I don’t remember any of this.
Then, on my tablet, Danek appears, looming in the doorway. He takes stock of the situation and intervenes, sending Taman on his way before reaching out to me. “Naomi,” he says reassuringly. “I’m here. I’m safe. Nobody will hurt you while I live, I promise you.”
Those words, I remember. He swings me into his arms. I remember that too. The moment he picked me up and cradled me to his chest, I felt safe.
No wonder he thinks you’re fragile. You are. No wonder he doesn’t want you along.
My anger abates. I’m still wounded, but it’s mostly wounded pride. I was convinced I was better. It’s been sixty-two days, goddamnit. How long will I be like this? Thrown into a tailspin at the slightest sound, freaking out at the drop of a hat?
Out of idle curiosity, I try to access the live feed, but the cameras are no longer online. Even though I expected that, a pang of regret fills me. The High Empire’s ships must have torched the place. My apartment probably doesn’t exist anymore. It was sparsely furnished, and it was tiny, but it had just started feeling like something that could, given enough time, be a home.
Alice and I will no longer go for a run every other day. We’d planned on going to the beach. That’s never going to happen. I used to go to therapy once every three days. That’s now off the table. All of the routine that I painstakingly carved out is gone, destroyed by a pair of Class A destroyers.
Okay, that’s quite enough of that, Naomi, I tell myself determinedly. You volunteered for this assignment. Danek thinks you’re a liability? Prove him wrong. Make him eat his words.
According to my notes, some of the exchanges are located on planets. Not so the Wekat Exchange; it’s a giant floating city in space. I head to the cockpit when it’s time to land, buckle myself into a seat, and watch Danek maneuver the cloakship onto a designated landing dock. It all looks very complicated, but Danek isn’t the tiniest bit fazed. He lands so smoothly that I don’t even realize we’ve touched down.
The competence is both attractive and annoying.
He turns off the engines and turns to me, and I do a double-take. The man in front of me is still as tall as ever, still as broad-shouldered as he’s always been, but something about the way he holds himself has changed.
I study him with narrowed eyes, trying to figure out what’s different. He’s changed his clothes. He’s not wearing one of the tight-fitting gray or black t-shirts that he usually prefers. The shirt he’s got on is white, nubby and linen-like in texture, and loosely fitted. I’ve never seen Danek wear jewelry, but he has rings on all ten fingers, and a bracelet on his right wrist.
He doesn’t look like a soldier any longer, deadly, and lethal. He looks like a fussy, bureaucratic paper-pusher. Last night, if you’d asked me how anyone would ever believe that Danek was anything other than a soldier, I would have said it wasn’t possible. Now, I know better.
It’s scarily impressive. “How did you do that?” I ask, forgetting for a second that I’m mad at him.
He flashes me a smile. “Training,” he replies. His expression turns serious. “Was there anything in your briefing packet about the exchange?”
I think back on everything I’ve read. “Not a lot, no.”
“That’s not good.” He frowns. “Dariux should have been better prepared.” He leans back in his seat. “Wekat Exchange is dominated by six families. Together, they own more than eighty percent of the assets here. Cindifin is one of them. Their employees and retainers will be everywhere. Which means that the moment we step outside, we need to be undercover.”
Shit. I’m still smarting from Danek’s earlier comments, and I have to pretend to be in love with him? I had hoped for more time to ease into my role.
“Is that going to be a problem?” he continues.
Oh, he did not just say that. I lift my chin in the air. “Not a problem in the slightest,” I assure him. “What’s the plan? Do we get a hotel room for the next week while we wait for the shuttle to leave?”
He shakes his head. “Space is precious, and hotel rooms are incredibly expensive. Wildly out of reach for a safety inspector, especially when we’re already paying a fortune for dockage. No, we sleep here on the Aheat.” He gives me a sidelong look. “Ready?”
No. Yes. Maybe. I don’t know if I’m ready, but I’m going to give it my best shot. “Bring it on.”
He wraps an arm around my waist, tugging me closer. He bends his head and drops an affectionate kiss on the top of my head, and when I stare at him, confused, he gives me a blinding smile. “I’m madly in love with you, remember?”
Asshole. Two can play this game. “Dresses,” I murmur. “So many of them. And jewelry too, lots of it.” I eye his rings. “I refuse to let you out-bling me, and I have expensive taste.”
He laughs, warm and amused. The dour soldier is gone, and what’s left is a doting husband. His expression, when he looks at me, is affectionate and loving and too damn perfect. If I didn’t know it’s an act, I would buy it completely. Danek is like a chameleon.
“Come on, Naomi,” he says. “Let’s go shopping.”
Outside of the Rebellion headquarters, Wekat Exchange is the first real alien place I’ve been in. I practically skip down the ramp, I’m so curious, and promptly run smack dab into an invisible wall.
“Force field,” Danek explains with a grin. He’s speaking English. Didn’t know he could do that. My Draekon
