Janwar questioned his own sanity as he turned back to Pulcra. “Agreed. Simone will fight the Dotharian in exchange for the location of the Gathendien outpost.” He infused his voice with warning and specified, “The exact location.”
“Done!” Pulcra all but shouted, then rubbed his hands together with glee. “I’ll have my minions put the word out immediately.”
CHAPER NINE
The temporary translator lodged in Simone’s ear only allowed her to understand Akseli words Janwar spoke, leaving her clueless regarding his thoughts. As she understood it, a translation implant would’ve allowed her to understand his thoughts, but her body had rejected that. Truth be told, she’d come to like that. Her inability to understand the Tangata crew’s thoughts, which her telepathy constantly carried to her whenever she let down her guard, had transformed them into white noise that filled the background like one of those machines that produced beach sounds to help people sleep.
As an empath, however, she had no difficulty discerning Janwar’s emotions. They were all over the place as he clutched her hand, his long fingers woven through hers, and followed Pulcra through the bar.
Once the pug-faced man told his bartending brother to get the word out about the fight, he refused to let Simone out of his sight. “Can’t have you changing your mind now, can I?” he boomed with a rough laugh as he studied a tablet. “Ah, yes. Credits are already pouring in.”
Simone might have used a bit too much of an empathic push to get him to agree to this because he was crazy excited about it now, insisting the battle take place later that night.
Janwar didn’t want to let Simone out of his sight either. He’d told Soval to return to the ship, perhaps worried Big Blue might be asked to step in and fight if the Dotharian killed her too quickly. But Soval had refused.
She studied Janwar from the corner of her eye as she reveled in the warmth merely holding his hand generated inside her. It reminded her of how she had felt many centuries ago while in the first bloom of womanhood when the handsome innkeeper’s son had smiled at her.
Janwar wasn’t smiling as they left the bar. Rather, he radiated fury and anxiety. Fear and dread. Determination and… admiration?
The emotions flowing into her where they touched told her everything she couldn’t hear in his thoughts: He very much wanted to believe in her but at the same time feared she would be sorely injured or killed.
As if sensing her gaze, he glanced down at her. “Why the drek are you smiling?”
Soval grunted on his other side. “You should be quaking in fear.”
Simone never took her gaze from Janwar. “I am so attracted to you right now,” she admitted breathlessly, mimicking the words he’d spoken to her when she’d straddled him with the intent of killing him. He had agreed to let her fight a massive alien beast. And she hadn’t had to use her empathic gift to force his hand the way she had Pulcra. Janwar had simply trusted her. Believed in her. Despite the insanity of it all—and she was aware of how insane this must seem to him—he had bowed to her wishes.
His eyes widened as his steps slowed. “Oh, drek. It’s the suja. Why didn’t I think of that? The drekking suja is compelling you to do this!”
Soval stared at her with dread. “You said you weren’t affected by the suja!”
When Janwar started looking around as though seeking some way to escape their predicament, Simone laughed and squeezed his hand. “It’s not the suja. I might as well have been drinking water for all the effect that fiery beverage had on me.”
Her denial didn’t lessen the dismay Janwar exuded a bit. “You’re on your way to an arena where you’ll fight a drekking Dotharian to the death, and you just said you’re attracted to me! You may not think it affected you, but—”
She stopped short, tugging him to a halt even as his words tugged at her heart. “Janwar.” Brow furrowing, she raised her free hand to cup his bearded jaw. “Is it so difficult for you to fathom that I’m attracted to you? Do you truly believe I have to be drunk to care for you?”
He swallowed hard, his hand tightening around hers.
And her heart broke for him.
Simone stepped closer. “I’m not just attracted to you because you’re handsome as hell.” She took in his rugged features and drank in the emotions suffusing her. “It’s because you trust me. Because you believe in me.”
“I do believe in you,” he murmured. “I just…”
She smiled. He wasn’t accustomed to taking such giant leaps of faith and feared losing her.
An irresistible urge to kiss him struck, to feel his soft, warm lips against hers. Pulse pounding, she rose onto her toes and—
“Come-come!” Pulcra shouted impatiently.
Dropping her heels again, she swung away to scowl at him.
The boxy man had stopped several steps ahead and waved impatiently for them to catch up.
Sighing, she sent Janwar a rueful smile. “I was totally going to kiss you.”
His lips turned up in the first faint smile she’d seen since Pulcra had met them in the tavern. “And I was totally going to let you.”
Laughing in delight, she resumed walking.
The street the group navigated was packed dirt rather than paved. Very few plants survived along it. Most of those that did had needles like a pine tree rather than leaves, perhaps due to the planet’s arid environment. A conglomeration of vehicles passed them: hoverbikes, small personal transports she deemed hovercars, significantly larger conveyances that must serve as buses, wheeled rickshaws pulled by aliens, and wagons led by fascinating creatures that looked like shorter, rounder, hump-less camels with cheetah spots, beagle ears, and beards. Too cute!
She would’ve stopped to pet one, but Pulcra hustled them into a hovering vehicle big enough to seat four adult passengers.
Four average-sized adult passengers.
Pulcra’s stout body took up most of one bench seat. When Janwar motioned for her to enter, Simone slipped out of her katana harness once more and opted to sit across from Pulcra. Janwar sank down beside her, the hovercar rocking slightly with his weight. Then Soval stood in the opening, trying to hide his disgust over the prospect of squeezing in beside Pulcra.
Fighting a smile, Simone took pity on him and shifted onto Janwar’s lap.
There was no mistaking Janwar’s surprise and pleasure at the unexpected action. Resting a hand on her hip, he slid over to make room for Soval.
If Janwar’s weight had made the hovercar rock a bit, Soval’s made it lurch so much she had to throw her arms around Janwar’s neck to keep from landing on the floor.
The door closed, then the vehicle rocked again as a few of Pulcra’s henchmen squeezed into a front seat she couldn’t see.
A minute later, the low hum of the engine arose and they moved forward.
Simone leaned back against Janwar and tried not to smile when he wrapped his arms around her. This wasn’t exactly how she had pictured sitting on his lap for the first time.
Nevertheless, she enjoyed it and knew he did, too. Some of his roiling emotions quieted, quelled by the contentment and affection that filled him when she leaned against him.
The trip was a short one. Outside the hovercar’s windows, a giant stadium arose that evinced a fascinating combination of advanced technology and basic building materials, as if it had been constructed by some ancient alien race, long-extinct, then stood vacant for millennia until men of Pulcra’s ilk had swept in and updated it, using as few credits as possible.