Page 170 of Seven Oars
“I can’t help it.”
“You’re upset.”
“I hate being here.”
“What choice do you have?” he asked, vexing her with his reasonable tone.“You’re growing weaker.”
“I’m well past my expiration date,” she snapped, irrationally angry.
He didn’t like what she said. His brow furrowed. Back in the Habitat with the pirates, that frown would’ve sparked a fight. Here, he just lowered himself to sit beside her.
Gently, he smoothed her tangled hair that she had yet to re-braid. He dried her tears with his fingertips. Then he put his arms around her and pressed his lips to her forehead.
“Stay strong, stardust.”
“Strength isn’t part of my makeup, Fincros. You know.You know…”
“That’s not what I see.”
He made sure his body was between Rosamma and Father Zha-Ikkel.
She clung to him, drawing strength from his presence. From just being together. The two of them.
“Tell me something about yourself, Finn,” she asked.
She’d asked him before, but he always dodged her questions.
“Will it improve your mood?”
“Maybe. I want to know more about you,” she insisted.
He drew her closer, as if they weren’t fused already.
“You already know,” he said.“My life was the same before as it is now.”
“At that place, the Metalworks?”
“At the Metalworks. On missions.”
That surprised her.“You flew pirate missions?”
Finn cocked his head and frowned, the expression rippling his features, arranging them into a fierce scowl highlighted by his ruined right side.
“Of course,” he said.“Someone had to patch shit together when things blew apart. Besides, my handler liked it when we flew the craft we worked on the ground. It was his way of motivating us to do a good job.”
He stretched out his legs.“His name was Aerser. He ran Metalworks, and we were his slaves.”
Rosamma toyed with the ends of her hair.“Did he… torture you?”
Finn’s trisected eyebrow quirked.“Define torture.”
“Oh, Finn…”
He laughed and kissed her cold nose.
“He beat me, yeah. Aerser… He’d set out to train me. I didn’t want to be trained, so it made the next few years interesting.”
“And in the end?”
