Dykan lifted his ridges and give her a derisive look.
“I know what you think of me, Dykan. You believe I’m this self-absorbed bitch who has too many privileges because of her family, who believes she can buy everything and everyone with credits she didn’t even earn herself. That I only care about Lucas and that I’m willing to sacrifice your life and your crew’s in the blink of an eye to get him back.”
When he didn’t respond, Kat continued. “And, yes, I care about Lucas. And, yes, I forced you into this. But I don’t want you to get hurt, Dykan. I don’t want your crew to get hurt. If there had been any other way, if I could have done this on my own, however difficult it might have been for me personally, then I would have never forced you into this.”
Kat felt her eyes fill with tears. Lowering her gaze to the mug, she pouted her lips and breathed out air.
“So please, Dykan, for my peace of mind, promise me you won’t get hurt.”
Kat sensed Dykan approaching. Standing right in front of her, only inches away, he tilted up her head, holding her chin between his finger and thumb. He cupped her neck with his other hand and stared at her for a moment.
“Tears? For me? Is this real or are you trying to manipulate me?” he whispered, his eyes scrutinizing her.
Kat put the mug on the table and tried to pull free, but Dykan’s hold was too strong and she was trapped in her seat.
“I can’t make you trust me, Dykan,” she sighed, giving in and letting her arms fall to her lap. “I can only tell you I mean every word I say and hope you will believe me. Please, don’t do anything that could get you hurt. I couldn’t live with myself if anything happened to you. I’d really rather have a living wimp than a dead hero.”
Dykan cocked his head, gazing at her again. After what seemed like an eternity, he suddenly stepped back.
“What are you drinking?” he asked.
Kat blinked and looked up at him. Then she took her mug from the table.
“Tea,” she replied. “I brought some with me. Do you want some?”
Dykan grimaced and shook his head. “No, thanks. That stuff tastes like muddy water to me. I’m having something stronger.”
He opened a cupboard and got out a bottle containing an amber liquid. After pouring the liquid in a cup he sat down next to her.
Kat frowned. “Haven’t you already had more than enough of that stuff? You emptied a bottle in your quarters.”
Dykan shrugged. “That was just to help me sleep. Makaen have high metabolisms. Unfortunately for us, buzzes wear off quickly.”
Help him sleep? He’d been almost in a stupor, Kat thought. Or else she would have never been able to sneak out of his quarters without him hearing her. No way.
“So, princess”—he took a sip—“tell me, what’s being a royal on Cassidiri like?”
Kat stared down at her tea. “Well…um…actually, I’m not a princess. My sister is the queen, because her father was the king. Regrettably, he died in a shuttle accident when she and Lirid were still babies. Our mother isn’t a royal. She worked as a diplomat when she met the king. On Cassidiri you don’t become royalty through marriage, only by birth. And because both my parents aren’t royals, neither am I. I’m a commoner with an ordinary job as a youth counselor at a school and who lives in a small apartment.”
“But you said you belonged to the royal family,” he reminded her.
Kat adjusted in her seat, cupping her mug with both hands, twining her fingers together.
“Yeah, I might have exaggerated that a bit for dramatic effect.”
“You lied,” he stated bluntly.
Kat cleared her throat. “Not exactly. The queen is my sister, she is a royal and I belong to her family.”
A low chuckle escaped Dykan’s mouth.
“What else did you lie about?” he wanted to know, ignoring Kat’s indignant look.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she replied, staring at her cup.
“Were you really going to send me to jail for violating you if I refused to cooperate?”
Kat licked her lips nervously.
“Kitten?” he asked in a demanding tone when she didn’t answer.
Slowly, Kat turned her head toward him and swallowed. She couldn’t lie to him. Not anymore.
“Never. I bluffed,” she murmured, ashamed.
Dykan snorted, shaking his head.
“Remind me never to play cards with you. You were very convincing.”
“Well, at that time I was really mad at you. That did help to make me more believable. But truth be told, I hated doing this to you.” Kat looked down again. “In the alley, you told you me wouldn’t help me. Is there anything I could have said or done, aside from extortion, that would have changed your mind?”
Dykan didn’t answer immediately. “I don’t know. I guess we’ll never know now, will we?”
“No, I assume we won’t.” Kat sighed.
“Why are you telling me this now?” Dykan asked.
Kat took a small sip of her tea. “It’s the cricket on my shoulder. It’s there all the time and it never shuts up. Especially about this current situation, and it makes me feel horrible. I needed to get this off my chest or I would have exploded eventually.”
Dykan gave her a confused stare. “What are you talking about? My translator tells me a cricket is an Earth insect. You don’t have an insect anywhere. And there are no vermin on this ship. The sensors would have detected them. If you are seeing bugs, maybe I should get you to the medbay.”
Kat laughed. “No, I’m fine. The bug isn’t real, I know that. It’s from a children’s book from Earth called Pinocchio. I loved that book when I was a child and I used to ask my father to read that story to me all the time. In the story a cricket acts as the main character’s conscience, teaching him right from wrong. After a while the cricket thing became a joke between my dad and I. Whenever I seemed troubled he’d ask me if the cricket on my shoulder was reprimanding me again. And right now my conscience keeps bugging me about this, telling me I’m doing the wrong thing.”
“Ah, right.” Dykan drew out the words like he wasn’t sure he understood.
“It must be very pleasant to be able to shut your conscience off in situations like these,” Kat continued. “Can you teach me?”
He shook his head. “That’s not something you can learn quickly. It takes years and years of training. And it helps when you’re born with a questionable character.”
Now it was Kat who shook her head. “Questionable character? You weren’t born bad and you don’t have a bad personality, Dykan. I don’t believe that.”
He lifted his hand and gently scraped his claw over her throat. “How do you know? Are you sure I won’t slit your throat, just because I feel like it?”
Kat didn’t so much as flinch. He wouldn’t harm her, she knew. She gazed straight into his eyes.
“My gut tells me so.”
“Is your gut ever wrong?” he asked in a low voice, his eyes glowing like molten lava. His claw went to her shoulder.
“No. Never.”
They stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity. Then he pulled his hand back.