CHAPTER 8
“That’s pretty strong motive,” said Xaviara. “An ex-girlfriend?” It seemed so reckless, but it fit with the image of the trincaar she’d picked up from her research.
“That’s why I keep trying to convince Camlan to drop her.” He shook his head. “Kid won’t ever learn.”
Xaviara couldn’t stop the giggle that escaped her. “Kid? You two are the same age.”
His eyebrow raised. “You certainly know a lot about us.”
“It’s my job.”
“Fair point, but you don’t have to know everything. Aides are pretty low on the totem pole.”
Her stomach dropped. Is that what he thought of her? “I won’t always be.” The words came out harsher than she’d meant, but his assertion chafed. Everyone had to start somewhere, and she was still young—barely into her twenties.
“I didn’t mean anything by that.”
“Fine. Whatever. Anyone else I should know about? Unless you think I’m too far beneath your notice to help out anymore.” She’d been a fool to kiss him like that back in his room, especially given all she was risking. After all, he might not be a prince, but he was head of a prince’s security detail. Far above her station. She should just stick with local guards, if she could find one who wasn’t attempting to thwart an important human alliance.
“No, that’s not what I—” His eyebrows furrowed.
She shrugged and looked down at the tablet where Lianndra’s internal dossier was still displayed. Nicholen went still and unmoving, but she wasn’t going to speak first. If he wanted her to understand who was senior, well, message received loud and clear. She was excellent at following orders. If that’s what it took to get Manda off the planet, she could do that.
He finally spoke. “Look, I don’t have much experience dating. This job has been my focus for years. I’m terrible talking with kadyyza women, let alone someone of another species.”
Wait, I thought he said we couldn’t—
He reached out a hand and placed it on hers again. Electricity crackled through her, coming to rest as an ache between her legs. “I really didn’t mean anything by it,” he said. “I’m sorry. I don’t see you as lesser.”
She turned her hand over, feeling his warmth against her. Tracing a finger along his wrist, she bit her lip. If she looked at him, she might do something they’d both just agreed couldn’t happen. She willed herself still, hoping he would pull his hand away and longing for him not to.
When he kissed her, she was so surprised, she kept her eyes open. His eyelashes fluttered, catching the light, and his tongue dipped into her mouth, dancing quickly across the tip of hers.
As her eyes closed, his hand brushed over her hair, combing down and through the long locks. She returned the kiss, but he refused to allow her control, keeping himself leaning forward and letting her melt. Desire thrilled through her and ended in a tiny shudder when he pulled away.
“If you think kissing me is going to make up for the insult…” she started.
“Of course not.” His grin was disarming, and any fake indignation she was trying to muster evaporated. “I’m sure I’ll spend quite a long time trying to make it up to you.”
“See that you do.” Her chest squeezed. He clearly knew this was forbidden, but he was moving forward with it anyway. What would Manda say? Did Xaviara even care? She cleared her throat. “In the meantime, you were giving me a rundown of all our suspects.”
“Jessan has been serving the royal family since Camlan’s grandfather was trincaarit. I honestly can’t see her betraying him any more than his own grandmother. Our pilot is new, but he’s a member of the military with fairly high security clearance. Now, our chief engineer…” He held out his hand for the tablet and pulled up the man’s profile. “I got an odd feeling from him when I was doing interviews for this delegation.”
“And you let him in anyway?”
“He was highly sought after, so Camlan insisted, but his emotions seemed erratic. He was up and down and all over the place. I didn’t like it.”
How interesting. She couldn’t help but pry. “It’s rumored that kadyyza can read minds. Or is that only the royal family?”
He gave her a long look. “Nobody can read minds. We sense emotion.”
Her breath caught. “And what kind of emotion do you sense in me?”
“Breniel Brashhre.” His smile seemed almost mischievous.
“What?”
“That’s his name. Breniel Brashhre.”
Was he regretting the kiss? But no—the look in his eyes was lustful, not regretful. Fine, two can play the coy game. She said, “Anyone else you can think of?”
“Not right now. Lianndra has the best motive—revenge—and Breniel has the best opportunity, being the chief engineer. I might be an excellent security chief, but he was top of his class. He’d be able to hide something from me if he really wanted to.”
Xaviara leapt to her feet, uncoiling some of the pent-up energy he’d awakened in her. “What are we waiting for? Let’s go talk to them.”
* * *
Nicholen loved the way Xaviara took charge of a situation. She was a natural born leader, and the Sol Alliance Coalition was lucky to have her. Someday—probably sooner than anyone thought—she’d be running a delegation like this of her own. However, he needed to be careful if he ever decided to let thoughts like that sneak out of his mouth. He’d already seen her fiery temper flare, and he wasn’t about to piss off this gorgeous woman, who was becoming more attractive to him with every passing moment.
But they needed to be cautious. “Wait,” he said.
Her hand was poised over the button to open the door.
“You and I— We’re not supposed to— If we—” Out with it, man. “I think you should stay back and watch the security audvid.” He pointed to her tablet. “We can’t be seen together.”
She pressed her lips into a tight line. “I suppose you’re right.” Her look said she didn’t like it. “I’ll go to my room and pull up the engine room feed.”
She led the way down the hall, hips swaying in a sexy rhythm that made him wonder if she had a particularly interesting song in her head. Her feelings wafted as a cloud of fruity-smelling goodness—she was pleased with herself, though for what, he could only guess. Psychic indeed. That would take the guesswork out of his job, and maybe Camlan wouldn’t be in this mess.
When she veered off down the hallway, he almost didn’t mind since he got to watch her leave. With a tightening in his groin, he turned down the corridor and hurried toward the engine room.
Outside the door, the thrumming was quiet. Inside, though, it was loud enough that he had to shout.
“Breniel?” he called past the rounded, sleek engine in the middle.
A tall, blocky kadyyza popped his head from around the corner. “Ah! Captain!”
“Hey! Anyone could be listening,” Nicholen reminded him. He might not like this duty, but it was his to carry out. Breniel was the only kadyyza senior member of the crew of the anchor ship; two human engineers were stationed in the engine room with him.
“Sorry.” Breniel dipped his head. “Forgot. Trincaar. What can I do for you?”
“Were you able to review the ship’s diagnostics from before we lost contact with them? I’m curious what caused it to spin off course like that.”
Nicholen had been unsure about Breniel, even though his background check was spotless. During the interview, his emotions were difficult to understand, and that continued now. He smelled first of engine grease, then a warm summer’s morning, then a quick whiff of rancid meat. Each one alone would have had its own interpretation, but cycling through them so quickly made it difficult to tell what he was feeling.
After too long of a pause, Breniel spoke. “I did review the diagnostics. I do know what caused it to spin off course like that.”
“And?” Every conversation with him went like this. It was as though he resented Nicholen’s interest in his work. But it was Nicholen’s job as security chief to know the ins and outs of every part of the ship.
Breniel pressed a button on the console nearest his head. Up came a diagram of the mu-engine on the lead ship. “You see here? A subatomic leak occurred in the superconducting pump. The neutron core became polarized, and the magnetic storm made the navigation unstable. When we came within the mu-radius of planet UTP-8907, its strong magnetic field further added to the problem.”
“And how did the leak happen?”
“I don’t know.”
“Wear and tear?” asked Nicholen.
“Most likely no.”
The words hung in the air between them. Breniel’s scent was now fully engine grease—a pleasant smell that indicated he was happy with his assessment.
“Thank you for your time, Chief Engineer.” Nicholen strode to the door, wondering what Xaviara would make of that conversation.
He was at her door in moments. It opened to reveal her at her console. He looked to the left, glanced to the right, and stepped inside.
“Quite the ruse in there,” she said as the door slid shut.
“I’m not sure it was a ruse.”
“What better way to throw you off track than to admit exactly how he’d sabotaged the ship?”
“I didn’t sense he was trying to hide anything.” He wasn’t sure what he’d sensed. “He’s always difficult to read.”
“If he knew you would know if he was lying, he’d use that to cover it up.”
“True enough. But my psy-sense doesn’t work like that.”
She looked back at wallscreen, which displayed Breniel at work on the engine. “I suppose that’s all right. You have two more suspects to talk to. Come on, I want to see this ex-girlfriend of Camlan’s.”
Oh, boy. Now that would be an interesting conversation.