“Um, hello?”She paused in the doorway and sniffed, trying to guess who was on duty.Molten metal met her sensitive nose.She grinned.“Igar?”
“Yes, Tiny?Is there anything you need?”
She crossed to him.“I want to play music.Is there a way to connect it to the speakers in my room?”
“Music?”His smell became stronger with his heavy tread.
“Just for me, not to be broadcast across the ship.”She waved her tablet.“My playlists are on here.”Silence met her words.She frowned.“I can show you.Tablet, play my favorite beats.”She raised the tablet between them when a song played.
“Oh,” Igar gasped, taking the tablet out of her hand.“This is…fascinating.”He walked away, something squeaked like a chair, then boom went her music as it filled the room.
She laughed, relishing the vibrations coursing through her.“Yes, like that,” she yelled just at the music cut off.
“Very well,” Igar said, catching her hand to slide the tablet onto her palm.“It is set up as you requested.”
She clasped the tablet to her chest and beamed.“Thank you so much.”
“What was that?”Vaen demanded from behind her.
She squeaked and stepped aside, then winced when she bumped into something hard.Now wasn’t the time to rub her hip, no doubt bruised.
“Tiny’s…playlist.”Igar sounded both confident and hesitant.
She nodded, switching her gaze between the two shadows that seemed not as blurry as she was used to.
“A cultural thing?”Someone else joined the conversation.She’d hazard a guess it was Gusin.He didn’t speak much, and she hadn’t had that much interaction with him to memorize his voice and scent.
“Sort of,” she said.“I used to dance at a nightclub.”
Chaos ensued while the men argued over and around her.They spoke too fast for her to follow along, but when silence reigned, Vaen touched her forearm.
“Will you share what you have?”he asked.
“Oh,” she gasped, shoving out her tablet.“I didn’t know you’d be interested.”
“Some tribes have these…sounds.”Gusin drew closer, bringing his charged-air smell like electricity coursed through his body.“Ours does, to an extent, with the thrum and boom of thunder.”
“Mine, too,” Nenn said, his tread approaching her.He threw an arm around her and pulled her against his warmth.“Though it is only reserved for mating ceremonies.”
“What’s going on?”Vic called, her dainty tread crossing to Tiny.“What did you do, babe?”
“Just wanted to listen to my music loud,” she said, raising her chin in defiance.No way would she act as if she’d done something wrong.
“You have tunes?”Vic’s surprise had Tiny shuffling on her feet.
“Club music, maybe a few ballades.”
“The most music I got to listen to was my arena intro and exit.And always the same damn song.Along with the other Carne gladiators, of course.Trust me, they got pretty tired fast.”Vic leaned in to whisper, “Thought we could chat.You free?”
“Um, sure,” Tiny said, patting Nenn’s stomach.
He released her.“I will fetch you from the galley.”
“Get my tablet when they’re done, please,” she said and let Vic pull her off the bridge.
They headed to the kitchen in silence while the men flicked through her playlists, blasting two-second snippets, one after the other.
“Well, I see you’re doing well,” Vic said, ushering Tiny onto a bench.
