Page 26 of Sunastara & the Venusian
“Hmm,” I considered. “I know. How about tea at the bistro on deck thirty? You, me, views of the cosmos?” I waggled my brows. “And pastries?”
Her eyes lit up. “That sounds perfect.”
“Then it’s a date,” I said, kissing her cheek before she skirted around the crowd, heading back to the safety of her control room.
Resuming my path through fire toward the Ramesh’s table, I scanned the expansive ballroom. I doubted Raphe would have arrived this early—he was likely sitting at the desk in his suite, poring over legal documents, his broad shoulders filling out his tailored shirt, his brows pressed together in concentration, a pen between his teeth, a hot cup of coffee steaming beside him. But he’d surprised me before. Like when he arrived today unannounced, for example.
I did want to see him. I was sure of it. Being with Raphael was like being with a world leader. He was strong, decisive, skilled. He knew what he wanted, was exceptionally easy to please, and was always quick to compliment. Inshort, he was a hospitality specialist’s wet dream. So,yes, I was excited to see him. Extremely excited. Because we made sense. Raphael and I made sense.
Who the hells needs seven orgasms in one night anyway?
“Hey, Sunny. This is so cool! Isn’t this so cool?” Sai’s high-pitched voice rang across the ballroom as I approached his table. Leaning over in his chair, he swiped his fingers through the digital flames that danced around his feet.
“It’s amazing, isn’t it?” I said, waving my hand to encompass the room. “One of my best friends made all of this.”
“Really?” Sai’s eyes ratcheted wide. “Can I meet them? I need to know how they did this. I have a million questions. Two million.”
“Of course you can meet her, Sai. I’ll set it up.”
The boy’s smile stretched from one ear to the other. “Awesome! Thanks, Sunny,” he said before he returned to playing with the fire.
Patting the seat beside her, Sonia met my stare and said, “Take a load off.”
I nodded my thanks and took the chair, partly because my feet had started to ache, but mainly because when the senator said jump, I had a feeling everyone within a light-year of her laced up their sneakers. “Are you enjoying yourselves?” I asked, and when Sonia ducked her chin, I leaned in close to tell her, “This ball tends to get a bit rowdy as the night goes on. You might consider?—”
Waving me off, Sonia said, “We are only staying for dinner and the show.”
“And a piece of that—what was it called?” Lena asked with a twinkle in her eye. “Warple cake?”
Angling my head toward the back of the room, I said, “I spotted some on the table in the corner. But promise meyou’ll wait until you’re back in your suite before you eat any.”
Sonia leaned in close and said, “Of course.” Then she stopped my heart mid-beat with “I heard a rumor that LunaCorp is bringing Kravaxians onto the ship before we reach Portis.”
Trying and failing to keep my shock in check, I stammered, “W-where did you hear that?”
“I have my sources. Is this true?”
It wasn’t necessarily classified information, but I was well aware of the fact that I should neither confirm nor deny the rumor of FFK visitation. If word got out too soon, there could be panic, chaos, a security nightmare that would make fungus rat–era Rax and Morgath seem like characters from a children’s story.
“I’m not really sure if?—”
“Do not lie to me, Sunastara.” The senator’s voice had gone cold, as had the blood in my veins. The woman was intimidation incarnate.
Realizing I was not getting out of this situation without admitting something, I weighed my options. I could lie, but the senator would know it and only become more suspicious. If I told the truth… Oh, who was I kidding? She already knew the truth. This was a test of allegiance, if nothing else.
My only true allegiance was to this ship and my crew, but I highly doubted the senator would want to start a riot on the ship her family was currently staying on by spreading gossip. So, with some hesitation, I admitted, “Only four. But they’re…special Kravaxians.”
The senator raised a brow while Lena distracted Sai by asking him how he thought the Ulaperian silk dancers learned their tricks.
“They’ll be here purely on LunaCorp business,” I added. “And they have been thoroughly vetted.”
“Thoroughly,” Sonia repeated, leaning back in her chair, her tone suggesting that they might as well have attempted to thoroughly vet a Kuiper worm. “I see.”
“You don’t approve,” I surmised.
“Of Kravaxians cohabitating in an enclosed space with civilians? No, Sunny. I do not approve.”
When something terrible happened, I knew more than most how tempting it was to search for a reason, for a pattern in the chaos, for some sort of magical meaning to justify the unending wrongness of things. I’d tried for years until I finally learned the truth. There were no reasons. There was no meaning. And there were no coincidences. Coincidences like a prominent KU senator being on my ship at the same time as corporate-sanctioned space pirates.
