Page 69 of Colossal

With a strained sound in her throat, Kaia bolted for the bathroom. She kneeled over the sink and retched up the watery contents of her stomach.

How would she know if it happened? If she got addicted? She didn’t feel cravings yet at least. She didn’t feel much aside from shame. Not just at the thought of letting him force her to swallow him like that, but at the memory of herself wet and grinding against his hand as he…

Kaia threw up again.

The door was locked, of course. He probably expected her to hide, abandon the whole arrangement. Was that even still an option as far as he was concerned?

Clearly not,she thought, glaring at the door.

Kaia did two rounds of each room, opening nooks and crannies, checking possible hiding spots for anything interesting or useful. She was smart about it—replacing each item carefully to its original place. She found nothing of interest except for a few physical pages tucked haphazardly under the cushion in his office, and she wasn’t up to trying to decipher them at that moment.

When she was back in the main room, all but done with her fruitless sweep, her eyes fell to the coolbox beneath Orion’s hydra station. She’d checked its contents already of course, but she now focused on the two-inch gap between the bottom of it and the floor.

Not hopeful but wanting a sense of completion, Kaia got on her knees gingerly, trying not to agitate her bruises, and peered into the gap. She saw a vague outline of something in the near-blackness and squeezed her hand far as she could into the small space, feeling for the object.

She finally managed to get a grasp and slide it out, and what she found made her grin.

The knife was dusty—likely forgotten down there, or so she hoped. She twisted it in her hand, running the pad of her thumb parallel to the blade. Nice and sharp. That might come in very useful indeed.

Done with her search, all that was left for Kaia to do was return to the relative comfort of the bed and try not to panic about whatever was about to happen when Orion returned.

She climbed under the thin sheet bunched on the other edge of the bed, and something hard jutted against the back of her thigh. She rummaged until she pulled out her tablet.

Thank fuck.

He’d brought it. What was this? Something to keep her busy while she awaited her fate? Either way, she was going to take full advantage of it. She’d known what her next move would be since she’d curled up at the dock the night before.

Kaia scanned her retina into the passlock and scrolled to the comms module. She found the last message from Loran and hit Reply.

RECIPIENT ID: A35R109-09

FROM ID: CCLSL-25109

DATA: LORAN, COLONY LIFE IS DIFFICULT. MOSTLY I MISS MY FRIENDS. FAMILY. YOU WERE ALWAYS LIKE THE BROTHER I NEVER REALLY GOT TO HAVE. IF I ASKED TO HAVE MY ONLY FAMILY TO BE AT MY WEDDING, WOULD YOU COME?

Comparing Loran to her brother disgusted her on a molecular level, but it was important. Kaia had been sending over data dumps when really, she had a perfect excuse to get Loran ontoColossal. Their fake-friendly transmissions over the months could be used as backup of their friendship should anyone intercept them. And no one would blame her for missing her makeshift family after what Orion had just put her through, very publicly, on theZenith. With a wry smile, Kaia had to admit that maybe in a way, he’d done her a favor.

She thought through the new plan over and over, repeating it like a mental mantra. She would play her part. Get enough influence and goodwill with Mare Halena to invite Loran toColossalfor the wedding. Once Loran got his claws intoColossal, he’d have the means and power to exploit and dismantle Orion. Would it happen at the expense of the colony? Maybe. Kaia might even feel some remorse about that, if she were alive to see it. But she’d be long gone, in Heaven with her brother.

The chime of an incoming transmission came quicker than she expected, and when she read it, she smiled.

RECIPIENT ID: CCLSL-25109

FROM ID: A35R109-09

Data: I WOULD BE HONORED.

CHAPTER39

ORION

She’d barely stirred when he left her in his suite onColossal. Mother freaked out, of course, when she’d learned he piloted the Ariel back on his own. Shit, she wasn’t cool with Kaia piloting it either, but the prospect of Orion flying again after she explicitly forbade it over a decade ago wasn’t something she could handle.

“How dare you jeopardize the bloodline of this ship!” She had chastised him in her suite that morning. “Have you learned nothing since your return?”

“Calm down, Mother. Emotions don’t suit you.”

He was fairly certainColossalwas short one docksman by the time Mare Halena was done systematically interrogating whoever may have been involved in allowing this to happen. But she couldn’t send him away again. Not this time. This time, she needed him to be there because soon enough, she sure as hell wouldn’t be.

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