Adiron (Corsair Brothers 1)

His mouth twitches. "Why don't you tell me more about your plan? You were going to steal our food?"

"And your filters," I point out. "And then we'd push you back into space." I make a whooshing movement with my hand. "And then you'd go away and we'd stay on our ship, forever and ever, eating noodles and waiting and guarding."

"Guarding?" He asks. "Guarding what?"

I lean in close. "The others," I whisper conspiratorially.

"What others?"

"The humans that were left behind, of course." I roll my eyes at him. "Can I have my juice now?"

He stiffens under me. "What other humans? How many?"

"One hundred and thirty-two," I tell him, turning in his lap. I pick up my cup and since he's not filling it, I lick the edges again. So sweet and cool. I definitely want more.

"One hundred and thirty-two what, Jade?" Adiron steers me back onto his lap, turning me so I have to look at him.

Is he drunk, too? How is he not understanding what I'm saying? I sigh in frustration and talk slowly so he gets it. "One hundred and thirty-two others in pods," I tell him. "I counted them all."

He stares at me and then rubs his jaw. "Kef me."

I push the tumbler against his mouth, squishing his lips. "Not until I get more juice."

18

ADIRON

"Boys, we've got a problem," I announce as I rejoin the others in Lord Straik's private chambers.

Kaspar is sprawled in a chair in front of Straik's desk, the lord himself is behind it, and Mathiras paces near the maps. They all look up as I enter in dramatic fashion, being me. Mathiras immediately looks behind me, a hint of a frown on his face. "Before you get started, did you take your prisoner back to the cell?"

"Nah," I say. "She's in my bed."

Lord Straik jumps to his feet, shocked. "WHAT?"

"Calm yourself." I move to the chair next to Kaspar and flop down, tired. Man, it has been a DAY. "She's drunk as hell and kinda grabby, so I'm letting her sleep things off."

"You got her drunk?" Straik looks disgruntled. "This is highly inappropriate—"

"No, it really wasn't," I point out. It could have been. Oh man, could it have been. I gave Jade another cup of sweetjuice after she opened up and two-cup Jade is a clingy little thing. Three-cup Jade is an absolute horndog, as Zoey would say. I kept having to pull her hands off of me, because I know all about drunken regrets, and that's the last thing I want Jade to have. "I got her drunk so she'd open up, and now she's sleeping it off."

And I scratch at my chest.

Straik stares at me with a puzzled look. "Are you allergic to humans?"

Kaspar snorts. "He's allergic to doing what he's told."

"Meds reaction," Mathiras points out. He leans on the desk, arms crossed, tail swishing. "So she opened up while she was drunk?"

"Oh yeah." I pause, scratching. "You guys didn't get yours drunk?" I look over at the three of them. "Maybe you should tell me your news before I tell you mine."

Straik settles back in his chair, looking as sulky as ever. "I have no news. The black-haired one screamed and kicked the entire time. I did learn a few new curse words, but nothing of use. She wouldn't tell me anything."

Kaspar leans forward. "I'm useless, too. The yellow-haired one? Alice? She talked, all right. She talked my ear off. But I'm pretty sure she lied about everything. She's a good storyteller but I absolutely can't buy a thing she said. It's clear she was saying whatever she thought I wanted to hear." He sounds utterly disgruntled.

Mathiras runs a hand down his face. "That's better than what I got. Mine cried the entire time."

"The qura'aki?" Straik asks.

Mathiras nods. "I got some information out of her, but she made me feel like an absolute monster the entire time."

"But you did get information out of her?" I prompt. "What'd she say?" I'm suddenly very curious how much it lines up with what Jade told me. Maybe two-cup Jade is a liar as well as a clinger. It's a possibility I didn't consider.

"I got some. Helen isn't good with names, though. Everyone she talked about had names like 'the Angry Face one' or 'the Smelly Breath one.'" He grimaces. "They woke up the three humans after the first mutiny, from what I understand."

"A mutiny?" Straik jumps to his feet again.

"The first one," Mathiras emphasizes. "It gets messier." When Straik sits down again, he continues. "From what I can make out, Helen was told by the others that the girls were pulled out of stasis so they could amuse the crew."

I suddenly find it hard to breathe for all the rage flaring through my system. I clench the arms of the chair, all casualness gone from my body. I know what happens to human slaves. I know what they're kidnapped for. It makes me sick—and furious—to think that Jade, MY Jade, has been abused by someone. I want to snap necks. I want to tear out throats. I want to punch faces. A lot of keffing faces.