Page 36 of Shadows of Stardust

Roslyn’s earned herself a one-way ticket back to whatever planet she calls home, and I…

I try not to shudder with the thought of what my next assignment will be if I’m demoted even further.

But Geeno doesn’t look like he’s about to deliver bad news, and I cut a glance at Marva. Her face is hard, impassive as she stands behind and to the side of where Geeno’s sitting, hanging back and letting him do the talking.

“We know that all of this is very… unorthodox,” Geeno continues, the picture of contrition. “Having you both escorted here so late at night, the questions you received from production. And I sincerely hope you won’t let it derail you on your journey here.”

It’s an effort to keep my face blank in reaction to whatever the hell it is he’s talking about, and when I glance at Roslyn, I see it’s a battle she’s already lost. Eyebrows knitted together, mouth set into a frown, she crosses her arms over her chest and I lament again we didn’t use those precious minutes to formulate a plan.

“Our… journey?” she asks.

“Yes.” Geeno nods sagely. “You and Zandrel. We realize the way you’ve come to meet and fall for one another must not have been entirely… ordinary, but believe me when I say our audience will absolutely be rooting for the two of you. Think of it. A human from the deserts of Severin, a veteran of the Sol Alliance, no less. And a mercenary from Revexor, a former member of the Aux, working here, with no idea he’s about to meet his match.”

The deranged little fable Geeno is spinning barely registers above the other details he’s just dropped into my lap. Severin. The Sol Alliance. The fact that Roslyn has at least some measure of military background.

I barely have time enough to file them all away, and no time to bristle over him calling meformerAux, as he continues.

“You’ll be known across galaxies. Your love story will be one for the ages. You’ll have the admiration of billions of—”

“What Geeno’s trying to say,” Marva cuts in, halting his rhapsodic monologue in its tracks, “is that we’d like you to stay. Both of you. As a couple. And we’re willing to talk terms.”

Ah. That makes more sense.

It’s not unheard of, this type of wheeling and dealing with contestants.

As much as Mate Match’s rabid fans might want to believe the fairytale, the mechanics of production aren’t quite so romantic. Producers regularly select contestants to build storylines around, offering proper incentive when necessary,and I’d much sooner deal with Marva’s blunt honesty about it than Geeno’s dramatics.

Roslyn shifts beside me, and has just opened her mouth to reply, but I cut in.

“We’ll hear your terms.”

I keep my eyes on Marva as I speak, but I swear I can feel the cut of Roslyn’s glare pulsing against my throat like a dagger.

“Wonderful!” Geeno enthuses, clapping his hands together. “Just wonderful. Marva, dear, I’ll leave you to the details, if you wouldn’t mind sparing a word before I go?”

She nods, and after a few more enthusiastic promises and words of exuberant praise from Geeno, Roslyn and I are left alone once more.

“You’re formerAux?” she hisses under her breath as soon as the door swings shut.

I do bristle this time. I may have been demoted, but Mate Match still contracts with a very, very low-ranking offshoot company of the Aux for some of their security needs.

“Current Aux. But it doesn’t matter. When Marva gets back in here, we’re going to—”

“Worry about yourself. What I’m going to do doesn’t concern you at—”

“Roslyn.”

She meets my eye, and beneath her blustering anger I find a pulse of… fear.

It’s there, in the expressions I’m beginning to learn how to decode. A tremble in the corner of her lip. A slight sheen on her eyes as she blinks away a bit of dampness there. A hard swallow as she girds herself against me. A hitch in the breath at the back of her throat that she can’t quite hide.

My words die on my lips.

Whatever arguments I meant to make, whatever I was going to say to convince her, it all goes up in smoke in the face of that fear.

“Do what you need to do.”

The words have barely left me when Marva stalks back into the room and takes her seat behind the desk. She looks hard at me, then at Roslyn, then folds her hands in front of her and lets out a long breath.

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