Every trace of her hair had disappeared into the scarf again. She observed him with softer eyes than before.
“What are peacocks?” he asked.
“They have the same iridescent feathers and dark frills on their heads,” she told him. “They have long tail feathers that normally drag behind them. But when a male wants to impress a female he lifts the feathers to make a sort of colorful screen.”
“When wing-steeds wish to mate the male flaps his wings as if he is going to fly,” Kade explained.
“Maybe they’re not so different after all,” Aurora said.
“The further I travel the galaxy, the more I am convinced that the myriad of beings are more similar that most believe,” he said, nodding.
Aurora didn’t reply.
He glanced over at her.
She seemed transfixed by the sight of the tiny town that was revealing itself around the curve of the road.
He wondered suddenly if she was frightened.
It seemed strange to think this fierce young woman could be so easily frightened. Surely he was wrong, and she was just happy to see that they would not be alone on the frontier moon.
Aurora frowned and her hand went to her scarf, as if to be sure it was still in place.
3
Aurora
Aurora eyed the little town.
It might be small, but it was clearly bustling. Terrans, droids and other beings strolled the gravel streets, waving and shouting to each other.
There were a few other wing-steed drawn coaches, but none as flashy as this one.
Great. I’m trying to hide out, and I manage to arrive in a gossipy small town in the most conspicuous way possible.
Once Kade dropped them off, she would be sure never to ride in a coach again.
She glanced over at the baby, unable to believe she was going to be left alone with such a loud little being.
For her part, baby Lyra watched the town roll past, a queenly expression on her small face.
One thing Aurora could say about Lyra was that, for a baby, she projected confidence. She wondered how much of that had to do with the big golden warrior who was carrying her.
Who wouldn’t be confident in those strong, muscular arms?
Not that she’d been thinking about his arms, or how it might feel to be held by them, or the warmth of his big body, so close to hers.
She had definitely not been thinking about that.
At all.
It did seem a little strange to her that the agency would go so far as to send a member of the Invicta to guide them on the short trip from the ship to their new home. Especially when they hadn’t exactly sprung for high end transport to get the women to Clotho.
But in an odd way, it made sense. The priority was the care of the child. Aurora might have been delivered here in a rickety old craft, but now that she was caring for Lyra the agency gave her luxury treatment.
Back on Aurora’s home planet, Terra-4, the orphans lived in a creche where the adults took turns visiting and bringing what toys and treats could be scavenged.
The idea of driving an orphan around in a fancy coach seemed implausible, at best.
But there was wealth in the universe beyond what Aurora could comprehend. And adopting Lyra had gotten Aurora off the regulation planets and onto the frontier, where she should be safe from extradition.
So long as no one kidnapped her and took her off-moon to secure the bounty on her head.
She touched the scarf on her head. The open coach exposed her to the wind, but it seemed to be staying on now that she had tied it tight enough to give herself a headache.
She wondered if Kade had recognized her.
That seemed unlikely. If he had, he would have immediately begun the procedure to capture her. The Invicta were big on right and wrong. There wasn’t a lot of gray area with those guys.
But he had turned away when her hair came down, as if he didn’t want to recognize her.
Or maybe she was just being paranoid. Most people in the system probably didn’t give a second thought to the happenings in her little corner of the galaxy. She was probably not even newsworthy in a place like this.
“Everything okay, Aurora?” Kade asked.
Something about the way her name sounded in his mouth made her insides flip-flop in a way that had nothing to do with the bumpy ride.
“Yes, of course,” she said, heat coming to her cheeks.
“I’ll bet you’re hungry,” he said, his deep voice kind and calming.
You have no idea.
“I’m fine,” she said, trying to get her wits about her before she made a fool of herself by drooling over her handsome companion. “Lyra and I can walk into town later to pick up supplies.”
Her stomach chose that moment to growl loudly, breaking the spell she’d been falling under.
Kade chuckled. “We’ll stop on the way,” he said. “Then you can relax when we get home.”
When we get home?
But she had no time to pick apart what was strange about that sentence.
Kade was directing the wing-steeds to pull the coach up beside a market.
It was a two-story stucco building, with the same terra cotta roof tiles all the buildings seemed to have. But there were white tents out front, over tables lined with bins of produce.
Aurora’s mouth began to water at the sight of such a bounty.
An older gentleman with a white beard walked among the bins, checking on his wares.
A small boy with a broom tried to keep the dust away from the bins to almost no avail. The breeze kicked it up again as soon as he had swept it away. But it seemed a wholesome enough task for a kid - better than working in the mines like the teenagers of Hesiod-8, the planet this moon was circling.
Kade leapt out of the coach. The afternoon sun glinted in his golden hair and caressed the plane of his jaw in a way that made him look like a cruel king.
He offered Aurora his hand.
Against her better judgement, she took it.
His warm hand closed around hers and she felt a shiver of electricity.
Helplessly, she gazed into his eyes instead of looking away.
His green eyes flashed and his jaw tightened.
He felt it too then, this strange connection.
It was almost like she already knew him.
You can’t afford an infatuation, Aurora Day. Get it together.
Aurora jumped down from the coach and let go of his hand.
Kade stood frozen for a fraction of a second longer, then turned to accompany her into the market.
“Welcome, great warrior and beautiful lady,” the older gentleman said, heading over to them. “How may I serve you?”
“We are new to town, and hungry,” Kade said. “We want to stock our pantry with fresh, local food. What do you suggest?”
The man beamed.
“You have come to the right place. My name is Gar and that’s my grandson, Narlin. Our wares are fresh, and we have the best selection of produce in town. Would you like eggs and milk?”
“Yes, please,” Kade said. “Plenty of both.”
“I’ll go inside and retrieve them,” Gar said. “Feel free to choose your fruits and vegetables.”
Aurora watched in shock as the man bustled into the building, leaving them alone in his shop with no one but the boy with the broom to watch over his wares.
“Isn’t he afraid of thieves?” Aurora murmured to herself.