Page 46 of Havik: Warlord Brides
“Yes!” She looked away, watching the crowd. When she returned her attention to him, she had regained some control over her voice. “I’m your partner on this mission and I’d really like it if you didn’t talk down to me. Asking for your respect would be a waste of time, so just don’t treat me like something you scraped off the bottom of your shoe, okay?” She took another too-large mouthful and chewed. “You’re too worried about what other people think, like they’ll think less of you if they catch you being nice to a pickpocket.”
“Perception is important.”
“You want approval so bad that you’re a dick to members of your team.”
“This mission is important,” he said. So much depended on the successful capture of the smugglers. He needed a win to piece together the broken fragments of his honor and to earn a place in a clan for both himself and Ren. “You jeopardize the mission with your antics.”
“Fine. I’m sorry you’re so situationally unaware that I took your money from your pocket and then gave it back to you.” She rolled her eyes in a very Terran gesture of insubordination.
“Do not insult me with insincere apologies. Your attitude is mutinous, and if I had the authority to kick you off this mission, I would.”
Her eyes went wide, and her mouth worked open and closed, yet made no sound. “I don’t talk smack about you, even though this mission is doomed to fail.”
Havik studied Thalia’s bland, beige face, cautious of her manipulations. Her words stirred up his feelings of shame and preyed upon his sense of dishonor. He could not trust her, not even after the relatively pleasant two weeks they spent on the ship. The day’s antics proved that.
“Explain,” he said.
“Well, tone of voice is one thing. It’s very high and mighty, like you’re better than everyone.”
“No, about the mission. How will it fail?”
Thalia
Thalia looked around the food court, deciding that the crowd was the wrong sort to prove her point. “Busting the smuggler ring is important to you, yeah, and you’ve been chasing leads?”
“Correct.”
“Tell me how you’ve been doing that.”
He shifted, the chair groaning underneath him. “I go to where the smugglers were known to have docked, then find a suitable establishment and listen to gossip.”
“Uh-huh.” If he couldn’t see the problem, she would have to show him. “Take me to a suitable establishment.”
“That would be a waste of time as this is not our destination.”
“Humor me. Pick a place and let’s have a drink. Just one drink.”
He held her gaze, as if trying to figure out what her game was. Eventually, he nodded.
They walked through the station, the crowd parting as he approached, giving them plenty of space.
“I wanted to ask why you bind your tail,” she said.
“I do not like for it to be touched.”
Fair enough.
Havik chose an appropriately seedy bar. His instincts were spot-on there. They ordered drinks at the bar and found a table.
Taking a sip of the bitter ale, Thalia said, “Now you listen?”
He nodded and she waited three excruciatingly long minutes before she corrected all his mistakes.
“I can’t take this anymore.” She leaned forward, keeping her voice low. “If this is your idea of subtle, you suck at being a spy.”
His shoulders squared.
“You walk in here and you’re so obviously Mahdfel that no one is sitting near us. Maybe Ren can get away with that. He’s almost regular person-sized, but there’s no way you’re anything but Mahdfel.”
