Page 27 of Throwing Fire

“I wasn’t crazy about it, either,” I admit, although it probably bothered her more than me; I don’t like threatening kids. “Sometimes the things I do to keep us safe ain’t nice.”

“Like what you did to the Bale Brothers?”

“Yeah.”

Kez lifts her head so she can look at me. “Were they really going to rape me?”

I take her other foot and begin rubbing it. “They’re dead. What they were or weren’t gonna do don’t matter now. What matters is finding the real threat.”

“And the next one,” she says. “And the one after that. When does it end?”

“When they’re dead.” Maybe that’s the truth of Tyng’s collective paranoia. The threat never really ends. All the more reason we need to get out of the Hex trade and go legit.

“I hate this,” Kez whispers. “I didn’t know it would be like this. From the outside, the lives of rich people, they look perfect.”

“Everyone’s fightin’ their own battle, kitten.” Something I learned long ago. “Don’t matter if you’re rich or poor.”

“I guess.” Kez sighs. “Remember what you offered me, a while back? You said we could just climb on your ship and go? That’s starting to sound really good.”

It’s always sounded good to me.

“Be a tight squeeze to fit your crew and Baby Tyng’s whole family and all their shit on theInfinity. We’d need a bigger ship.”

Kez snorts. “I didn’t know there were any. That thing’s going to attract its own moon soon.”

“Don’t be mean to my baby. She’s sensitive.”

Kez sighs again. “We’d have to leave the rabbits behind.”

She seems to be actually considering cutting and running. The tag must really be bothering her. She stuck it out when Tyng threatened to maim her. She didn’t really consider running when facedwith taking over his empire. This is the first time I’ve heard her express the desire to bolt.

If she’s really considering it, she needs to understand all the angles. “And Nev’s baby, assumin’ she keeps it. Newborns can’t survive deep space.”

Kez’s head sinks lower.

“Kitten, you want a word of advice from someone who’s lived with a tag for half a decade?”

She turns her head again so she’s looking at me. “Have you? I thought you were dead. I mean, I thought they thought you were dead.”

“Didn’t stop them from sticking a fifty CeeBee tag on my head. I think outin’ Tol Seng pissed them off.” I pull both of her feet into my lap and look up at her steadily. “Forget it, kitten.”

She lifts an eyebrow. “That’s your advice? Forget about it?”

“Yeah. Spend every minute worrying about whether they’re gonna cash you out, and you’ve done their work for them. You’re already dead. ‘Cause you sure as fuck ain’t livin’.”

“I hadn’t thought of it like that,” she says. She takes a deep breath in, lets it out. A small smile steals across her mouth.

“Be smart. Be careful. But let it go. Get on with what you need to be doin’.”

“What do I need to be doing?” Her smile widens. “Oh, I know.”

Now I get her mischievous grin. How I love that grin.

She uncurls and pulls her little dress off over her head. Tugs her feet free and wiggles out of her leggings. Naked kitten. She turns and flops across the bed, bare ass in the air.

I consider for a moment. She wants to fuck, and I’m definitely not adverse, but I have the feeling we have more to talk about. Maybe it can wait. Maybe she needs the reassurance and comfort of sex. We can talk later.

I push my boots off and shuck off my pants. Wouldn’t want my kitten to be naked all on her lonesome. I nudge my bags closer to thebed, so I don’t have to move too far to retrieve their contents. Then I collect three towels from the bathroom.

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