Total pages in book: 44
Estimated words: 41151 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 206(@200wpm)___ 165(@250wpm)___ 137(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 41151 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 206(@200wpm)___ 165(@250wpm)___ 137(@300wpm)
“So,” I say clearing my throat. I see her wince at the sound, as if she’s afraid it heralds pain. “You didn’t actually hit Zeki, did you?”
“No,” she whimpers. “I didn’t. I told you…”
“I know. I should have looked at your hands. Not a mark on them. It’s pretty hard to break someone’s nose without reddening your knuckles.”
There’s a sniff. “So, you believe me?”
I pick her up. She’s warm and limp and understandably sad. Cradling her in my arms, I make my apologies. “I am used to people lying to me. I’m sorry I didn’t consider you might be telling the truth.”
“I’ve never lied to you, Shah. Not even when I should have. Remember?”
“I do remember,” I say. “I’ve staked my life on your honesty. I don’t know why I defaulted to disbelief. From now on, I’ll consider you innocent until proven otherwise.”
“Thank you.” She curls up against me, hiding with me, from me. I feel a pang of guilt, another revelation. She’s terrified of me, but she has nobody else to comfort her besides me.
“Shah?”
“Yes, Dreamy?”
“Why am I here? There are so many women on this ship who want you. They’d do anything for you. I’m nobody. I’m a worker drone.”
“I know women want me,” I say. There’s no point pretending I don’t know. “But they don’t want me. They want Shah. They want the status, the prestige, the connections, the money, the power… you helped me at a time when I offered you nothing. If you come to like me even a little, it won’t be because of who I am. It will be in spite of it.”
She’s hiding her eyes and her face from me, so I cannot read her expression. I can, however, feel some of the tension in her body slide away.
“You care if I like you?”
She’s braver than she gives herself credit for, asking that question, standing up to Zeki, then trying to explain herself to me, the great tyrant. Her strength is not loud, but it is constant. I admired her from the moment I met her because of that quiet fortitude.
“Like is a strong word, Dreamy.”
“It’s not supposed to be.” She lifts her head. “You don’t like anybody?”
“I like you.”
I see her try not to smile. But there’s a light blush to her cheeks that gives her emotional response away. She likes that I like her. There’s a connection between us, something we felt immediately when we met, something that sprang to life again when I saw her in the club. I’m older now. Old enough to know you don’t let feelings like that go. There’s something about Dreamy that matters. Something I need to hold onto.
“Forgive me for not believing you?”
She nods, but with her eyes averted. I turn her chin back to me. I want to see the expression on her face. I want to know what she’s thinking and feeling.
Dreamy
I can’t believe my luck. With five strokes still burning their way through my flesh, I am very aware that I could never have taken twenty-four of them — and he would have given twenty-four if he hadn’t noticed that there was no evidence of violence on my hands.
“So,” he says. “Want to tell me what happened with Zeki?”
I’m not sure exactly what he wants to know. Do I tell him that Zeki seems to be in love with him? “She was angry at me, and she tried to hit me, but I stepped back just as she swung, and the momentum made her slam into the wall.”
“I wish I could have seen that,” he laughs.
“You nearly did. You walked in maybe thirty seconds after. The worst possible timing.”
“As the blood was flowing,” he agrees. “I should have known better than to think you’d hit Zeki. You’re not a fighter.”
“No,” I say. “I’m not.”
I feel a bit of a pang as I say that. I wish I was a fighter. It might get me punished, but I think it would also earn some of Shah’s respect. He doesn’t have people like me aboard his ship. He has no need for timid worker drones who wander from their routines on a whim. Shah is inevitably going to need someone just as smart and ruthless as he is. Zeki would probably be a good match for him. Instead, I’m here, taking up space a more suitable mate should be occupying.
7
Dreamy
Over the next few days, I settle in a little better — and I do mean a very little better. I haven’t seen Zeki since the incident, but I can feel the menace emanating from other women. The competition for Shah is fierce, and I am sure that my life is in danger. Shah doesn’t seem to think so. He believes his reputation is enough to keep me safe. It might be enough to keep me safe from men, but women of the kind who want him don’t care if they have to cross him to get him. I have the very unsettling feeling that my life has never been in more danger than it is right now on Shah’s ship.