“Cassy, all I want is to talk—”
“I swear to god, Kane,” she yelled, clenching her eyes shut so she didn’t have to look at him, either. “I know where Solara keeps her stunner, and I will use it on you if you don’t leave me alone!”
He could tell she meant it, so he staggered back a step, giving her enough leeway to slam the door in his face. The bolt slid into place immediately afterward. He slowly collected his clothes from the floor. Soon Renny appeared, offering a sock he’d picked up from farther down the hall. The captain didn’t ask what had happened, and Kane didn’t volunteer any details. The two of them gathered everything he owned and made their way to the common room, where they assembled a makeshift bed out of chair cushions and extra blankets.
After the captain returned to supper, Kane folded his clothes and stacked them on the billiard table. When there was nothing left to do, he sat cross-legged on the floor and waited to see if Cassia would calm down enough to leave her room.
She didn’t.
When the Banshee touched down on Pesirus, Cassia felt more numb than angry, though not by choice. She preferred anger—to draw fuel from her fire—but she’d had no say in the matter. The change had come gradually, like a slow leak of emotions that her heart hadn’t bothered to patch and fill. Now she was limp inside, empty and tired. She didn’t even want to leave the ship for a mug of hellberry wine, and that was a damned shame.
“Cassia, report to the bridge,” Renny called through the ship speakers. “You have a transmission.”
A transmission? She sat up on her cot, then glanced at her naked wrist and realized she’d removed her com-bracelet before her shower that morning. She must’ve left it in the washroom, and Jordan had called the ship after failing to reach her.
Renny added, “Kane and the crew already left with the cargo.”
In other words, it was safe to leave her quarters.
She tried not to look at Kane’s pitiful bed as she crossed the common room, or at the laser blade she’d given him as she searched the shower stall for her bracelet, which wasn’t there. Each reminder of him was a kick to the gut, the only time she didn’t feel numb.
On her way to the bridge, she nearly collided with Belle, who was feeling her way blindly along the hallway with a scarf tied over her eyes to block the light. Cassia hadn’t left her room much in the last two days, but it seemed Belle’s headaches had intensified far beyond what was normal.
“You should see a doctor,” Cassia said. “There’s probably one in town.”
“There is.” Belle’s cherry lips curved in a smile. “Renny called a specialist to come aboard. He negotiated it as payment for the tuna. He’s always been clever like that.”
“A man of many talents.”
“I’m going to wait in my room. It’s darker there.”
“Need any help?”
“I can manage. Go and answer your call.”
After watching to make sure Belle found her way to her quarters, Cassia continued up the stairs to the bridge. As predicted, she found Jordan’s hologram there, seated at his desk with one booted ankle resting on his opposite knee. There was nowhere for her to sit in the small area, so she stood in front of him.
“Sorry,” she said, holding up her bare wrist. “I thought I left my band in the shower, but Acorn must’ve run off with it again. I’m sure I’ll find later it in my coat pocket. That’s where she hides all her treasures.”
Jordan tipped his head thoughtfully and watched her in the same warm, gentle way she’d grown to depend on. When he grinned, it carried more sympathy than amusement. “You’re sad again. I can see it in your eyes. What’s wrong, Cassia?”
He’d only used her name once before. Hearing it gave her an unexpected thrill that she tried to hide. “Nothing I can’t handle.”
His look said they both knew better, but he let it drop. “Should we talk about the sting? And what went wrong?”
“I know what went wrong. You have a mole in your ranks.”
“Impossible.”
“Oh, it’s possible.” She’d heard proof from a rebel, Meichael Stark, who happened to be the boyfriend of Kane’s mom, another rebel. She still couldn’t wrap her head around it.
“What about a mole in your ranks?” Jordan countered. “Did you say anything to Kane about the raid?”
“No,” she said, and told herself it wasn’t an outright lie. She didn’t know why she kept protecting Kane. Or maybe she did know, but the truth hurt too much to admit.