She nodded. Then her eyes widened. “Wait. What about my ship?”
His eyebrows rose. “The Gathendien ship?”
“Yes. I’m one hundred percent serious about claiming it.”
“I thought as much, so we incinerated all the bodies, decontaminated the ship, locked it down, cloaked it, and tagged it so you can retrieve it later.”
Her face lit with a smile. “Awww. That’s so sweet. Thank you.”
He laughed. “You must still be recovering from the poison. No one would describe us as sweet.”
She waved a hand in dismissal. “Pfft. You can’t fool me. You’ve already revealed your secret.”
He stared at her. “What secret?” More specifically, which one? They had so many.
“That you’re all just a bunch of great big teddy bears.”
Janwar didn’t think that translated correctly unless she was calling them large, hairy, omnivorous animals. “I don’t know what that means.”
“It means that you’re big, tough, and dangerous on the outside like a bear. But you’re soft and lovable on the inside.” She winked. “Just how I like it.”
Janwar could find no response to that.
Simone laughed, the joyful sound interrupted by a yawn.
“You should rest,” he suggested softly. “Eliana said you would probably need another transfusion and a good night’s sleep to fully recover.”
“I just spent three days in a coma. You’d think more sleep would be the last thing I’d need,” she grumbled.
“Nevertheless.” He rose. “Shall I show you the room I prepared for you?”
“Sure. Though I hope you didn’t go to any trouble on my account. I could just stay in the infirmary.”
“No trouble. We have rooms to spare.” He smiled. “This is a big ship.”
Rising, she snorted. “This is an enormous ship. I wish I weren’t so tired. I’d love to see more of it.”
“I’ll give you a tour tomorrow.”
A maintenance bot entered and strode toward them. “Rest well, Simone,” T said as he collected their empty dishes.
“Thank you, T.”
Janwar led Simone toward the front of the ship. “These are the crew quarters. Thanks to T, we all maintain the same schedule instead of half of us working during the day and the other half keeping things running at night. We’ve had a higher than ordinary workload the past few days, so the others are probably already asleep.” Because of the possible bioweapons on board the Gathendien ship, locking it down had been trickier than usual.
Every time they passed a door, he mentioned who slept behind it. “Soval. Srok’a. Kova. Elchan. Krigara. This one’s mine.” He passed it. “And this will be yours. T has already altered the access panel so you can open the door either with a verbal command or by pressing your palm to the pad.”
Eyebrows raising, Simone pressed her small hand to the access panel.
The door slid up.
She smiled. “Thank you.”
Janwar watched her stride inside and hoped the quarters would be to her liking. This was the same suite Prince Taelon and Lisa had used during their stay on the Tangata.
“Wow,” she breathed as she turned in a slow circle. “It’s so big.”
Most warships this size required a crew of hundreds, could carry thousands of soldiers, and needed multiple large bays to house the transports, fighter craft, and ammunition military strikes required. Which meant quarters tended to be cramped. But this ship had been specially designed for operation by only a few, enabling him and his makeshift family to have rooms that rivaled the size of those found in the homes of the wealthiest citizens on Aksel.
“If you’d like to change some things to make it more comfortable—“
“Are you kidding?” she asked with a disbelieving laugh. “It’s beautiful. Too beautiful for the likes of me. I’m just a warrior, Janwar. This looks like Prince Taelon or some other royal family member should stay here. Not plain old me.”
“Prince Taelon did stay here, with Lisa and little Abby. You’ll find some of Lisa’s clothing in those drawers.“ He motioned to the entrance to the bedroom, through which they could see drawers embedded in one wall. “They’re all shirts like ours that she modified. I’m afraid T didn’t finish adjusting our clothing generator until after we left the royal family on Lasara.”
When Simone headed into the bedroom to investigate, he followed her as far as the doorway and leaned against the jamb.
The bed was large enough that she had to jump up a little to sit on the edge.
She would look tiny, sprawled in the center of it. As tiny as she’d looked perched atop him when she’d forced him onto his back and straddled his hips earlier.
“And there’s nothing plain about you,” he couldn’t resist adding, his voice acquiring a rough texture as he imagined her straddling him again on the bed.
Simone had been bouncing experimentally on the bed but stilled when she heard those words. Her eyes met his. Her throat worked in a swallow. As she looked away, color crept into her cheeks.
Drek, he found that appealing, that a warrior as fierce as the woman before him could also be gentle and even… shy?
“I’ll leave you to your rest,” he murmured and turned to head for the door. Best to depart before he did something stupid. Only a couple of hours had passed since she’d awoken, thinking he’d poisoned her. He doubted she would welcome any amorous overtures on his part.
Inwardly, he snorted. Amorous overtures? What the drek was wrong with him?
“Janwar?” She spoke softly as the door slid up.
Halting, he turned to face her and couldn’t guess what thoughts passed behind her somber expression. His heartbeat picked up as she closed the distance between them and stopped only a heartbeat away.
Tilting her head back, she gazed up at him. “Thank you. For saving me. For caring for me when I was ill. For locking down the Gathendien ship for me. And for agreeing to pursue the Promeii 7 lead and help me search for my friends without me even asking you to.” Sliding her arms around his waist, she gave him a tight hug.
Heart rate spiking, he wrapped his arms around her and held her close.
“I’m sorry I accused you of poisoning me,” she murmured.
He rested his chin atop her head. “I would’ve done the same in your position.” He chuckled. “Except I probably would’ve killed you before I passed out and then died from the poison.”
She laughed. “I think we’re more alike than we are different because I would’ve done the same if I’d had the strength.”
“Well, I’m glad you didn’t,” he told her softly.
After giving him another squeeze, she backed away. Head down, she cleared her throat. “How long will it take us to reach Promeii 7?”
“Nine days.”
She nodded. “Are we still on for the tour tomorrow?”
“Yes. Have T alert me when you awaken, and we can begin after first meal.”
“Okay.”
He backed into the corridor, oddly reluctant to leave her.
At last, she met his gaze. A faint smile curled her full lips, and her eyes bore a soft amber glow. “Good night, Janwar.”