“Askthe captain?” Remy’s sidelong glance was clearly incredulous. “I saw you two dancing. Looked to me like he’d give you anything you wanted.”
“Oh no, that’s not…” Felicity laughed. Because it was such a ridiculous idea.If you demand. She ignored the whisper in herbrain; she’d long ago learned not to trust it. “Captain Nehivar is just committed to overseeing an enjoyable cruise for everyone.”
“I think you’d definitely enjoy yourself taking him for a ride.” Remy turned back to the viewport. “I’ll stay for the music.”
Reluctant to leave the woman alone—and not just because the dull shadow on her button might affect the others andalsonot just to hear what else she might’ve noticed about the captain—Felicity took her elbow and steered her toward the bar. “If you have music you’d like to hear, tell Ikaryo. He can find the perfect song for your drink.”
Leaving the forlorn Earther at Ikaryo’s bar, Felicity glanced casually around the salon. She wasn’t looking for the captain…
And just as well, since he’d disappeared. Doing captain-y things, presumably. She should be satisfied he’d welcomed their guests and broken the ice on the dance floor. Other than Remy, everyone seemed to be mixing as nicely as the tasty drinks.
While this cruise was too brief to claim everlasting love—outside of the brochure, anyway—their IDA guests would almost certainly get some dates out of the evening.
And she’d be left with dreams of a fleeting golden embrace.
+ + +
From one of the alcoves in the salon, Ellix watched Felicity make her rounds, smiling and laughing and then mirroring the pleasure expressions of their diverse passengers. Obviously, Evens had chosen well in the Earther cruise director.
So why linger here, watching over her?
On schedule, the ship was looping around the second moon, lining up the next beautiful sunset. The food and drinks were definitely better than his last post with a freighter conglomerate had ever offered. And the pay was good, for a one-time gig. He’d done as Felicity had asked, welcoming the passengers, to tacitly apologize for his grumbling—and for stealing a lock of her hair,although she didn’t need to know about that. Now he could go back to that strangling seat, like Suvan hiding down in the impulsion module.
And yet he stayed, his whiskers twitching.
While the curve of the alcoves muted sound and provided dimmed anonymity, making them perfect for intimate encounters—as he’d already discovered with Felicity—alone now in this quieter shadow, he felt…something else. Opening his Kufzasin senses and his datpad sensor, he searched for the source of his disquiet.
But his eye kept going to Felicity. Even as Delphine’s course brought the ship into alignment with their second sunset, the little Earther glowed with a different kind of energy. He hadn’t told her what it was like, all but alone on a freighter, far from the nearest outpost with lightyears of silence and darkness between stars. But being near her seemed to promise he could set a new course and orbit, if he wanted.
He shouldn’t have teased himself with touching her. The dance had only piqued the devotion hunger. He wouldn’t make that mistake again.
The lights in the salon flickered. Not by a lot; if he hadn’t been tucked into the darker alcove, he might have missed it, considering the blaze of the sun. Scowling, he checked his datpad, which showed no change in power levels. He toggled the comm link. “Griiek?”
“Captain?”
“Just had a power fluctuation in the salon. Confirm?”
“Initiating scan, one moment… Nothing, Captain. Widening scan… Sensors, internal and external, report all systems optimized and consistent.” The Monbrakkan made a little noise, fainter than the light flicker.
Ellix stiffened. “What is it?”
“Captain, earlier today, I identified a minor harmonic distortion originating at the third hall junction, and I found a break in the fairy lights.”
“The what?” Ellix’s translator offered the Earther words but no context. Was this the ghost Felicity had mentioned?
“That’s what Miss Felicity calls the renovated corridor lighting. Such distortions aren’t uncommon in retrofitted ships, and I thought I had it resolved, but maybe…not?”
“Meet me at the junction,” he told Griiek.
Likely it was nothing, just a minor anomaly on an old ship. No system was perfectly aligned, connected, and trouble free. That was not how the universe worked.
No matter what the IDA brochures promised.
His gaze drifted once more to Felicity, still smiling, as if challenging his cynicism. Maybe she felt the weight of his focus, because she started to turn toward him. But then the ship crossed into the penumbra of the second moon, and the sunlight streaming around the lumpy satellite highlighted the stratospheric streamers of hundreds of volcanoes venting shining clouds of vapor into space. Expanding her fingers in imitation of the flares, Felicity laughed with pleasure. In silhouette, the fine strands of her hair that had escaped the twist he’d made shimmered and danced too, teasing him. He pressed a clenched fist to his lips, inhaling the scent of her imbued in his fur.
It took more discipline than he wanted to admit to walk out of the salon. Maybe his willpower was on the same larf-eaten grid as the ship’s electrical system.
Griiek was already in the long corridor between the salon and the currently closed-off suites when Ellix arrived. A hovercart of equipment waited next to the open access panel, and the Monbrakkan had three of her four arms buried in the innards.
