Page 47 of Sixth
“I’d like to get something like Earth coffee,” she said. “It’s a hot caffeinated drink we consume in the morning. Do you have anything similar?”
“Affirmative.Brumo.”
“Would you like some, too?”
“Affirmative.”
Not bothering to dress, she made two cups and brought them back. He took his without looking away from the window. He didn’t drink. He held the cup against his palm like a mark of habit. She sipped hers and discovered it was surprisingly similar to coffee, if slightly thicker. She let the bitterness bring her all the way awake.
“When we jump,” she said, “where do we go?”
“Not far at first. We keep the lie intact. If they believe we died here, they will not search where ghosts drift. We will move to the shadow of the outer moon and ride debris until the memorial completes. Then we burn.”
“To where?”
“To what is mine,” he said. “And to anyone the Council would punish for knowing me.”
The answer was clear. “Your unit.”
“If the Council has touched any of them, Iwill know.” He looked at her, and the look was a promise. “I will not permit it.”
She set her cup down because her hand had started to shake again. She didn’t try to hide it. He saw too much for that to work. The heat in his eyes softened by a margin more intimate than akiss.
She whispered, “Thank you.”
“Do not thank me for keeping what is mine.” He tipped his head. “Sit closer.”
She stared. “Why?”
“Because I said so.”
The line should have annoyed her. It didn’t. She shifted her chair an inch. He made a quiet sound that might have been satisfaction. She shifted another inch and their arms almost touched. He didn’t move away. The hum of the engines were deeper here, the stars closer. The line between fear and hunger blurred until she couldn’t tell where one ended and the other began.
“Drift window ends shortly,”Core said. “Debris shadow will no longer conceal our heat signature.”
Apex set his untouched cup in the holder. “Get dressed and strap in.”
She hastily pulled on clothes and buckled down, setting her hands on the armrests. The ship woke from its glide like an animal rousing. Apex’s hands settled on the controls with that same promise. He glanced at her once. The look slid under her skin and stayed.
The engines deepened. Starlight stretched. Echo Light fell behind until the wounded crescent blurred to nothing. Emmy kept her eyes forward. The future narrowed to a line of light that ran straight through him. The fear came back and settled under her ribs. Something bigger than fear stood next to it and refused tomove.
She said it out loud so the ship would hear and the stars would hear and he would hear. “We’re not finished.”
