Page 40 of Swept By The Alien Pirate Prince

Cyburn swung his legs over the side of the dock and scratched the right side of his cheek. “The conversation you had with Silver.”

“Oh.” I frowned and looked straight ahead, having an internal debate on whether I should tell him what we had talked about.

Silver hadn’t necessarily asked me to keep our conversation private, but she’d also asked me to promise that I would never betray any of them, including her.

Since she’d asked Cyburn to step away while we’d talked, it seemed like a bit of an invasion of privacy to relay the conversation back to him now that we were alone.

Cyburn sensed my hesitation and gave me a curious glance.

“Was it something she didn’t want me to know about?”

“No, not really.” I shook my head and propped my arms behind me, leaning back slightly. “She just wanted to talk to me about the situation we’re facing right now, and what happened you know with…” I trailed off, not bold enough to say her name out loud.

Luckily Cyburn had no problem doing it for me. “Amada?”

I swallowed hard and met his gaze. “Yes.”

Every time her name was mentioned, Cyburn’s jaw tightened, and I got a twisting pain in my gut.

“What about it?” Cyburn’s features were more curious than they were probing.

“I think that Silver is struggling with coping about the betrayal,” I admitted.

Cyburn pondered. “That seems fair. She was relatively close with Amada.”

“I know. She’s taking it hard.”

“She’ll recover. She may think of herself as a living, breathing soul, but she’s not.”

I thought his assumption was a little cruel.

“She still has feelings, though.”

Cyburn shrugged. “From the settingswegave her.”

“I actually asked her if she wanted me to dial down her emotional settings,” I admitted.

Cyburn turned his head to me. “So, did you do it?”

“She said she didn’t want me to. I told her I’d respect her wishes and if she changes her mind, she knows where to find me.”

“Why didn’t you try to convince her?”

“She said ifIcan’t turnmyemotions off, she shouldn’t get the luxury herself.”

Cyburn’s laughter was sincere. “That’s awfully big of her.”

I smiled too. “I thought so.”

“That’s all she wanted to talk about?” Cyburn arched a quizzical eyebrow, fetching for more information.

“No, actually.” I took a deep breath. “She wanted me to make a promise about something.”

“Oh really?” Cyburn gave me an invested look. “What was it?”

“She wanted me to make a promise never to betray her, or… anyone else on the crew or ship.” My eyes met with his. “Especially you.”

Cyburn appeared to be lost in thought about this for several seconds. His mood was tranquil, and he seemed to be mulling this over.

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