Page 15 of Tethered
Vee snorts. “O-Kay. I haven’t had a chance to play anything yet, but now that you’re here, maybe we can play some multis.”
I cup his cheek, the light brown skin smooth and... slightly sticky. I don’t even want to know. I learned a long time ago to stop asking questions. “Of course, baby. I’m just gonna talk to the captain for a minute, okay?”
He nods, pulls a handheld console out of his back pocket and hauls himself up on the counter. Within seconds, he’s engrossed, long legs dangling. My heart squeezes.
I turn back to Tanisira, and she looks furious again. Because Vee’s no longer paying attention to us? My stomach ties itself in knots as I think carefully about what I’m going to say. I’m surprised to find, though I’m a little scared, that I’m not angry at her. Now that my mind no longer feels like a trash fire, I can recognise that she was probably supposed to be on the bridge during the swarm, not roaming the ship playing babysitter. The past few days have been a nightmare, but I have to admit that Tanisira’s calm, steady presence and respectful demeanour have probably kept me saner than I otherwise would be.
Impulsively, I fling myself at her. She hesitates, but I’m already hugging her, and she has nowhere to go but into my embrace. “Thank you,” I breathe.
She holds herself stiffly. Still, I squeeze her tighter, hoping that underneath all that righteous anger is a person who understands what lengths a mother might go to protect her child. All my aches and pains flare up as I press myself against Tanisira, but I’m determined to soften her. Vee is here, and he’s fine.
The tension in her body lessens, though it’s miniscule, and then her arms finally fold around me. Incredulous, I put all my weight down on my sore ankle and stumble. In her arms, my full-body flinch is visceral and Tanisira pulls back carefully and studies me. The intense look on her face is made the more intimidating by the darkness of her frown, which makes her eyebrow slit more severe, her cheekbones mere slashes in the shadows of the overhead lighting.
“You’re hurt. More than you were before.”
“It’s no big deal. Seriously, thank you for keeping Vee safe. What... what made you believe me?”
“What you did was irresponsible and reckless. Pointless, too—if you’d just waited until I dealt with the emergency, I’d havebrought Vee to you.” One of her hands comes up to scrub at her face.
But I didn’t know that, did I? I also notice that she ignored my question, but I don’t push. “Did something else happen? You look stressed.”
Her jaw twitches as though she’s grinding her teeth. “The swarm inflicted several large dents in the hull and knocked some sensors out of service.”
“Oh.”
“Those are just the damages we know about. Kit is compiling a full list, but it’s not looking good.”
My stomach dips. If Dominik lured us onto this ship just for us to end up dying in space, I’m gonna come back to life just to haunt him. But the tension in Tanisira’s body gives her away, so I smooth over my own expression. We’ll be okay. Look at how she dealt with the swarm, after all.
“Okay. Get your techie on it,” I say calmly.
I see the exact moment that Tanisira decides to tell me the truth against her better judgment. Her shoulders loosen and some of the strain eases, even though she looks exhausted.
Apprehension stuns me.
“My mechanical engineer isn’t on board.”
I frown. I squint. “Your mechanical engineer isn’t...”
“I’ll figure something out,” she says curtly.
A jolt goes through me, the reality of what she’s implying like a zap of electricity. There’s no engineer on this thing? Who’s going to fix the fucking holes in the ship?
Berserk
“What happens if the hull doesn’t get fixed?”
Vee voices the question that’d been circulating in my head as we pass signs of the micrometeorite swarm being fixed by small, efficient droids—dents in bulkheads from loose fixtures and the like. We’d been following the captain to the medical bay, and I’d been too scared to ask. TheMidasis extremely well-built, and the internal damage isn’t extreme, though I suspect that some excellent piloting is partly why.
Tanisira glances back at us, making a point to make eye contact with me, before asking, “Are you sure you want to know?”
It sounds light-hearted, but I know what she’s doing—the question is really for me. Do I want Vee to know? It could scare him, worry him, making him anxious. I bite my lip as I think about it. I make a point to foster honesty in my relationship with Vee. It’s how I wish my own parents had treated me instead of relying on white lies and omission.
My knee buckles, and I lurch forward. Both Tanisira and Vee throw out a hand and catch me by the elbows as I manage to right myself. Extracting myself with not a little embarrassment, I send Vee a reassuring smile. He’s so used to it that his reflexes are way more developed than they should be. I needn’t have worried; he looks fine, even rolls his eyes.
Sometimes I’m hit with such strong love for him that it literally hurts.
I nod my approval to Tanisira, disregarding what just happened, and she follows my lead. Instead of commenting on my near accident, she waves Vee forward until he falls into step beside her.
