I grumbled under my breath, less than one word in ten making any sense—even to me, as I took the uniform from him and placed it on the bed.
He leaned forward and held his arms above his head. I grabbed his nightshirt and dragged it off. I couldn’t help but stare at his muscles, popping out in places I didn’t know muscles could exist.
Nighteko placed his hands on his hips and cleared his throat.
I snapped to attention. “Yes. Right.”
I got to my knees before the bed and smoothed down his jacket. He cleared his throat again. I looked up at him. His eyes drifted downwards.
“What?” I said.
He looked down again, more forcefully this time.
His underwear?
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I said. “Seriously? You let Maisie do this?”
He didn’t move a muscle. And still, I gawped.
I licked my lips and, still on my knees, I shuffled in front of him. I placed my hands on either side and began to draw them down…
I wondered what he looked like under there. The same as a human but at a larger size like the rest of him? Or would I find something completely alien?
I guessed there was only one way to find out…
I took a deep breath…
And…
I got to my feet. “You know what? I think I’ve done enough here. Best not to do everything on the first day of the job. Sort of like when they don’t let you work the register until the second week at a clothes shop.”
I grabbed the empty bowl and the tray and backed away. “Thanks for explaining about the Absor, by the way. That was really useful.”
If I kept on talking, he couldn’t squeeze a word in edgeways and I could get out of there fast. I expected to bump into the door but it was a lot further away than I thought.
Did this ship grow?
Finally, my ass found it. “Bye!”
I swung the door open and took off at a run. I could swear, as I backed out of the room, the entire time, he had a smirk on his face…
I dumped the tray and its contents in the sink. I got to scrubbing at them. I was so embarrassed and angry, I decided to take it out on the helpless cutlery.
“Careful,” Maisie said. “Most of the bowls are already chipped. If we break more, the crew will have to eat off the floor.”
“Would they notice?” I said.
I braced the sink with my hands. “The captain is a monster.”
“He might seem like that on the outside but—”
“No, he is. On the inside too.”
Maisie wiped her hands on the front of her apron. “He’s always been nice to me. What did he say?”
“He…”
Maisie was of an age where talking about sex was generally discouraged. Meeting her eyes now, I didn’t think she would appreciate talking about it. “It doesn’t matter.”
I turned back to the sink to continue scrubbing. “But you’d have thought a man of his age would know how to dress himself.”
“Dress himself?” Maisie said with a frown. “Why would you say that?”
“He said it’s one of our duties. It isn’t?”
Maisie covered her mouth with her hand to suppress her laugh. It didn’t work.
He almost made me undress him…
The bastard. I swear, I’ll kill him…
Maisie returned to the main table at the back. She tossed a little more flour on the surface and used an old chair leg as a rolling pin to create the pastry. “He must like you. He never made me dress him—or undress him as the case may be.”
“But… He… No,” I said, growing flustered. “Just no.”
“Why not? He is a dish. And you’re young and nubile. You ought to make the most of your youth while you can. I wish I had.”
So much for thinking Maisie wasn’t up to talking about such things. I guess she was starved for discussions on topics other than decapitations and slavery over the years. She’d had no woman to speak with for… How many years?
“Maisie?” I said softly. “How long have you been here?”
“What year is it?” she said.
I told her.
She pressed down with her body weight to spread the pastry. “Oh, about thirteen years.”
I was gobsmacked. Thirteen years. I was learning the words to my favorite boybands at that age.
“And you didn’t try to escape?” I said.
“Sure I did,” she said. “Many times. The captain back then wasn’t as kind as Nighteko.”
I couldn’t see how that was possible.
“He ordered for me to be whipped and tortured,” she said.
I gasped. “That’s terrible!”
“Not so terrible as you might think,” Maisie said. “One of the crew volunteered to beat me. He took me down to the cargo hold, tore the shirt off my back, and then dropped the whip on the floor. He told me to mend my shirt and make sure it looked like I’d mended it. I had to limp around the ship for a few weeks to make sure my valiant defender didn’t get in trouble.” She turned to me with a glint in her eye. “Can you guess who that crewmember was? The one that risked being whipped and tortured himself?”
His name was a murmur on my lips. “Nighteko.”
“That’s right. I didn’t try to escape for a while after that. Then I got used to being here, I guess. So, don’t take it to heart, lassie. Believe me. Things could be a lot worse.”
He has a streak of honor in him.
Was there anything more honorable than putting yourself at risk when you had no cause to? It sent a tingle up my spine that I couldn’t easily explain.
I guess him playing a trick on me wasn’t so bad compared to what the previous captain might have done.
I forced myself to be angry at him, though it was now only halfhearted.
Maisie cut away some of the pastry and placed it to one side. She rolled them into flat circles and began to etch shapes into them.
“What are you making?” I said.
“A cake,” Maisie said. “To celebrate
