Page 29 of The Last Hunt
“I needed to keep chasing Daik,” Maeve replies. “And your ship was too damaged for you to use. It was holding me back. You would have done the same.” She turns, heading for the door.
Before Aethon knows it, he has a hand around Maeve’s arm, stopping her.
“You left my ship in the Keidar Belt?!”
The Menace is more than just a ship or a mode of transportation. It’s the way he makes a living. It’s his home. Without it what does he have? The clothes on his back, and his rooms at Two Roses headquarters for a few more weeks?
Maeve grabs the front of his shirt and he sees the glint of a knife in the corner of his eye. He doesn’t care. His brain is filled with static, rage making him see red. Part of him recognizes his fluctuating emotions are probably the aftermath of almost dying, but he can’t seem to regulate himself.
“Take your hand off me,” Maeve hisses. He feels the cold blade of the knife at his collarbone.
Aethon’s jaw is so tight he feels like he’s going to crack a molar. He holds Maeve immobile, his hand not tight enough to hurt her. He doesn’t want to hurt her - he wants answers. He encircles her wrist with his other hand, pulling the knife an inch back from his body. He stares into her eyes and sees no fear there, only truth. She left his ship behind. His chest rises and falls quickly with his rapid breaths. Aethon can feel Maeve’s hammering pulse in her wrist under his fingers. Who is she to decide the fate of his ship? To decide his fate? But… she already decided his fate before she left his ship in the Belt. She could have left him to suffer the consequences of his own stupidity. She could have abandoned him to a fiery death.
Aethon releases her, letting his hands fall to his sides. He feels a wave of sick regret flow over him. He shouldn’t have touched her like that.
“Was the Menace…” he starts, his voice tight. “Was the Menace unsalvageable?”
Maeve shifts back, releasing him as well. She shakes her head. “You can salvage it. If you’d have let me finish, I would have told you I hid it in the Narrows. No one will be able to find it. You can go back for it.”
“Where is it?” he demands, his eyes flicking back up to hers.
She narrows her gaze. They’re so close to each other, but Aethon doesn’t want to move away. His emotions and desires feel like they’re pressing up through his skin, about to burst free. Everything feels heightened. He’s frustrated and angry and exhausted, but the curve of Maeve’s neck, the freckles along her cheekbone distract him. Again, his roiling emotions knock him off balance. He feels an intense need to prove to himself that he’s still very much alive. And he thinks that tasting Maeve’s sinfully full lips just might do the trick.
“I’ll give you the location after I catch Daik,” she says, shifting back against the wall behind her.
“I want it now,” Aethon growls. He leans forward until he’s an inch away from her, his arm braced on the wall next to her head.
“After I catch Daik,” she says, her voice a little tight. She tilts her chin up like she’s challenging him to ask again.
Seeing an opportunity, Aethon raises a brow. “How about - after we catch Daik?”
Maeve huffs a laugh. “I’m going to drop your ass on the next habitable planet.”
Panic flares in Aethon’s gut. “Maeve - no -” He grabs her wrist again and she yanks it away, her hair slipping behind her back. For the first time, a huge, ragged scar is revealed on her shoulder. It’s thick and dark red, and it encircles her whole arm. Aethon stares at it, his mouth dropping open. Daik had done that to her.
Aethon remembers when Maeve was brought into Two Roses headquarters six months ago after Daik shot her. They’d carried her past him, unconscious, face pale, arm wrapped in bandages soaked with shockingly red blood. Aethon had followed, unable to stay away. He watched from the hallway outside the medical wing - Maeve just visible through the tiny, round window. When the doctors and surgeons finally left her to rest and Aethon knew she would be ok, he leaned on the wall, his gut tugging him toward the unconscious woman, his brain telling him to stay away. Ultimately, he listened to his brain. He wishes he hadn’t.
Maeve gives him a dark look before brushing past him and walking away. “I’ve got to check our navigation,” she says.
Aethon heaves in a deep breath, trying to calm his mind and body. He follows her out, and feels how sore his muscles are as he walks. That radiation poisoning really fucked him up. He tries not to move his head too much as his neck is sore from the burn and the medical tape chafes at his chin. His bare feet are cold on the deck, but that doesn’t stop him. Maeve can’t drop him on some planet and leave him there. He has to make her see reason.
Maeve sits down in her captain’s chair and flings a map up onto her viewscreen. They’re somewhere outside the Keidar Belt, heading for a jump point. He comes up next to her and unfolds the tucked away co-pilot chair underneath the dash. Their ships are both Bracken-class, and the Menace has a seat stowed in the same place. He sits and spins toward Maeve.
“Listen,” he says. “I know you want to leave me on some god forsaken planet, but Maeve, I can help you hunt Daik.”
Maeve doesn’t even look at him. Her gaze is focused on the viewscreen.
“TAI,” she says. “What’s our time to the jump point?”
“Ten hours, Maevey,” TAI replies.
“Maeve,” Aethon repeats more firmly. “I need this bounty. Please, let me help.”
“Why do you need it?” she demands, finally turning toward him. “You know why I want it, so I think it’s fair that I know why you need it too.”
Aethon shakes his head. Can he tell her why he needs this bounty so damn much? He supposes has no choice. What kind of bounty hunter is he? A shit one. He’s lost his edge. And now he’s lost his ship, and maybe his pride - because he leans forward towards her and tells her the humiliating truth.
“I haven’t paid my dues to the guild for six months.”