Page 10 of Sixth
He looked away for half a breath before meeting her eyes again. “Negative. Idon’t read thoughts. Isense states. Echoes. It is not mind to mind, but nerve to nerve. You have become a presence inside me, and you will begin to feel the same.”
“I already do,” she whispered.
They stood inside that brief confession for a full minute. The hum of the ship filled the space between two people who were no longer strangers and not yet anythingelse.
Her eyes went to the tiny utility locker near the head of the sleeping shelf. “I need a shower or a sink or a miracle.”
He opened the locker and pulled out a narrow pouch. “No shower under silent running. Wipes only.” He passed the pouch across. His fingers brushed her palm. Heat slid up her arm again in a clean, insistent line. She bit the inside of her lip and looked down until it receded enough that she was certain she could keepbreathing. When she looked up, he was watching her mouth. She looked away first.
She cleaned her face and throat and the inside of her wrists, then paused over the mark, reluctant to touch it and equally reluctant not to. She pressed the edge of the cloth to the skin and felt the answering heat, not burning this time, only present. When she finished, she tucked stray strands of hair behind her ear and returned the pouch to the locker.
Apex had taken the pilot seat while she cleaned. He didn’t look at her when she crossed back to stand near him. “What happens next?” she asked.
“I run the ship dark through the drift,” he said. “You sleep.”
“I won’t sleep.”
“You will,” he said. “Your body is shaking. Lie down.”
“I won’t sleep with you watching me,” she said, and then realized how that sounded. Color climbed her throat.
He didn’t move, didn’t take advantage. “I will watch the boards.” He gestured at the seat, at the posture that invited vigilance rather than rest. “I will not look at you.”
She slid onto the shelf and curled on her side facing the bulkhead, one hand under her cheek, the other cradling her wrist. The blanket was thin but clean and warm over her shift. She closed her eyes and listened for the rhythm of the ship until it became a tide pulling at her thoughts.
Sleep rose and dragged her under.
She woke to quiet and the shape of Apex’s silhouette at the edge of the port. The cabin lights sat low, so low that the edges of everything softened. The mark on her wrist was warm, not hot, steady on her skin. She didn’t know how long she had slept. Sheknew only that when she sat up, Apex turned toward her as if he had known she would move before shedid.
“How long?” she asked.
“Four units,” he said. “We are clear of the densest lanes.”
Her voice came rough with sleep. “And Aram?”
“Searching.” Apex’s head tilted, listening to something only he heard. “Not here.”
She stood, stretched, and crossed to the port. Space had shifted while she slept. The black was still, but the colors at the edges had changed from violet to a green so pale it looked like a breath held in glass. It made her chestache.
“Thank you,” she said without turning. The words came out simple and heavy with more than gratitude. He had kept her safe while she slept. In her world that counted as somethingholy.
“You are welcome,” hesaid.
She looked over her shoulder. “Do you sleep at all?”
“When I must,” he said. “Not now.”
On impulse, without planning a script to protect herself from exposure, she reached for him. Not a kiss. Not bold. Her fingers found the inside of his forearm where his skin looked smoothest. She touched there, no more than a press of fingertips. The Valenmark burst hot in answer and he dragged a quiet breath through his teeth.
“I’m not playing with you,” she said. “I’m trying to learn the edges.”
“You are playing with fire,” he said. “And you already know the edges.”
“Show me anyway.”
His throat worked, the motion heavy. The sound that followed was not a sigh—it was a low growl, restrained power edging every breath. Apex’s dominance pressed through the quiet like a storm he was holding back, the kind that warned of what would happen if he ever stopped holding it. His eyes darkened. The power in his posture held like tempered metal. He lifted his free hand and stopped before he touched her face, as if asking permission without words.
She nodded once.
