Page 21 of Caldar
“You look like you’re going to fall over. Sit.”
“I can stand.”
“Fine. Stand. Make your legs worse, bleed everywhere, and create a fall hazard because I’ll slip in the blood.”
“I am not bleeding so severely,” he said. The wound ached more than anything. Still, he sat on the floor. “I would not have you injure yourself because you are clumsy.”
“Thanks for that,” she replied, her tone dripping with sarcasm.
Good.Sonia sounded like herself; the anxious fear that gripped her had eased.
He handed her the multitool. “The bottom panel. It has a blue circle with a white star. Retrieve the kits that are there.”
“I recognize the symbol. The ship’s doctor uses the same symbol.” She kneeled before the pod and jabbed the multitool into the seams of the panel. “I mean, of course it’s the same symbol. Branding. It’d be weird if the cruise ship used different icons.”
Sonia retrieved two kits. Caldar opened the one with rations and water.
“Eat,” he said, shoving a ration bar to her.
“Let me take care of you, then I’ll eat.” She opened the medical kit, ignoring the ration bar.
“Sonia—”
“I’m not hungry. I’m fine.”
“That is a lie. Your stomach was growling while you slept. It distracted me. Eat so that I may think,” he said, wiggling the ration bar to entice her.
“Ugh, fine.” She grabbed the ration and tore the wrapper open with unnecessary force. She took an overly large bite. “Happy?” she asked, chewing around a mouthful.
“Now drink.” He tossed a water cube to her. Feeding her— even feeding her basic nutritional supplements— satisfied a primal need in him.
She quickly finished the ration bar and water, then returned her focus to the medical kit. “Okay, my first aid is basic, but this is for pain and this is a disinfectant.” She held up two packets.
“I do not require the pain patch,” he said.
She focused on opening the packets. “I appreciate that you’re a good liar, absolutely top-notch, but don’t lie to me. You don’t win points for being stoic.”
He was not interested inpoints,and he had not intended to lie. “Denial of pain is a Mahdfel trait. We are conditioned to ignore such inconveniences.”
“Hmm. Tearing your leg up because you won’t rest will be more than an inconvenience. Hold out your arm,” she said.
He held out his arm for the patch. Instantly, warmth spread along his arms, and his fingers tingled. It was disconcerting.
Using the multitool, she cut away the ruined fabric of his trousers. Carefully, she removed the fabric, cleaned the surrounding area, and the wound itself. The tip of her tongue peeked out from between her lips as she concentrated.
This felt… different. He had spent hours confined with her in a tiny pod, arguably an intimate setting, but the intimacy of this moment was unlike anything he had ever experienced. It was more than the proximity of their bodies, more than the way the harsh lighting cast a pallor over her skin, or how she looked up at him through her eyelashes. It was the care she gave him. Her touch. Her attention. Her care. No one, absolutely no one, had ever cared for Caldar the way Sonia did at the moment.
It was too much. He had spent years—decades—of his life outside a clan. No family. No friends. As long as he was useful, he was tolerated. Even the foundling Caldar adopted had only stayed with him long enough to recover. Relyn left the moment he no longer needed Caldar.
It was a cold existence, and he was not sure he could return to it once he delivered Sonia safe and sound back to Earth.
Sonia had no idea what she did to him, how she undid all the armor and defenses he created over the years. No one was meant to get this close to him. No one was meant tocare.
“You’ve got… stuff in there. I don’t want to dig around with my fingers,” she said.
“The projectile is designed to disintegrate,” he said, his voice unusually thick. He cleared his throat. “You will not be able to remove the fragments.”
“Yeah, but it’ll get infected if we leave them in there.” She frowned at the injury, like she could pull the fragments out with the force of her will alone.
