Page 44 of Adrift!
Nehivar finally glanced up, his narrowed golden eye shot with refracted rainbows. “So, our ghost is out of the machine. We need to complete our systems checks and any repairs. But after that…” He rumbled when Felicity pressed against him. “I know, I know. I may be the captain, but we are all in this together.” He cast another disgruntled look at the resonark. “Including it.”
Was that a brighter pulse from the anomaly above? In its new cage of music and beauty—a lattice of love—the resonark waited.
They all looked at each other again and Earther-shrugged in unison.
“We’ll finish up here,” Nehivar told Ikaryo. “Take Remy to her room and relax. All-hands in the morning. Here, with passengers too.”
Remy and med kit tucked under one arm, Ikaryo swung them by the bar and grabbed a bottle with his other hand. They’d almost made it to the salon doors when someone started clapping. And then it was a sudden jubilant thunder.
Conscious of Remy’s enervation, he pivoted them on his boot heel.
From the captain’s slow clap, to Chef’s fluttering phonoplasts, to Griiek’s excessive four-armed elation, every body in motion created the roll of praise. Mariah, who was leading the applause, whistled and shouted, “Encore!”
Ikaryo guessed the outburst of laughter wasn’t so much amusement as euphoric release.
Remy waved her bandaged hand while above them the resonark pulsed and swirled with prismatic passion. Wrapped behind him, her other hand spasmed around his waist.
On that note… As he guided them out into the much quieter hall, he felt more than heard her trembling exhalation. How much had she been holding in, all this time?
And now that it was done, what would be left?
He kept his support light and restrained, careful not to pressure her in body or intent. But when they reached the stateroom corridor—at least the lights were back to full power; Suvan was obviously restoring systems as quickly as possible—she was still leaning into him, so he swept her up into his arms.
When she snuggled against him, this time her sigh was deep and calm. “Good show,” she murmured.
He squeezed her. “You were incredible.”
“We,” she reminded him, tightening her arm around his neck. “We’re a great duo.”
Did she mean just musically, or…?
But they were already at her door, and he carried her right to the bathing chamber. Settling her on the counter, he checked his wrist datpad. “Systemwide power isn’t back to baseline—Chief fusses over his engines almost as much as his bitey little goblhob—but there should be as much hot water as you need.”
“Ikaryo…”
When she hesitated, he cupped her cheek, his fingers spanning her freckles as he brushed his thumb over her bottom lip. “Relax. After everything you gave out there, I’ll make you something to eat.”
She watched him go, her green eyes hooded. “Something light, please.”
But in the cabin’s kitchenette, his heart thudded heavy, imagining the next verse of this duet. So many possibilities…
While he would’ve concocted a feast for her, he kept it light as she’d asked, with a soothing, restorative tonic on the side.
Which he swigged right from the bottle as he wiped off a streak of her blood from his nape where she’d grabbed him tokiss him after the end of the song. Before he could drink it all, she padded out of the bath, her hair up in a twist, clad in the same robe he’d removed from her last night.
The supposedly soothing tonic burned in his belly.
Or maybe that was his craving for a different encore.
She sauntered to him, lifting her hands. “The sealant came off, and look.” She wriggled her fingers. “Blisters are already gone.”
He put the mug of tonic in her hand. “This will help your throat too.”
Half turning away to sip, she kept her gaze on his as she let her other fingertips drift down to rest on his chest. Did she feel the reverberations there?
Why couldn’t he find the words to ask?
“How did it feel?” The huskiness in her voice now didn’t sound like the strain of the song. It thrummed a little deeper, echoing the throb behind his breastbone.
