Page 10 of The Last Hunt
That drew a small smile from him. “You’re shit at comforting.”
Maeve raised one arched brow and slid both her hands down to press against his chest. “I got that smile though,” she replied. “It’s not the stupid, huge, charming one you usually have, but I’ll take it.”
Aethon raised his hand and pressed hers harder into his chest. He didn’t want her to stop touching him. “Stupid?”
“Yeah,” Maeve had replied. “Positively idiotic.” Her lips curved up into a small smile of her own.
Aethon chuckled. The haunted feeling in his chest was subsiding, and he blew out a breath. “Thanks, Bladesy.”
She nodded and started to move away from him, but Aethon still had her hands trapped against his chest. She could have pulled out of his grasp, but she didn’t.
He met her eyes, and he knew they were both thinking the same thing. After they’d been rescued from the escape pod, they’d said that they would leave what had happened during that week - and what they had done - in the past. They had been desperate, and thought they were going to die - of course they’d done things that they had regretted. Or at least Maeve seemed to regret it. But despite every reason why he should stay as far away from Maeve as possible, Aethon couldn’t help where his brain went sometimes. Maeve Bladesbearer twined through his thoughts more often than not. Her scent. The surprising softness of her skin. The feel of her beneath him. Her taste. And based on the fiery look in her eyes, he wasn’t the only one who was having trouble leaving the past alone.
“Aethon -” she murmured, her voice hard and desperate. “We can’t.” His first name on her tongue made him shudder with want. Her body seemed to betray her words, because she leaned forward and pressed her forehead to his.
“Fuck,” he ground out. He tangled one hand in her ponytail and tilted her head to the side so that he could run his lips over her throat.
The doors of the gym opened and they had sprang apart as several other Two Roses hunters came in. They’d given each other one last, hard look before going back to their workouts. They had never discussed it, but Aethon had never forgotten it. He often wondered what would have happened if they hadn’t been interrupted.
Aethon is brought back to reality by CAL’s voice.
“There is an elevated level of triennial-gamma waves at this location,” the AI says. A light pops up on Aethon’s viewscreen. The waves are concentrated less than a kilometer away. The only thing that emits this level of triennial-gamma waves is a mirror-cloak. The Archer is hiding in plain sight. Bladesbearer is clearly hoping that he will run off in search of her ship, leaving her to easily avoid him and make her way unimpeded to Daik Montrose’s location.
“Bladesy,” Aethon murmurs. “A mirror-cloak? What other secrets do you have?”
“It does appear to be a cloaked ship,” CAL says. “Shall I hail them?”
Aethon pauses, his hand fiddling with the joystick on his armrest. Then he shakes his head. “No. I’ve got a better idea.”
Chapter 5
Chrissah
Maeve
Maeve watches as the Menace finally moves away from the jump point and begins orbiting a small moon to recharge. Trell’s ship had scanned for a good twenty minutes before apparently giving up. Maeve doesn’t buy his show. She taps her fingernails on the arm of her chair, her frustration making her wish she had more space on the Archer to get in a good workout.
“TAI,” Maeve says. “Can we move without the Menace becoming aware of our presence?”
“Depends what scans they’re running, Maevey,” the AI replies.
“I’m sure Trell is running everything known to humankind,” Maeve mutters. She gets up and moves to the dash, checking the Archer’s power levels. The mirror-cloak takes a decent amount of power to maintain, but it has its own battery separate from the Archer’s. They should be good to fly to the next jump point in fifteen minutes.
Suddenly a warning light blinks on in the corner of the dash. Maeve glances over, flicking her braid behind her shoulder irritably.
“What now -”
“Oh hell,” TAI says, her voice more annoyed than Maeve has yet heard. “We fried a few plasma couplers in the engine.”
Irritation flares in Maeve’s gut. First Trell is shadowing her, and now this? “How?!” she demands. “We’re not straining the engine.”
“According to my readings here, it looks like they just kicked the bucket,” TAI replies. “Could have been lemons.”
“Dammit,” Maeve mutters. She walks quickly back behind her seat and opens a hatch in the deck where she keeps spare parts too big to create with the 3D dash printer. She sighs seeing the empty space where she normally keeps replacement plasma couplers. “And - of course, we’re out.”
“Ooh, field trip!” TAI says happily. “Omega Starbase is just a short way from here - I’ll check their digital listings to see if they have the plasma couplers we need!”
Maeve slams the hatch shut and walks back around to her chair. They can’t make jumps without the couplers. However, this may be a blessing in disguise. If Trell follows her to Omega Starbase, she’ll know for sure that he is able to track her despite the mirror-cloak. Omega is huge - she’ll hopefully be able to lose him in the traffic of the station.