“My mother died,” I said in a flat, toneless voice. “And no, I didn’t kill her. She . . . succumbed to an illness.”
“I’m sorry,” Vesper replied, sincerity softening her voice. “It must have been difficult to lose her that way.”
It had been one of the most difficult things of my life, especially since I had only been thirteen at the time and little more than a boy myself. But what had come after my mother’s death had been far worse.
My father had been . . . worse.
Even now, I could see Chauncey slumped in a chair in the family library, a bottle of bourbon in his hand and a vacant look on his gaunt face as he stared into the fireplace at nothing, as he did nothing but drink and sigh and brood about what he had lost . . .
“What a fucking OBO,” Vesper muttered.
Her voice jolted me out of my dark memories. “What is an OBO?”
“Something my cousin Liesl used to say. When you’re stuck in a situation with only bad options—an OBO.”
Well, that sentiment certainly applied to this situation.
Vesper resumed her pacing and muttering. I tuned out her babble and peered past her, searching for my stormsword. It had landed on the floor on her side of the glass. Perhaps that was for the best. Vesper might think the barrier would protect her from me, but that was a mere illusion. Even from here, I could reach out with my telekinesis, grab my sword, and use it to attack.
But first, I needed to know more about her—everything about her. After seeing what had happened to my parents, I had vowed that I would never be bonded to anyone. Not so much as the briefest, most harmless chembond. I needed to figure out what had triggered this unwanted connection so I could ensure it never happened again.
Plus, I still wanted to know exactly what Vesper Quill had done and whom she had pissed off enough to get conscripted onto an Imperium ship, especially one that had been at the forefront of the latest battle with the Techwave.
I also wanted to know what, if anything, she had to do with the person who’d fired that cannon at me. The weapon had cut through my psionic shield like it wasn’t even there and had cracked the ground open like it was a fragile egg instead of solid rock. If the Techwavers had more weapons like that, then things were even more dire than I’d thought.
Although if the Techwavers did manage to kill me the next time I faced them, then I wouldn’t have to worry about being bonded to Vesper Quill. A silver lining in a galaxy of death and darkness.
Then again, all I had known for the last twenty-five years were death and darkness. I didn’t mind it, though. Things were simpler, easier in the dark, especially when no monster was worse than the one that lurked inside you. Sometimes I thought that was what my psion power was—the monster that let me survive. But apparently, my monster had a twisted sense of humor to saddle me with someone as unsuitable as Vesper Quill.
She stopped pacing and cracked her neck from side to side. Then she sat down on the floor beside the open panel.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
She grabbed a handful of wires. “I’m going to fix the thrusters so I can fly this ship to the nearest planet, one that isn’t made of boiling lava.”
“And what are you going to do with me?” I held my arms out wide. “Now that you have me trapped in here?”
Vesper gave me a thoughtful look. “Well, since you’re in the cargo bay, I could open the ramp. You might survive the cold for a few minutes, but the oxygen would quickly run out. Then, when you were dead, I could tilt the ship up and let gravity roll you down the ramp and out into space.”
Her matter-of-fact tone and simple but effective plan to murder me dramatically raised my estimation of her. I flexed my fingers, ready to summon my stormsword if she made good on her threat.
“But that’s only a last resort,” she continued. “Unlike you, I don’t go around attacking people who have helped me.”
“When did I ever help you?”
“You cut the husher out of my arm on the Imperium ship. You didn’t have to do that, but you did. Why?”
I couldn’t come up with a satisfactory answer, so I went for the simplest version of the truth. “I wanted to see what you were up to. If I’d known this would happen, I would have left it in you.”
She snorted. “Of course you would have. Not the sentimental sort, are you?”
“And you are?”
“I used to be. Sometimes I still am, even though nothing good ever comes of it. Just like nothing good ever comes out of trusting other people or relying on them to help when you need it the most.”
Waves of pain and sadness washed off her, along with a strong undercurrent of bitterness. I couldn’t tell if my telempathy was letting me sense her turbulent emotions or if it was part of the bond between us.
“But back to the husher. I could have gotten it out on my own, but it would have been much more painful.” She paused. “So thank you for that, at least.”
Once again, a satisfactory response eluded me, so this time, I remained silent. After a few seconds, Vesper focused on the wires again. All I could do was stand there and wonder why her path had crossed mine—and how I could break the bond between us without killing myself in the process.
About five minutes later, Vesper let out a loud whoop of delight. The engines hummed again, and the thrusters reengaged.
“Good-bye, boiling lava planet of doom!” she crowed, heading up to the pilot’s chair.
I didn’t bother asking what course she was setting. I doubted she would tell me, and it didn’t matter anyway. If she decided on a planet too far from Corios, then I would summon my sword, bring down the barrier, and end the illusion of her safety. Besides, I was curious about what option she would choose, especially since she’d said that only bad ones were available to her.
You could learn a lot about a person when they thought they were in complete control. Most people turned exceedingly cruel, like Callus Holloway and so many of the Regals I had dealt with over the years. And Vesper was capable of that cruelty too, given her proposed plan to suffocate me and then dump my body out of the cargo bay.
But for now, I returned to my own work and kept searching the cabinets, drawers, and other storage areas inside the cargo bay. I even pried the tops off the crates, which contained bottles of clean water, along with purification tablets to make more, and a box of vacuum-sealed strawberry protein bars. Not my favorite, but I needed calories to replace what I’d lost during the battle and then the fight with Vesper, so I tore open a wrapper with my teeth and downed a bar, plus two others.
A movement caught my eye, and I looked up to find Vesper on the other side of the glass, staring longingly at the box of protein bars on the counter. Her stomach rumbled, further confirming her hunger.
I picked up a protein bar and waggled it at her. “What? Is there no food on your side of the ship? Pity.”
She glared at me. “You really are a sadistic bastard.”
For some reason, I found myself grinning at her. “You have no idea.”
Her gaze grew even brighter, the silver flecks burning like pinprick stars in her dark blue eyes, and more of that icy-hot rage blasted off her. Vesper Quill’s power might be weak, but her emotions were not.
I waggled the protein bar at her again. “You could always lower the barrier, come over here, and get one for yourself.”