They seemed to be attracting a lot of attention and Emma wasn’t happy about it, but she was able to ignore it after a moment and focus on looking for Nye.
He wasn’t as hard to find as she’d expected. He was seated at a table that had been elevated on a platform at the very front of the room.
The bitch was seated directly beside him.
Nye looked confused and scared and unhappy.
Until he spotted her.
He held out both arms then and said, very clearly, ‘ma ma’.
Ok, so he was inclined to make sounds that could be interpreted as words whether they were or not.
Itsoundedlike mama to Emma, though, and that was all that counted, especially since he reached for her. She immediately rushed to him, ignoring all the curious faces she passed. She didn’t realize Kadin had kept pace with her until she reached the table and Nye all but leapt into her arms.
Struggling not to send the bitch a smug glance, she calmed him and examined the table.
It looked as if they’d started him on ‘real’ food—which immediately made Emma uneasy.
She had no idea how old he was—not that she knew a damn thing about human babies—but she’d guessed at his age and looked it up and followed the instructions. She hadn’t thought he was old enough for solids yet.
He looked like he’d been enjoying it, however. He had it all over his face and clothes.
And then she had it all over her.
Sighing, she helped him back into his seat and touched the seat beside him. “Can I sit here? Is it ok?” she asked Kadin.
Kadin nodded and helped her into the seat next to Nye—on the opposite side of the female Emma was really starting to dislike—a lot.
“Why you let she sit dere, Prince Kadin? She royal where she come from?”
Emma whipped a look from ‘Prince’ Kadin to Princess Bitch, stunned at the title, wondering if it was some kind of translation thing.
“She stands as the King’s mother,” Kadin responded coolly, dismissively. “And he wants her next to him. I should think anyone that serves the king would consider his needs and desires paramount.”
Emma might have felt a touch self-satisfied at the championing and Kadin’s offer to get her a plate except when she turned to give the bitch a smug smile, she discovered the female was watching Kadin like a cat watching a canary as he left to get food.
Her dislike magnified exponentially then, but she did her best to swallow it and focus on pacifying Nye.
Someone settled behind her and she glanced around in surprise, ready to point out that Kadin had already claimed the seat. When she saw it was Gaelen, though, she was too surprised and then too happy to see him to say anything at all.
“Gaelen!” she gasped, looking him over quickly for any signs of injury. “You’re ok? You didn’t get hurt?”
Irritation flickered over his face. “Am warrior,” he said.
Emma blinked. “So you can’t get hurt?”
He looked uncomfortable. “No hurt.”
She shook her head. “Kadin brought me here and then left again and I haven’t heard anything. We won, though?”
Something flickered in his eyes. “We take ship.”
She was impressed. “Really? We’ve got a new ship?” She frowned. “But this isn’t the same one we were on? I mean either of them? This is another ship?”
“Hab three ship now. Dey come for us.”
Emma had grown so used to Gaelen’s broken English that she had no trouble understanding that, particularly in the context of their circumstances.
“Will tow broken ship and fix.”
Emma blinked at him. “You mean to say the ship we were in was broken?” she gasped, undecided whether she should be outraged that she wasn’t informed or not.
She had, after all, hitched a ride without asking.
And it seemed obvious the military had damaged the ship—so guilt by association even though she certainly hadn’t had a hand in it.
But still ….
It was unnerving to know they’d been broke down and that was how the Sheloni had captured them.
It dawned on her abruptly, though, that the guys must have had some idea that help was coming when they were captured, and that meant …. What? They’d bred her because they had to play for time?
Was that any different, in any way, than being forced when there was no hope of rescue?
She supposed not, but it made her feel … bad.
She realized she hadn’t felt bad about it before—during or afterward.
She wasn’t sure of why she did now. They’d all been captives and all been forced to do what their captors wanted or suffer the consequences.
She supposed it was because they’d felt duty bound to do what they could to save her because they’d allowed her to come with them when she knew they couldn’t have considered taking anyone but the baby.
She thought they’d desired her, had wanted to have sex with her.
Now she wondered if it had been difficult for them or if they’d been given some kind of drug to make it possible.
She shoved the thoughts aside. She hadn’t felt bad about what had happened despite what the Sheloni had done to her and to them. She wasn’t going to start thinking that way now, questioning everything. That would make her crazy in no time at all.
“The repairs could not be done in space,” Kadin said coolly, breaking into her uncomfortable thoughts.
She saw he was standing over Gaelen, holding a plate in either hand, glaring at him. “That is already claimed, Prince Gaelen, by me.”
Gaelen eyed him speculatively and finally shrugged and rose. “Is glad you ok,” he said to Emma. “Got someping gib you … later.”
Emma felt a flutter of excitement at that. A present? Something nice?
A wayward thought emerged. She wondered if it was the ‘something’ her father gave her mother for every occasion. She’d always thought that was asinine, but she wasn’t against the idea
