“Sit, I’ll make you something.”
His movements were sparse, directed, economical. He must have rearranged the contents of the cabinets at some point. Another item on the list of things big and small he’d done to make her life better. The thump of her heart filled her ears, every part of her body weighed down by the reality that he would be gone too soon. Forever.
He placed her tray of steaming food in front of her. She lifted her chin and met his heated yellow gaze. Guilt twisted her stomach in a knot. “Eat.”
He sat down across the table from her, waiting for her to lift the fork to her mouth. She couldn’t deny his gift, his nourishing of her body. But the food, which was probably delicious, tasted like dust. She ate it anyway if only to keep her mouth engaged with anything except expressing her regrets. Her apologies. Her excuses.
“We’re nearly at Kolben.”
She froze with her fork midway to her mouth. After a pause, she found the courage to look at him. His eyes were sad. She set the fork on the half-empty tray. “Yes.”
He nodded, crossed his arms, leaning on the table. “I’d like to see if we can secure a contract to deliver goods leaving Kolben. It doesn’t make sense forThe Treasureto travel such a distance empty. Would you let me see what I can arrange?”
“Dez?”
He closed his eyes. “Let me do this for you, Cyra. Let me take care of you until I can’t.”
He made it sound like he was dying. “You’ve already done so much for me. For the crew. ForThe Treasure.”
“The least I could do.” He raised his eyelids exposing his beautiful golden gaze and lifted the corners of his lush mouth in the imitation of a smile. Cyra clenched her jaw and willed the tears back.
“There you are.” Veda burst into the galley, saving Cyra from completely falling apart.
“Me?” She asked hoping for a reasonable excuse to leave the conversation with Dez.
“No, Dez.” Veda turned her back to Cyra. “Could help me check the misters? The upper levels seem to not be flowing as well as they should, and I’m worried about the flowers not getting enough moisture to make the transition to fruit.”
“Of course.” Dez rose from the table. “It would be my pleasure.”
“Perfect, I’ll meet you back there. I just need a quick word with the captain.”
Cyra winced. The conversation with Veda might be worse than the one she was getting out of with Dez based on Veda calling her the captain. Veda sidled over to the door and peeked into the corridor. She rushed back across the room and hissed at Cyra, “Why haven’t you stopped this?”
“What?”
“You know perfectly well what. Dez. There is no way you can leave him on Kolben. You have to fix this Cyra.”
“I can’t.” A ball formed in Cyra’s throat, watery and spiky, threatening once again to bloom into tears. “I literally looked through every bit of our finances, and the credits to buy out his contract and pay the penalty for non-performance aren’t there. Won’t be there for g-years. Even if we kept every contract we have. And even if we did have the ability to pay, there’s no guarantee the mining company would agree to it. They have no incentive to release him from his contract.” Cyra swiped at the stray tears that had slipped out.
Veda dropped into the chair next to Cyra and tugged her into a side hug. “This is awful.”
“I know.” Cyra sat up tall pulling away from Veda before she fell apart completely. “But there’s nothing to be done. If Dez can keep a positive attitude about it, so can I. He wants to help us secure another contract with the mining company so we aren’t returning to Cassan empty.”
“Even now, he helps you.”
Another tear slid down Cyra’s cheek. She brushed it away and stood up. “I need to check with Blaize on our fuel.”
“I should get back to the greenhouse.” They parted when the corridor forked. Veda going to the cargo hold where her tomato plants were thriving. At least one good thing was happening on the ship. Maybe Blaize would have positive news. Cyra could use some. She continued on to the engine room.
“Blaize?” Cyra called over a mechanical roar. If she had ear protection in, Blaize would never hear her. Cyra searched the room and finally found Blaize back at her station. They must have been circling each other.
“Captain?” Blaize freed one of the devices from her ear canal. “What are you doing here?”
“Checking in. We’ll land at Kolben within the coming cycle. Everything good for docking? Do we have enough fuel to get back to Cassan?”
“Yeah, of course. All good.” Blaize’s head bobbed. She bit her lip.
She was holding back. “What else?”
