Page 45 of The Last Hunt

His nickname for her hits Maeve straight in the gut. He seems to realize, and he swallows hard and raises his chin, plastering a wide grin on his face that looks forced before plowing on. “I’m good with talking to people like this. I can probably get us some kind of discount in the process.”

Maeve nods. “Fine.”

“Do you want to transfer TAI to your tab?” Aethon asks. “I’m going to leave CAL here. He said he needs to do some internal work on his routing algorithms which he can do offline.”

Before TAI can interject, Maeve shakes her head. “No, it’ll be fine. I’ll probably just check on Daik’s location and then take a nap or something.”

“Maevey -” TAI starts.

“I’ll talk to you later, TAI,” Maeve says, her voice a little sharp.

“Alright.” TAI’s tone is a little sulky, and while Maeve doesn’t blame her, she doesn’t really want to re-examine her actions and motivations from the last week right now. Sounds exhausting.

Aethon nods. “Ok. I’ll contact you on your tab if I need anything. You do the same.”

Maeve inclines her head and watches as Aethon leaves, the door of the Archer closing firmly behind him. A minute later, the Archer’s systems shut down, leaving Maeve in the dark, besides the dim emergency lights on the baseboards of the rooms.

Maeve paces the ship for a while, finding the silence and darkness strange. She’s rarely inside the Archer when it’s offline, and it feels like she’s inside its corpse. She’s glad it will eventually return to life - the dash alight, the engines making the deck thrum beneath her feet, and TAI making inappropriate comments from above. Maybe she should have transferred TAI to her tab.

Once she checks on Daik’s location, Maeve amuses herself by doing a crossword puzzle on her tab. She lays down on her bed, her tab propped up on her stomach and distracts herself with the clues, challenging herself to think about each one for at least a minute before either answering, or moving on to the next one. She’s on fourteen down - “dram”, six letters - when a message notification pops up on her tab. Thinking it must be from Aethon, Maeve clicks it absentmindedly. Her stomach drops as she scans the name and message.

It’s not from Aethon. It’s from Quinlar Cho.

You thought I’d forget?

Maeve sits up, her heart in her throat. She glances over at the door to her room, but she would have heard if anyone had entered the Archer. The only sounds have been ones from techs walking on the hull fixing the strut. How does Cho know that she’s here? She hadn’t gotten the Archer until three years after she put him away, so it can’t be that he recognizes her ship. Has he been keeping tabs on her? Had he seen her Two Roses credentials when she’d docked the Archer and done some digging?

Maeve’s not sure that playing dumb is the right move here, but she has very few options. Her ship is disabled, Aethon isn’t here, and her AI is offline. Maeve sends a fast message to Aethon.

Cho knows I’m here. Get back here. Watch your back.

Then she returns to Cho’s message. She taps out a reply, her gut clenching, and then sends it.

Forget what?

Less than a minute later, he responds.

I told you that I’d pay you back. That you’d regret locking me up. I know Harlan Yates is dead, but you’re still here, Bladesbearer. And I’ve been thinking for a long time about how I’d like to make you suffer.

Maeve stands, her heart in her throat and storms to the door of the Archer, peering out at the maintenance bay and the techs walking around outside. She doesn’t see Aethon anywhere. But she also doesn’t see Quinlar Cho. She checks her tab again, but Aethon hasn’t replied. She sends another message to him.

We need to leave. What are you doing? Where are you?

But instead of Aethon replying, another message pops up from Cho.

Your friend can’t answer you right now.

“What the fuck -” Maeve hisses. She clenches her tab and walks up to the viewscreen, scanning the bay again for any sign of Aethon. Does Cho have him? How would Cho know what she’d messaged Aethon unless he had Aethon’s tab? Maybe it was just a lucky guess on Cho’s part. Maeve sends another message to Aethon.

Are you getting these?

Tell me what nickname you call me.

But instead of Aethon replying, again Cho messages.

I already told you - he can’t answer you right now.

Maeve grits her teeth.