Total pages in book: 112
Estimated words: 105936 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 530(@200wpm)___ 424(@250wpm)___ 353(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 105936 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 530(@200wpm)___ 424(@250wpm)___ 353(@300wpm)
“Captain?” He looked at me, his eyebrows raised in surprise.
“You’re the only one who’s not sitting on the bridge,” I pointed out—wanting to give both him and myself an excuse to hold him. Of course, Frux wasn’t sitting, but he didn’t count. Not to me, anyway, the fucker.
“Oh, er…thank you, Sir,” he said humbly and I thought I noticed a hint of color on his smooth, light brown cheeks. Was he blushing? And was I the cause of it?
Before I could answer those questions to my satisfaction, The Illyrian was through the outer Space Gate and then flying directly into the first worm hole. On the viewscreen it looked like a void in space—a blackness so deep it even swallowed light. There was a fiery halo of red light around it—like a gateway to Hell itself.
And then we flew right into it.
Suddenly, time seemed to slow down to a crawl. I looked away from the viewscreen and sloooowly turned my head. I found myself staring at the boy on my right.
Under his uniform shirt, his arm felt warm and firm but not at all muscular. He really was lean—it had been hard to tell under the extremely baggy clothes he’d had on earlier. But now that he was wearing the standard uniform of The Illyrian, I could see his form more clearly. He was well-built, I thought, but he still had a lot of growing to do. He didn’t even have a hint of a beard shadow.
He must have felt my eyes on him because he turned to face me too. Our eyes met and I had time to think that he had unusually long lashes for a male and that his light amber eyes were actually quite beautiful which was a fucking weird thing to think about a male crew member…
And then we were through the worm hole and on the other side of the jump.
“Whew!” The boy staggered a little and would have fallen if I wasn’t still gripping his arm. “What was that?” he asked, looking confused.
“Just a time dilation,” I said casually. Didn’t your teacher warn you about those?”
“No.” He shook his head. “He was too busy making me memorize star maps and setting me the most difficult jumps he could think up. Er…is it always like that?” He cut his eyes at me and I wondered if he was thinking of the staring contest we’d found ourselves in.
I was thinking of it myself, though I couldn’t figure out why.
“Not always,” I said, turning my attention back to the viewscreen. “Sometimes time seems to speed up. And sometimes you get time-turbulence where things speed up and slow down in waves.” I shrugged. “Or sometimes, you just sail right through and barely notice you’re in a worm hole at all. Worm holes change all the time so you can never tell which it’s going to be.”
“I see.” He cut his eyes at me again. “Thank you for keeping me from falling, Tu…er, Captain. You’re very kind.”
I frowned—had he almost called me by my name? That was fucking unacceptable.
“Don’t presume too much, boy,” I said coldly, taking my hand off his arm. “I made an investment in you—I didn’t want to lose it on our first jump.”
But despite my irritation, I couldn’t help looking at him again. What was it about him that kept drawing my attention? I was so focused on the boy that Yorrin had to call my name three times before I looked over at him.
“Captain,” he said, when I met his eyes at last. “The first jump is completed. We now have at least a day until jump number two. Unless you wish to increase velocity?”
I shook my head.
“Not worth the extra wear and tear on the engines. We’re not in a hurry—yet. Let’s save our reserves for any kind of conflict we might encounter in the Triplex System.”
“Understood, Captain.” Yorrin nodded in his slow way. After a searching glance, he turned back to face the viewscreen.
I tried to do the same, but my gaze kept traveling back to the boy. What was it about him that drew me?
I had no answers and I couldn’t help finding the question disturbing…
11
JESSINA
Ididn’t know what to think of the interaction I’d had with Turk on the bridge. It was clear he didn’t recognize me—which was a relief. But for a moment, when he was holding my arm to keep me safe during the worm hole jump, I’d almost felt like he cared for me…or for the boy he thought I was.
But then he had gone cold again and told me not to presume too much, so I decided I was probably just imagining things. After all, I wasn’t his “little bird” in this situation. I was just a young, inexperienced navigator who was new to his ship.
I soon had other things to worry about, though. Not long after the first jump, it was time for dinner. The entire crew—except for Turk, who apparently ate in his quarters—filed down to the mess hall and sat together at the battered metal tables.