reeling her back against his chest.“Enough.”
“It’s not enough,” she countered.“We can’t let it end.We came here because this place was supposed to be a place for people like us, even bigger and better than theDeepWander, where we could all be together.But it’s just as ugly and unfair as everywhere else.”The disillusionment was like the projection of the Beauty of the Deep guttering to black as their credits emptied to zero.
Though his fingers manacling her arm never loosened, she felt Mag’s secret shudder against her spine.“No more, meebu.”
The Dastard glanced between them.“Maybe next time.”And he continued on his way.
But there wouldn’t be a next time.This had been their last chance.
Chapter 10
This was everything he had feared.The debt come due, his ship balanced precariously on the edge of ruin, no one else to take command.
Only now it was worse because he was staring not just at catastrophe but his failure reflected in June’s shattered quartz eyes.
