Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 94091 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 470(@200wpm)___ 376(@250wpm)___ 314(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94091 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 470(@200wpm)___ 376(@250wpm)___ 314(@300wpm)
But this seemed to be the wrong thing to say to the big Monstrum.
“I can manage,” he said stiffly. “My ribs are nearly completely healed now. Just go into the ship—I’ll be in shortly to start the engines.”
Feeling chastened, Lucy nodded meekly and went into the ship, leaving him to finish the repairs. She felt like she had done and said all the wrong things somehow, but she wasn’t sure what else to do.
FIFTY
T’ZAREN
Lucille’s offer to help stung him more than she knew. Now she didn’t even trust him to finish fixing the ship!
Can you blame her? whispered that little voice in his head. You abandoned her to fight the Twainer’s third form alone. No wonder she’s lost all respect for your abilities!
He tried to push the voice aside, but it wouldn’t go. It kept whispering recriminations in his ear the entire time he completed the repairs. At last he finished fitting the engine panel into place and went back inside.
“Oh, there you are!” Lucille gave a nervous little laugh as he entered. She was already strapped into the passenger’s seat and looking at him expectantly. “Is, um, everything all right?” she asked hesitantly.
“If you’re asking if I was competent enough to fix the engine, the answer is yes.” T’zaren couldn’t quite keep the growl out of his voice. It was irritating to be doubted by the female he was meant to be guarding and taking care of, though he supposed he couldn’t blame her, since he had failed in those duties.
“I didn’t mean that!” she exclaimed, frowning. “I wasn’t trying to insult you, okay? I just want to get out of here and get back home!”
“Back home to the Mother Ship, you mean?” he asked, settling himself in the pilot’s chair. They hadn’t really had time to discuss whose domicile they would live in now that they had taken the Unbreakable Vow together, but since he would look extremely odd and frightening to most of the inhabitants of Earth, T’zaren had naturally assumed she would relocate to be with him.
“Well, that’s your home, anyway,” Lucille said carefully. “And I certainly want to spend more time there in the future. But I have a life back on Earth, too you know. I have a job and classes to teach and I promised I’d help my aunt decorate her shop for Halloween.”
“So…you’re just going to go back to Earth to resume your normal life?” T’zaren couldn’t believe her.
“Well…yes.” She looked at him uncertainly. “I mean, what else would I do? Of course I can come back for visits. I mean, if you want me to,” she added. She laughed lightly. “Long-distance dating can be hard but I’ve never heard of any two people who had quite so much distance between them as we do!”
T’zaren couldn’t believe it—not only did she not plan for the two of them to stay together, she was actually laughing about the prospect of them being apart!
This is what you get for choosing a S’rentha who doesn’t know how to be serious, whispered a little voice in his head. She no longer respects you and it shows.
“Indeed,” was all he said aloud. “Excuse me—I must contact the Mother Ship and ask them to fold space for us.”
Lucille fell silent, an uneasy look on her pretty face but T’zaren ignored it. He couldn’t believe she was doing this—couldn’t believe she was breaking the Unbreakable Vow! He had never heard of a S’rentha doing such a thing. And though he didn’t blame her—considering his recent failures—her rejection still burned him like the fire of a thousand suns.
Forget it! whispered that voice in his head again. She doesn’t want to live with you, doesn’t want to bond with you—doesn’t even want to be on the same planet as you!
He wanted to ask her more, to demand how she could break the sacred Vow they had taken together so lightly, but his pride forbid it.
Lucille had clearly rejected him. What more was there to say?
FIFTY-ONE
LUCY
The ride home was almost completely silent. T’zaren didn’t say another word to her until they docked. Then he turned to Lucy and nodded politely, as though she was a stranger.
“Thank you for completing this mission with me. Now I must go.”
“Er…where are you going?” Lucy asked hesitantly. “Do you want me to, uh, come along?”
She hated the silence that had grown between them! If only he hadn’t gotten so stiff and proud after letting her fuck him. But she had hurt his masculine pride by taking him in such an intimate way—that much was clear—and apparently he wasn’t going to be quick to forgive her for it.
“Do you want me to come with you, wherever you’re going?” she asked, since he hadn’t answered the first time.
T’zaren shook his head.
“Unnecessary. I’m just going to bring the dimriel to Chief Commander Rarev so that he can do the Mother Ship’s heart transplant as soon as possible.”