Page 30 of The Last Hunt
Maeve blinks in surprise and raises her brows. “Six months?”
“Yeah,” he says. “So if I want to stay with Two Roses, Hera said I need to pay in full by the end of next month.”
Maeve looks at him with an expression that he can’t read. She turns back to the viewscreen, but her gaze is unfocused. He’s sure she’s thinking.
“Please,” he says. “Just let me help catch Daik. I’ll take just what I need to pay Two Roses and the rest is yours.” Aethon feels like a balloon of hope and tension is inflating inside his chest. She won’t refuse him. Surely not. She can make due with the majority of the bounty. She has to see how much he needs this.
Maeve bites her lip and her fingers slide along her armrests before gripping the ends. “No.”
Aethon deflates, the balloon in his chest popping with a sudden crack. He leans back in the chair, his adrenaline seeping away, exhaustion hitting him for the first time since he woke up. He spins back around, looking sightlessly at the Archer’s viewscreen. He’s not going to argue or beg. He can’t sink any lower. He should be furious with Maeve. She refuses to work with him, she abandoned his ship, she wants to strand him on a planet - but all he feels is tired. At the end of the day, he can’t blame her for his own shortcomings. He thinks of his parents back on Freehail and how they keep asking him to come home. Aethon doesn’t know if he can ever bring himself to face them again.
“Fine,” he mutters. “Just drop me off on a starbase. Not a fucking planet. Somewhere I can hitch a ride.”
An indicator light pops up on the viewscreen right in front of Aethon. It’s a tracking app. He leans forward, his interest rising despite himself. Is this how Maeve has been following Daik? He sees the location of the tracker. His eyes dance across the map, his mind suddenly sparking with connections. A smile spreads across his face.
Chapter 9
Bargaining
Maeve
Aethon spins back around in his chair slowly. Maeve ignores him, her gaze focused on the readings on the Archer. She knows it’s brutal to refuse to split the bounty with Aethon, but Maeve has to be brutal. It’s the only thing that has kept her safe all these years with Two Roses. Compassion only leads to mistakes, which lead to death. She’s glad she didn’t leave Aethon to die in the star, but he did cost her Daik’s bounty. She’s done enough for him.
“This is where Daik is?” Aethon asks.
Maeve glances over to where he points at her tracking app which is still on her screen. She quickly flips the app off the viewscreen.
“None of your business.”
Aethon stands and strides over to her. He’s still pale and a little frail looking. But he looks so much better than he did just twenty-four hours ago when she wasn’t sure if he was going to make it through the next few minutes. She had been so scared for him - so focused on saving him and making sure that idiotic grin would live to see the next day.
However, there’s a smug sort of expression on his face now that makes her re-evaluate the whole saving his life decision.
“That was a tracking app,” he says. “You have a tracker on Daik’s ship.”
It’s not a question and Maeve doesn’t respond. She just raises her eyebrows and stares up at Aethon.
“You’re blocking the viewscreen.”
He shrugs. “Daik is heading for the Tri-Centauri system.”
Maeve rolls her eyes. “You can’t know that.”
Aethon steps to the side and points to the screen. “Put the tracking app back up and I’ll show you.”
Maeve sighs and flips the app onto the viewscreen. If Aethon is going to give her some intel even though she’s planning on dropping him at the nearest starbase, she’s not going to say no. He has no ship and no credits - him seeing Daik’s location can’t hurt.
The tracking app expands on the screen. The red dot that represents Daik blinks two jump points away. He could be headed for the Tri-Centauri system. But he could also go a dozen other directions.
Aethon walks forward and points to Tri-Centauri. It’s a triple star solar system with four planets and countless moons. “Do you know what corp controls all four planets in this system?” He looks at her, his golden eyes glinting boyishly and it takes everything in Maeve not to smile.
She sighs and crosses her legs. “Is this twenty questions now? Just tell me whatever you’re going to tell me, Aethon.”
“I want to enjoy this,” he says, his mouth curving into that familiar grin. “I want to draw it out. Be dramatic.” He leans toward her and heat curls in her stomach as he raises a brow. “You might remember I’m good at drawing things out.”
Maeve rubs a hand across her forehead and bites the inside of her cheek. “You want to enjoy this, I want to punch you in the face. We can’t always get what we want.”
Aethon smiles and taps the screen over Tri-Centauri. “Dreadnought Industries controls the four planets in the Tri-Centauri system. They’re the main competitor of Brimstone.”