She forced a brake on her emotions. Because while she might see him as something familiar at last, he didn't have the same need to bond to her as she did to him.
He would have his own kind around him all the time.
She was the one who didn't fit.
“You fit in with the Grih,” he said, and startled, she realized he was responding to her statement, which she hadn't realized she'd spoken out loud.
“You fit in with me, too.” Bane said softly.
She bent her head, her hands clasped together. She couldn't help the hot flow of tears that dripped off her cheeks.
“What do you need?” Dray asked. “You must eat.”
She lifted her head and sniffed. The thought of Tecran food made her stomach cramp. She was hungry but not hungry enough to eat anything he'd put out for her. “I had some nutrition bars in Fa'allen. I think I'd like to rest for a bit. I've been snatching bits of sleep in uncomfortable places for a few days now. And that couch looks pretty good.”
He looked over to where she pointed.
“You don't want to use one of the bedrooms?”
She shook her head. “No. I'll be more relaxed here.” There was something unsettling about the thought of sleeping uninvited in someone else's bed.
The bedrooms were also small and dark, whereas the lounge was big and airy. She wouldn't feel trapped here.
She sensed a change in the fog behind her and turned to see it had parted a little, so she could look out to sea by the light of Tecra's two moons.
There was a massive rock standing a little way out, as if part of the cliff had been sliced off and pushed out to sea. She caught the faintest suggestion of movement on its sheer black walls.
“What's that?” She looked over her shoulder, saw Dray had found a blanket somewhere and was carrying it under an arm.
He came to stand beside her, his shoulder brushing her own.
“That's a baug colony. The Tecran like to climb the cliffs for sport and hunt them.”
Lucy watched them move and flutter over the sheer rock face for a few more minutes, and then the fog closed in again.
She turned back to the room, and Dray handed her the folded blanket.
“Sleep,” he said. “I'll keep watch.”
She didn't want him to stand watch over her, the thought of being that vulnerable didn't sit well with her, but she couldn't find a way to refuse without sounding ungrateful. “Thank you.”
She settled down on one of the couches facing the windows, and pulled the blanket up. It smelled clean, the scent on it told her they must use the same detergent as the facility, because it was familiar to her.
She didn't think she would fall asleep easily, but Dray had left the room, and as soon as she laid her head on a cushion, her whole body seemed to cry out in relief that she was off her feet and lying down.
She hadn't scratched the surface of the questions she wanted to ask, and she could see an equal number in Dray's eyes, but for now she was safe, warm and for the first time had not one but two people looking out for her.
Considering how her life had looked just over a full day ago, things were definitely improving.
Chapter 20
Dray looked in on Lucy a few times as he prowled around the house, but mainly he stood watch two floors above.
The fog was thinner higher up, and he liked to think if the Tecran were coming for them using hovers, he'd see a reflection of the lights in the smokey gray cloud.
“Hear anything out there?” he asked Bane.
“No. I'm not going to be as much help as I was before. I can't see anything. There are no lenses out here. And after I took control of those two hovers, they'll know I'm helping you. They'll be more careful, more difficult to catch out.”
“We wouldn't have made it this far without you.” Lucy would have probably been caught before he'd even managed to get to her. “How long have you known about her?”
“I was told there was a possibility she was here before I left with the Urna. But I was reluctant to say anything. If I was wrong, that would have been bad for everyone.”
“True,” Dray acknowledged. “The UC would have wondered if you were stirring up trouble against the Tecran, and the Tecran would have felt even more persecuted than they already do.”
“And if one of the UC team told the wrong Tecran, and she was somewhere on Tecra and alive, it could have been her death sentence.”
Dray sucked in a breath, because he hadn't thought of that possibility, but it was the cold, hard truth.
“How did you know?” He shifted, leaning against the window as the fog grew thicker. “Who told you she might exist at all?”
“Paxe was the one who took her. He told Oris about her just before he self-destructed. It was his way to atone. He knew the Tecran had buried all mention of her, and he wanted to do something to help her before he died.”
Dray said nothing as he absorbed that.
Paxe had died rather than be chained by the Tecran, and his destruction had brought the Tecran's plans to a sudden end. Left with no Class 5s under their control, their plans had collapsed, and they'd had no choice but to come to the United Council as supplicants wanting forgiveness, rather than as triumphant victors who could force the other members of the council into subjugation.
The whole thing still had the power to catch at his throat, as anger and disgust warred for prominence.
“This is going to hit the United Council hard. They went relatively easy on the Tecran because everyone thought they'd come clean about the Earth women. To find out they haven't . . .” There was no way to soften this blow. Keeping quiet about Lucy Harris was such an act of bad faith, he didn't know if some in the UC would be able to accept the current treaty where all the Tecran lost was their sovereignty for five years.
“Yes.” There was a depth of satisfaction to Bane's voice.
Dray shrugged it off. Bane had more right than most to feel aggrieved when it came to the Tecran.
The fog pressed up against the windows and suddenly feeling hemmed in, blind, he pushed away from the window. “I'm going to walk around outside.”
“I'll keep listening for any chatter,” Bane said.
Dray gave a hum of agreement and then ran lightly down the stairs. He looked in on Lucy before he slipped out and was struck anew by her hair.
It exploded over the arm of the couch she lay on, gold burnished brown spirals that he wanted to touch.
He had studied the three known Earth women, everyone in the five UC territories had, but it hadn't prepared him for being in the same room as one in person.
She was vital, her dark eyes piercingly intelligent.
It was one thing to be told the Earth women were advanced sentients, but another to see the truth of that right in front of his eyes.
He recalled the warmth of her pressed against his back as they'd raced away from Fa'allen on the hover, the way she'd rested her cheek against his shoulder blade, and the fire in her eyes when she'd spun from the windows and challenged him earlier.
He had said far less than he wanted to in that confrontation, afraid his sudden, inappropriate arousal would somehow make itself obvious.
With a rueful shake of his head, he ran his hands through his hair and backed out of the room, the sight of Lucy's long, dark lashes resting on the curve of her cheek a little too enticing for his peace of mind.