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  Malax, Taryn, Sayevi, Kiran, and Dr. Hayk all immediately raised their hands while Xandr stood with his jaw clenched. Andie wasn’t sure she felt comfortable voting against her lover, but that number was huge and no one else seemed too concerned about whatever made Xandr want to pull out. Her fingers curled into a fist, but the captain gave a satisfied nod before Andie could muster the will to raise her hand.

  “Majority rules, Xand,” the captain said with a shrug. “You agreed.”

  He clenched his jaw. “This is a bad idea. But let’s get it done.”

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  “YOU’RE WORRYING FOR nothing,” Keana told him for about the hundredth time.

  Xandr closed his eyes and named the last three generations of his ancestors to keep from snapping. It did little to help and only reminded him of how easily this could all go wrong.

  “Mebion won’t be there,” she insisted. They were in Keana’s office, the crew having adjourned to their duties after the meeting. There wasn’t much time to prepare for the coming mission and everyone would be doubly busy until the job was over.

  “Mebion isn’t my only worry,” he grit out. “You’re sending me into a den of snakes with a civilian. One mission doesn’t make her an expert and you know exactly how bad this thing could go.”

  Keana crossed her arms and shot him a challenging look. “Now she’s just a civilian? Not someone you’re insisting should be part of the crew? Not the woman you’ve been fucking for the past week?”

  “What I do in my own time─”

  “Your own time? How many times have you been late since she came on board? How distracted? This isn’t you, Xandr. You’ve never dallied with crew before and I’ve never seen you like this.” There wasn’t a rebuke in her voice. This wasn’t a captain speaking to her subordinate, instead it was his oldest friend wondering what had happened to him.

  Xandr wished he knew. Whatever it was about Andie, he couldn’t get enough of her. And whenever they could steal a moment together, he couldn’t keep his hands to himself. And she met him with equal passion. But she was holding back, both her kisses and some deeper connection. They barely spoke when they came together, but she’d been the one to offer the casual relationship and he’d been the one to accept. He couldn’t demand more, especially if it would make her feel like her place on the ship was in jeopardy. He’d never been with a crew member like this before, Keana was right, and part of it was that he’d never wanted to abuse his authority. And he’d never wanted someone enough. But he would have wanted Andie even if he’d still been the captain and damn the consequences.

  “This isn’t about my personal life,” Xandr insisted, “and we have no rules against fraternization. Just look at Taryn and Malax.”

  She shuddered. “At times I’ve seen too much. Those two don’t know the meaning of discretion.”

  Xandr huffed out a laugh. There wasn’t a person on the crew who hadn’t caught Taryn and Malax in a delicate situation. He and Andie had also had their own close calls, but so far no one had actually walked in on them.

  Keana continued before Xandr could get back to the subject they needed to talk about. “Is it just convenient? If anyone deserves something casual and uncomplicated it’s you, but except for the one-nighters you’ve never exactly been casual or uncomplicated.”

  And that question got to the heart of it. He wanted to spill everything to Keana, his doubts and wishes and desires. If there was anyone in the galaxy who might be able to give him some insight it was her, not because she’d ever been through this, but because she knew him better than anyone. But he didn’t want to give up that piece of himself, a piece he wanted to give to someone else entirely, if she would take it. “It’s not going to interfere with the job,” he promised.

  “That’s not what I’m asking,” she insisted.

  “Just let me deal with that part on my end, and don’t give her a hard time. She─”

  “If she can handle you, she’s tougher than she looks,” Keana pointed out. “And I’ll judge Andie by her deeds, not by her sexual partners.”

  “Partner,” Xandr corrected before he could stop himself.

  Keana quirked up her eyebrows and gave him a look loaded with so much judgment he wondered how she kept from making a sound. “That’s between you two.”

  And it was another thing they hadn’t talked about. He would have known if she had taken up with another member of the crew from the way gossip traveled, but Xandr didn’t know how Andie would act the next time they had leave. Would she want a change of pace? Would they take another room together and spend days in bed? Was he merely convenient? He hated these doubts. He was a man created for action, and he’d never cared about a lover enough before to demand he was her only. For the last ten years he’d rarely slept with the same person twice. Most of that was simply because they bounced around the galaxy and there was no way to form a relationship when he never stayed in one place for long.

  But Andie wasn’t the first crew member he could have slept with. So why did she tempt him so much? Why couldn’t he keep away?

  “I need to go get Andie prepped on Oscavian protocol. She’ll have a part to play and her being human won’t be much of an excuse.” Protocol could get complicated and Xandr had spent years learning all of the ins and outs. Luckily the basics were easy enough to grasp and could be taught in less than a week.

  “Make sure you get to the lessons before the fucking, right?” Keana grinned innocently.

  Xandr just scowled. He wasn’t going to give a debriefing of the time he spent with Andie, and Keana had no say in what they did together once they’d seen to their duties. But as he left the captain’s office and headed into the bowels of the ship to find Andie, a part of him was excited to finally have something to teach her, an excuse to be with her that had nothing to do with sex. He’d spent every spare moment with her in the last week, but now it was time to see how they worked together and to share something with her that went beyond what they already knew.

  He couldn’t wait.

  A WEEK OF INTENSIVE training with Xandr didn’t leave much time for small talk, but now Andie could name the top fifty Oscavian families and had a basic grasp of forms of address. She knew that they didn’t shake hands and that making eye contact with a prince or princess could be seen as insolent, but bowing to one of them would be an insult.

  They’d scrounged up a dress for her, seemingly out of thin air, and some clever tailoring made sure that it fit right. But as she and Xandr walked into the gala on Talaufon Andie felt like the commoner she was. They could dress her up in pretty clothes, teach her the right things to say, and send her in with someone who knew what the hell he was doing, but she’d still just be a lost girl from Earth trying to fake her way through the galaxy.

  She wanted to run, or at least cower behind Xandr, but she forced her head up high and kept her shoulders straight, channeling queens of old from kingdoms long gone by.

  Xandr leaned over as if whispering to her, his breath gusting over her ear hot enough to make her shiver. “Testing comms,” he said.

  “We’re reading you,” Kiran responded. “All parties in play.”

  On the surface, this job was much easier than the one they’d pulled a few weeks ago. Andie and Xandr were merely there to monitor the gala and keep track of security. They were only supposed to cause a distraction if attention got drawn to the tunnels. She was going to be paid a lot of money for attending a party and it should have been fun, instead she was sweating and just wanted it to be over.

  “Captain Jarsa, have you met Ambassador Rencing?” An Oscavian woman had her hand on Xandr’s free arm and tugged him towards an older Oscavian man with lavender hair and a politician’s smile. Jarsa was Xandr’s cover for this mission, one he’d apparently spent plenty of time concocting.

  Andie was there as herself, more or less. Andie Munster was no one to these people, and while being caught using her real name might cause her problems, they didn’t have a false i
dentity prepared for her. Since she didn’t have a criminal record in the Oscavian Empire, there was no reason for her to hide behind an alias. Not yet, she was still too new to the game.

  But Xandr, or Captain Jarsa, seemed completely at home. He wore Oscavian military regalia like he was born to it and seemed able to talk about a dozen topics that were completely beyond her ken. He flirted with men and women who were looking for a friendly face and offered in depth political discussion to the crowd who seemed to care more about the state of the empire than the state of their bed partners.

  The mask was a little terrifying and it made Andie wonder just who Xandr really was. Did he play a part like this on the ship, offering them a friendly face and hiding his true motives? She supposed everyone did that to a certain extent, but if Xandr was this good of an actor, she wondered if she’d ever know who he really was.

  The room looked like she imagined most fancy functions looked like. A sparkling chandelier floated above their heads, crystals winking in the soft light. Gold and silver androids walked among the crowd, their faces blank as they offered drinks and canapes to the guests. The attendees were mostly Oscavian, but Andie wasn’t the only human, and there were a few other aliens that she couldn’t identify. She tried not to stare; not only was it was rude, she didn’t want to call attention to herself.

  She would have thought there would be dancing, but Xandr had told her it was considered lowbrow among the Oscavians and the upper class would never host something like that at an important event. That was a shame because she was sure Xandr was a work of art when he danced.

  She was supposed to stay by his side for the entire event, but the Oscavian woman who seemed intent on getting Xandr to talk to people must have had some tricks up her sleeve. Andie found herself standing alone by a potted plant as Xandr got swept up in a conversation with several Oscavians, their heads bowed together as they discussed the fate of the universe or whatever.

  “What’s a fine creature like you doing hiding in a corner?” The honeyed voice was sickly sweet as the words tickled her ears and Andie turned to find an Oscavian giving her a teasing grin.

  He was tall, his skin a deep purple that verged on black, with eyes just as electric blue as Xandr’s. The contrast with his skin made them look even bluer. He had lighter hair, a mix of lavender and blue that Andie wasn’t sure was natural or dyed. And though he wore no insignia, Andie could tell he was someone of rank. Xandr had told her to go with her instincts, that many Oscavian nobility were so stuck up even an untrained human could tell them on sight.

  Something about the way this man held himself nagged at her and her mind twisted around the problem even as she offered him a carefree smile. “Can I tell you a secret?” she asked, leaning in conspiratorially.

  The man seemed practically giddy to hear it, his eyes widening as he leaned in to meet her. “Please do.”

  “My feet were killing me and I wanted a breather.”

  He tipped his head back and laughed, the sound booming around them and surely grabbing the attention of the other attendees, but Andie didn’t look away to see. She had to keep her eyes on this man, she just knew it. She didn’t look for Xandr, even if a little reassurance would have gone a long way. For some reason she didn’t want to give away that they were at the party together.

  “Could I persuade you to join me for a drink?” the man asked. He didn’t wait for a response, putting his hand on her elbow and turning her towards one of the arched doors that ringed the outside of the room and led to a small balcony. He wasn’t holding her so tight that she couldn’t pull away, but Andie knew making a scene would only end badly. She didn’t know how Xandr would react to it, but she didn’t want anyone to remember them once this job was gone. Her companion grabbed two drinks from a passing android and handed one over to Andie. “If I spend one more minute talking about rogue missions to unimportant planets I might just go mad.”

  Andie offered a smile and sipped her drink. She’d heard murmurs about an unauthorized Oscavian fleet taking off somewhere, but everyone already seemed to know the details and skipped over the important parts. “What would you rather talk about then?” she asked. Maybe this guy really was just taking a minute to hide; maybe that creepy vibe she’d gotten from him in that first second was just her being startled.

  “How about who brought you here and how they could be so negligent to let you wander alone.” His grin was probably meant to be flirtatious, but that question felt like a threat.

  It was just projection. There was no way this guy knew she and Xandr were here to rob the place. Still, it took a second for her to school her expression into something light and equally flirtatious. “You’re not the only one being pulled into conversations that are kind of boring. I was promised free drinks and nice food, plus a chance to wear this awesome dress.” She waved her hand up and down, drawing his attention to the shimmering gold material. “Sitting with a bunch of old military men talking strategy for a planet I’ve never been to isn’t my idea of fun.”

  “You’ve never been to Earth?” Now her companion looked puzzled. “Forgive me, I thought you were human.”

  Earth? What was wrong on Earth? Forget it, Andie, you can figure it out later. She offered an enigmatic smile and said, “Not all humans are from Earth.” And that had the advantage of being true, no matter where she’d been born.

  “Ah, there you are, your grace.” A curvy Oscavian woman came up to them and threaded her arm through Andie’s companion’s. “Your admirers are waiting for you.” She dismissed Andie with half a look.

  The duke wasn’t so quick to turn away. He gave Andie a rueful, apologetic smile. “I’m afraid duty calls.” He left Andie there wondering who exactly she’d been talking to. She’d never met a duke before, and now the encounter was over before she could even enjoy it.

  Fingers wrapped around her bicep tight enough to bruise, but Andie had become so familiar with those hands that she didn’t need to look to know it was Xandr holding her. “Who were you talking to?”

  She looked up and almost flinched at the hard look on his face. It wasn’t jealousy, but she was a little glad that the man she’d been with had taken off. Xandr looked ready to murder someone and she didn’t have a clue why.

  Before she could respond, the same Oscavian woman who’d pulled her companion away climbed the dais at the head of the room and spoke into a microphone there. “His grace, the Duke of Mebion, would like to say a few words.”

  Xandr’s fingers tightened around her bicep and this time Andie did flinch. When she looked at Xandr again, all the color had faded from his face, leaving him a sickly purple. She was concerned he might throw up and she really hoped he didn’t do it on her.

  “We need to go,” he said, his voice just as cold as it had been when he’d first frightened her on Ixilta. “We need to go now.”

  CHAPTER NINE

  XANDR WAS GOING TO kill Keana. He was going to kill her quickly and then find a way to bring her back to life so he could do it slowly a second time. She’d known that this was a risk, known that the Oscavian nobility were a pack of weaklings who all flocked together, no matter where they went. This many in one place were bound to attract Mebion and if the duke caught sight of Xandr the game was up.

  Andie didn’t fight him as he tugged her away from the crowd and out the first door he saw. When he let go of her arm she shook it out and he wanted to flinch at his own barbaric actions, pulling her around like she was his property rather than his partner.

  “Sorry,” he muttered.

  She rubbed her arm and glared at him. “Next time just tear it off, it would hurt less.”

  “I’m sorry,” he repeated, for all the good it would do them. He wanted to curse Mebion, wanted to run back into that room and launch himself at the duke and have this out like uncivilized beasts. But doing that would, at best, get him killed, and Xandr didn’t like to think of how any alternative would play out.

  He and Andie were standing in the alcove of a
darkened hall that seemed to lead deeper into the building. They were supposed to leave through the front doors in two hours and rendezvous in the city center. With Mebion inside that wasn’t going to happen. Xandr knew just what kind of entourage the duke took with him, and while they hadn’t heard anything bad from the team in the outpost, they couldn’t risk staying here any longer. The Seventh wasn’t exactly a discreet ship and if anyone could identify it, it was Mebion’s security.

  “What’s wrong?” Andie asked. She darted a glance back into the gala and then back at him. They could hear the faintest strains of whatever the duke was saying, but Xandr doubted it was anything important. The duke was made of slick wit and false promises.

  “If that man sees me, we’re screwed.” There was so much more to it than that, but they didn’t have time to dwell, not when every second had them living on borrowed time.

  His communicator crackled as Keana started speaking. “We’ve got some action in the tunnels, could use a little help here.”

  “Negative.” Xandr took no glee in refusing the order and he wished this whole thing had gone as well as Keana was sure it would. “Mebion’s here. We need to abort.”

  “Fuck.” It was loud enough to make both Xandr and Andie flinch. “We’re gone. Get to the rendezvous.”

  “Good luck.”

  This time Xandr didn’t grab onto Andie, he just nodded his head down the hall. “Care to get out of here?”

  She huffed out a laugh. “Just like old times.”

  They made their way out of the building slowly, careful to avoid guards and staff. The hallway didn’t lead to an exit, but a few twists and turns got them outside and in an alleyway that fed out onto one of the main streets of the city. Talaufon didn’t have a huge security presence, but with Mebion here Xandr was afraid that his face might have been splashed over every most wanted list in the planet. He and Andie kept to the shadows, but when they made it to their planned rendezvous point he cursed.