Page 75 of Seven Oars
She sat back.“So we’re back to sending a distress signal. It’s our only option to get help.”
“Yes.”
Rosamma was about to tell him about her venturing out to the Crew Quarters with its weapons rack when Sassa decided to emerge from under her blanket.
She appeared gradually.First, her small upturned nose poked out, red at the tip from crying. Then her disheveled head, brown hair still streaked with faded highlights. Her shoulders and arms were swathed in the thick gray hoodie she used like another protective blanket to hide inside.
Her face was blotchy from tears and the rough handling she’d endured.Her eyes blinked nervously at the light, and her mouth opened and closed, as if testing whether it still worked.
Then she spotted Phex.
Her face drained of all color. Even the red spots disappeared as she let out an agonizing, piercing cry.
“What’s he doing here?”
Her arm flew up, pointing at Phex.
He flinched, his nostrils flaring.
“Yeah, nice to see you too,” he muttered in response to her question, which he didn’t understand because she’d asked it in her own language.
Caught in the middle, Rosamma quietly translated.
Sassa began to shake.“Why are you talking to him? Why are you sitting with him? So unfair… Traitor!” She pointed a trembling finger at Rosamma.
Anske glanced nervously at the door and tried to shush her.
Alyesha watched on with a bored expression.
Phex rose to his feet in one smooth, powerful move.
“What’s her name?” he snapped at Rosamma.
She blinked.
“Sassa.”
“What am I doing here, Sassa? Let me explain,” he spat in Universal.“I live here, same as you. If you can call it living. If you’ve got a problem with me, take it up with the Striker. I’m sure he can arrange something different for you. But don’t complain afterward if you don’t like it.”
He stomped to his spot by the wall and sank into stasis, shutting them all out.
Sassa clutched her midriff and wailed.
Daphne wailed.
Fawn, woken abruptly by the noise, also wailed.
Rosamma tried hard to suppress the tears that threatened to spill.
Another day, another conflict. Another fight. Another loss.
If you can call it living.
Chapter 12
In the following days, no one came to the Cargo Hold to abuse Sassa or the other women.
Except for Tutti. Tutti came. And stayed.
