“I…I see,” Lan’ara swallowed hard and nodded.
“Well, come on.” The medical tech nodded at her. “Let’s go let the Senator’s secretary know you passed the test.”
She led Lan’ara back to where Need and the fish-faced man were talking. When she nodded, the man said,
“Splendid! Everything seems to be in order. I’ll have the credits transferred to your account at once. And as for you, my dear,” he said to Lan’ara. “You can follow me to the harem wing. I’m sure if you’re lucky, the Senator will be wanting to see you tonight. He’s been talking of little else ever since I informed him that you had been located.”
Lan’ara said nothing but only nodded. Truthfully, she didn’t trust herself not to break into tears if she tried to talk. She shot Need one last glance, but the big Kindred was looking pointedly away—clearly he didn’t mean to let her catch his eye.
He’s not even going to say goodbye, she thought and it felt like a final dagger had entered her heart. Bowing her head, she allowed the fish-faced man to lead her away, deeper into the Senator’s palatial home.
Her new life as about to begin and she would never see Need again.
Forty-Nine
Need cursed himself for a fool for not being able to put the girl out of his mind as he returned to the ship.
She’s out of your life, he told himself, even as his mind continued to insist on dwelling on how sad Lan’ara had looked—how sad and how beautiful in the new green and gold gown he had bought her. She’s out of your life and it’s for the better. So just forget her, all right?
But somehow, he couldn’t.
It didn’t help that the moment he boarded The Dark Star, Laxah came up and demanded to know where Lan’ara was.
“I saw you leave with the girl but where is she now, hmm?” she asked, frowning.
Need set his jaw.
“She’s gone,” he said shortly. “I sold her to Senator Pouncenblast, just as I always planned to do.”
“You what?” Laxah demanded, glaring up at him. “You sold her like a piece of property to some rich old bastard?”
“That was always the plan,” Need reminded her tightly. “And it’s no business of yours what I do with my property anyway, Laxah.”
“Oh, you…you man!” the med tech spat angrily. “That girl loved you, did you know that? And she wanted to stay on board The Dark Star. I was going to train her to be a med tech and she was going to continue with the cooking, too, just because she enjoyed it. She had a whole new life planned for herself but no—you had to get your money back so you sold her like the bastard you are! Well, I have no respect for you left—none! You disgust me!”
“Enough!” Need roared at her. “I don’t answer to you or anyone else in this matter. So keep your fucking opinions to yourself!”
He had stomped off to his rooms, determined not to talk about Lan’ara again to anyone.
But that proved to be a difficult promise to keep. That night at dinner, with Lan’ara gone, they were back to their rotating kitchen schedule. It was Captain Glo’ll’s turn and he made a mud-based soup with live silver- fish swimming in it which was inedible to almost everyone.
Psoas groaned as he looked into his bowl and muttered that he missed Lan’ara’s cooking. Krax and Kreeva echoed his sentiments while Need sat in stony silence. Only Drung ate the soup with apparent enjoyment and asked for seconds and thirds, slurping down the living fish and crunching their bones and scales between his teeth voraciously.
After supper, Need went directly back to his quarters to avoid talking to anyone else about why Lan’ara wasn’t with them anymore. It was clear the whole crew missed her and blamed him for getting rid of her. Strangely, only Drung didn’t seem upset by her absence, though he would have expected the Trollox to explode with anger on hearing that Need had sold the girl he wanted to someone else.
But Need didn’t give a damn what any of them thought—or so he told himself. He only wanted to forget her. He just wished that they were moving on from Genu Six, but Captain Glo’ll had ordered that the ship stay in orbit around the world for a little longer as they looked for new trade opportunities. Genu Six was a rich planet and he anticipated finding plenty to keep them busy for the next solar week or so.
So Need was stuck here, in orbit around a planet where the girl still was. His only hope was that they would find business quickly so they could go and he could forget her once and forever.
Fifty
“Well, my dear, how lovely you look!” Senator Pouncenblast eyed Lan’ara’s bare skin greedily, his gaze traveling over the skimpy outfit she’d been given to wear by the Mistress of the Harem.