Poor guy.
At the same time, the rest of the crew made their way to the table—Solara jogging up the stairs from the engine room, Doran shuffling in with his hair still damp from the shower, Acorn scurrying into the galley with something thin and silvery between her teeth, and Cassia chasing after her. It seemed Acorn had stolen Cassia’s com-bracelet, the one she used to chat with that asshole general of hers.
Two days had passed since they’d left Gage’s compound, and Kane still felt the urge to vomit each time he remembered the snippets of conversation he’d overheard. Cassia had gobbled up her general’s words like spiced cake at a harvest fair. But had she bothered to listen to her best friend for a few minutes afterward?
No. And she hadn’t spoken to him since.
Kane filled four bowls with porridge and snuck a glance at Cassia as she pried open Acorn’s jaws. She barely looked at him anymore. His kiss with Shanna didn’t mean anything to him, but it clearly meant a lot to Cassia. In a way he was glad for that, because it proved she thought of him as more than a friend. But he certainly couldn’t say so, and another heartfelt apology would only blow up in his face.
That left one option: picking a fight with her.
After setting her bowl of porridge on the table, he returned to the stove and fixed a mug of coffee with three squirts of vanilla syrup and a pinch of cinnamon. To ensure she didn’t leave the mug untouched as she’d done the last two mornings, he plunked it beside her bowl and then leaned down until their noses almost touched.
“We both know you want it,” he said. “So quit punishing yourself. You can still be mad at me and drink your coffee.”
Her lips thinned while color bloomed on her cheeks. Acorn must’ve sensed a storm brewing, because she took a nosedive into Cassia’s pocket. “If I wanted to punish myself, I’d keep looking at your face.”
“Isn’t my face in half the pictures taped to your bunk wall?”
“Maybe I keep them there to scare away the devil.”
“Just show him your feet,” he said, going for her weak spot. She had adorable toes, but she hated that her second one was longer than the first. “He’ll run screaming back to hell with his forked tail between his legs.”
“Keep talking and I’ll send you there to meet him.”
“I’ll say hello to your demon-spawn mother while I’m there.”
“Try not to wet yourself like you did at the palace.”
“Hey!” He drew back an inch. That was hitting below the belt. “I was only four when that happened, and your mom was legitimately scary.”
Doran laughed and pointed his spoon at them. “It’s great to see you two fighting again.” When Arabelle slid him a confused look, he told her, “It’s their love language.”
“Oh.” Arabelle gave them a timid smile. “I speak that language sometimes, too.”
“Enough games,” Cassia snapped, though the tension had visibly unwound from her posture. She didn’t even flinch when Kane sat down beside her. “We have bigger problems than your face,” she told him, and then pointed at Doran. “Especially for you, Daro the Red.”
“Me?” Doran touched his chest. “What’d I do?”
Cassia worked the com-bracelet over her wrist. She picked up her coffee mug and, after a moment’s hesitation, paused to take a sip. “I just finished talking to my general. The pirate lord of sector two was found dead last night from garrote wounds.”
“Garroting?” asked Solara.
“It’s Necktie Fleece.” Doran swore under his breath. “He’s taking out the head of each sector. And he wants everyone to know it’s him.”
“That’s what I think, too,” Cassia said. “My guess is he’s paving the way for the Zhang operation to move into pirate territory. This is war.”
“But that’s not how pirate law works,” Solara argued. “You can’t take a lord’s territory unless you challenge him. The only reason Doran ended up in charge is because Demarkus insisted on a rematch.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Doran said. “This isn’t a lawful takeover. The mafia’s trying to cause chaos by killing the Brethren leadership. And I’m next on the list.”
Kane gave his friend a reassuring nudge across the table. “No one knows who you really are. Lay off the hair dye and the eyeliner, and Necktie won’t recognize you if he passes you on the street.”
“Stay off the streets anyway,” Cassia told Doran. “New Haven is a big planet, but there’s no reason to tempt fate.”