Page 23 of A Darkside Interlude

The Morality Quotient exam was the first step in the path to becoming a true Citizen of the Federation. Mari’s career as a thief meant she was already too compromised to pass the MQ—the Academy’s lie detectors were rumored to be infallible—but Artoo had a chance, and for a whole year, Mari had been saving credits so she could pay the exam fee.

“I couldn’t care less about the MQ exam. If he did something to hurt you, I’d whoop him.”

“Idiot. I’m not letting all those years of prep go to waste. If you fail that bloody exam, I’ll whoop you. Come here.” Mari ruffled Artoo’s wild black hair as he reached her side. At twelve years of age, her little brother stood as tall as her shoulder. With his almond-shaped eyes, cheeky dimples, and the smattering of freckles across his round nose, he reminded her so much of their mother.

She had to get him out of this place before it ruined him.

“Hey, sis, you know who he is, don’t you?”

“What, the alien? I’ve never seen him before.”

“I swear, sometimes you’re such a clueless dork, Mari.”

A strange feeling wormed its way into her gut. The man she’d allowed to slip away… who the hell was he?

“I’ve seen him on the Networks, on the holo-boards. He’s some sort of big-shot. Head of something-or-other.”

“Who?” As Arturo’s words registered in her mind, it all started to make perfect sense.

I knew it!

The bossiness. The fighting skills. The imperious demeanor. Her mystery alien was someone very important, and she’d tried to steal from him. Ha. Mari closed her eyes and said a silent prayer of thanks to whatever guardian spirit had been watching over her tonight.

“I can’t remember his exact name.” Artoo shrugged. “All Kordolian names kinda sound the same to me. We can look him up on the Networks. I’m sure you’ll recognize him.” He raised his eyebrows suggestively.

Her brother’s teasing tone made Mari blush. She just couldn’t shake off the memory of the Kordolian’s searing, insistent response to her kiss.

She couldn’t forget how hungry he’d been; how warm and passionate and delicious he was beneath that stone-cold exterior.

What could have been…

Such untapped potential. Could an Unregistered Darksider like her ever be with a man like that… an alien?

“Forget about it,” she muttered, gently punching Arturo in the arm. “Forget any of this ever happened. Go to bed. It’s late.”

The fireworks had stopped. Distant shouts reached her ears, punctuated by the loud roar of a hover-bike. The New Year’s Eve celebrations were over, and life went on in Darkside.

Tomorrow was another day, and she would have to come up with a damn good story for the Collector as to why she’d ended the night empty-handed, because there was no way in hell she was sharing the Kordolian krath with him.

Get out of this place. The stranger’s words resonated deep within her soul. He’d intended for the krath to go to her and her alone.

She would go to Bank Street tomorrow and try to exchange it for Earth credits. If it really was as valuable as the Kordolian seemed to suggest—and that was a big if—and if the stars and the planets aligned, she would take Arturo with her and disappear from this shithole for good.

Chapter Ten

“What the hell did you think you were doing, soldier?” Iskar resisted the urge to massage his temples as he stared up at one of his subordinates, a young infantryman called Borak. He’d woken up with a splitting headache, and he was in a foul mood. What he really needed was a hard sparring session with one of the First Division guys. Although he would never win against one of those genetically enhanced insta-healing bastards, they were the only opponents who could truly push him to his limits, and Iskar had a few tricks up his sleeve—enough to seriously injure them on more than one occasion.

Violence was the only antidote for the frustration he was feeling right now.

Violence, or…

Fuck.

Borak shrugged. “She wanted it. What was I supposed to do?”

“I personally reviewed the vid-footage provided by the Federation Peacekeepers. The human was clearly intoxicated.”

“She came up to me.” The young soldier’s forehead creased. “Some of these human women are… Kaiin’s Hells, they’re in-your-face, aren’t they?”

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