by Lauren Dane
Piper looked at her brother for a long time without speaking. She finally sighed and stood. “Andrei can have the spare room next to mine. There’s bedding in the linen closet. I’ll be back shortly.”
Once they were alone, Taryn looked to him. “You’re like one of my siblings. You’ve been gone a long time, but you paid your dues, and I trust you to sleep under the same roof as my family. Is there any reason this should be a problem? Other than the ones you’ve been up front about?”
“I’m not here to hurt anyone.”
“Doesn’t answer my question.”
“I know. I’d put myself in the path of a las-blast for any of you.” This was true.
“That’s enough. For now.”
Taryn’s trust meant a lot. More than Andrei could even begin to express. Instead, he cleaned the root vegetables, dicing and dropping them into the salted water on the cooktop.
“I’m glad you’re alive,” Taryn said as he walked past.
“Me, too,” Andrei muttered.
“Don’t know how you fooled those people in the Federation into giving you a job.” Taryn’s mouth split into a grin as he handed an ale Andrei’s way. “But I wanted to thank you.”
“Nothing to thank me for.” Andrei shrugged.
“Incorrect.” He clinked the glass against Andrei’s. “You saved us today. You didn’t help fight the Imperial soldiers off. You did it pretty much on your own.”
“You were in trouble. I helped.” Uncomfortable with praise, Andrei stirred the vegetables, testing for doneness.
“Years and years of credits. Andrei, there were times that without your help I don’t know if we could have survived the storm season. And when the next packet arrived, at least we knew you were alive somewhere.”
Andrei didn’t know what to say. Emotion thickened his tongue.
“You’ve always protected my family. That’s something deserving of thanks.” Taryn turned back to the table, finishing laying out the plates.
After the meal, after they’d cleaned up and the sweetness of that old connection had fallen over her, Piper stood beneath the spigot, hoping the water would wash away not only the dirt, sweat and blood, but the feelings for Andrei she’d thought were long dead.
Her muscles ached from having to be so heavy on the stick when she flew back so fast through the canyons. They hurt from the concussive echoes of the las-rifle. Her eyes hurt from the bright and from trying not to cry.
He’d come out of that cloud of dust like an angel from a story she’d heard as a child. And like a children’s story, she’d nearly fallen into a relieved heap at the sight.
His hair had been so long. It had jarred her, still did, mainly because she wanted to touch it. It would be stupid to want to touch it.
It had been short before. Short and soft. Soft against her hands as she massaged his scalp and neck, trying to bring him calm. She smiled, not entirely willingly, at the memory of how she’d been the only girl allowed to touch him the way she had. Especially after he’d returned from a stint in lockup to find his mother had been murdered. To find the polis had done very little to find out who’d killed her or even why.
His anger at the world had been worse after that. Worse after the authorities came to take his younger brother away.
Despite the fights with others, despite his anger, Andrei had been gentle with her. Always. Everyone else, he’d had a point to prove to. A point he probably wasn’t aware of.
With Piper, the wild-eyed, hard boy fell away. Only with her had he been soft. He’d been the first boy she’d ever given herself to. And, she thought with some regret, the only one she’d felt like she mattered to.
Heaving a sigh, she turned the water off and reached for a towel. She’d trusted him, and he’d left.
Shimmying into underpants and a worn but comfortable sleep shirt, she headed back into her room, passing his door as she did. Right there, within her reach. He was just beyond, and she ached to go to him and have him give her enough reasons to make his absence okay.
In her bed she shivered a moment, caught between warmth that he was back and horror at what had happened that day. It wasn’t that she was a stranger to violence. She’d been in more skirmishes than she could count since they’d begun running cargo.
Violence had been common enough in her life. Asphodel was hardscrabble. Hostile. People got old early. Using your fists kept a certain kind of order, showed people you weren’t an easy mark.
Piper had a big brother with even bigger fists. Strangers wouldn’t know how sweet he was in reality. They only saw his size and the easy way he had with weapons and, when necessary, his bare hands. He’d kept them safe.
Kenner and Andrei had run in a pack of kids from their sector. Bright, quick boys whose talents were wasted by the way things were for them. At first it was fun and silly, but the older they’d all gotten, the more some of them began to resent the way their future was so narrow. That resentment had sent more than one of them to lockup.
Kenner had learned his lesson after Andrei had disappeared, thank the gods. With a sigh, she flopped onto her side, trying to get comfortable. Andrei had been part of her life, part of every single day, and then he hadn’t. Kenner had been thoroughly dissuaded from that potential violent life by that absence. Until that afternoon, anyway.
But what happened that afternoon was not common. Not anything she wanted in her life. Thieving was one thing; killing was another thing entirely. Her sum total of experience with authority was hiding what she did from them. But these men, these soldiers sent from the Imperium were out to kill everyone in her compound. People she and her brothers felt responsible for.
Andrei had protected them. All of them. He didn’t seem comfortable with the praise Taryn and Kenner had sent his way, but they all knew what he’d done. What would have happened had he not come along when he did?
All about Andrei, connected to him on some level. His return had only underlined just how empty her life was outside work. She couldn’t remember the last time she had been excited by a man’s presence.
And agitated. Enraged. Begrudgingly charmed by the nearly wild boy transformed into a quiet, watchful man who carried death in his hands like it was common. He was dangerous. It came off him in waves.
Gods help her, she liked it. She should run the other way, but she knew she wouldn’t.
Andrei sat at a table near the door, one leg on the surface, the chair tipped, an ale at his left hand. A book in his right. For all outward appearance, a man with not a care in the world. Some might take him for an easy mark here in this bar full of criminals. But most would wonder just what he had to make him so confident in his stance. So utterly unconcerned with danger.
The smart ones would realize that for the threat it was and give him a wide berth. The rest were dealt with easily enough that he didn’t need to give them much thought.
What he was thinking about, however, was just how woefully inadequate the security and basic infrastructure at the compound the Roundtrees lived in was. He made a mental note to look around that next sunrise. The guard towers weren’t even manned when he’d come through the gates. They needed more than one cistern, that was for sure. He hadn’t failed to miss Taryn’s blush of guilt when he’d told Andrei they only had the one.
They sure as seven hells needed to be training two or three of their residents to be medtechs. Being so far from a clinic and medical help, it was a necessity to have personnel capable of triage in case of an emergency. Storms didn’t care if a body broke a leg or received a bad burn. Moreover, the compound had several women of childbearing age and several children. Basic surgical skills would be a welcome thing to have.
Andrei had been adding to his mental list when he caught movement near the door. Andrei lit a smoke as he waited for Benni to see him there.
The young man’s gaze casually took in the space as he swaggered in. He caught sight of Andrei far quicker than he had the last time they had worked together. Andrei smiled, satisfied,
as he leaned forward and grabbed his ale.
Benni tossed his bulk into a rickety chair across from him within a few minutes, a fresh ale in his hand.
“Seems there’s some hiring going on out in the Wastelands.”
Interest sharpened his wits. The Wastelands were a day’s long drive wide. A vast expanse of the harshest environs Asphodel served. Dust storms skittered all over the basin with winds so high they’d strip flesh from bone in seconds. The heat was extraordinary during half the year and frigid the other half, with blizzards and their perilous mix of razor-sharp dust mixed with snow.
There was nothing out there but death, some mining communities that had been abandoned when Andrei had been very young and a few encampments of people generally regarded as insane.
“That so? What for then, and is the pay any good?”
“Queerest thing is no one’s of any mind to share details on the whats and whyfors of the situation. I’m of a mind to believe it has to be mining of some sort. All’s out there anyhow.”
That would be Andrei’s opinion as well.
“Who’s running this show?”
“Don’t know those details either. Did see some fellas who didn’t look so native to these parts. One stayed in the back of the conveyance all fancy-like. Had a big scar on his face from here,” Benni pointed to the middle of his forehead, “to here.” He ended up on the opposite cheek.
Andrei knew that scar.
“I was thinking ’bout signing on. A man can always use some extra credits in his account.”
Benni had been one of his first local informants. A native of Borran, Benni had an illustrious future as a prisoner all lined up when he’d shadowed Andrei for days and had broken into his room to steal his belongings.
Unfortunately for Benni, Andrei had been a better thief and had been lying in wait for him. But Andrei had seen in the boy a great deal of himself. He’d given Benni a chance to work off his debt. He’d been with Andrei ever since. The year before, his wife had joined them, becoming another one of what Benni called Andrei’s people.
Everyone deserved a few extra chances in life. Especially people like Benni and Aya, who’d never been given much by way of example. Ellis had given that to Andrei, and in turn, Andrei tried to return that favor with others when he could.
“I don’t know. Body’s got a right to know what he’s to be hired on for. All the way out there and all.” This was dangerous work. The kind it was up to Andrei to do. He wouldn’t risk Benni for a job like this.
“What I figured you’d say.” Benni pushed a small data chip across the table, and Andrei palmed it.
“I’ll be off then. I’ve got a lovely lady awaiting my attentions.” Benni looked back over his shoulder at a young woman standing near the entrance, Aya, Benni’s partner in life and in the game.
“Have a care, then.” He meant it. There had been enough death to last Andrei a lifetime.
Some time later, after another ale, he brought himself back to the compound, not being stopped, or even noticed by a single person. He needed to speak with Kenner about posting guards or at the very least training the ones they had to keep a better watch.
He paused, passing by her door, but forced his feet to keep moving. He needed to look at that data and if necessary, report back his findings.
Chapter 5
Try it this way,” Andrei murmured, adjusting Shilo’s hold on the hand ax. “Hold it like that and when you”—he drew her hand back—“strike, you’re using your strength more efficiently.”
Shilo gazed up at him, adoringly and, annoyingly enough, lustfully. Piper wanted to step in and shake the girl. Instead, she managed to swallow her satisfied hmpf when Andrei ignored it, returning to repairing the dust screen.
“You’re a lot of help, Andrei.” Shilo fluttered her lashes at him. Wasted, because his attention was on his hands. “I’m sure you could help me with other things, too.”
It was a minor miracle that Piper’s snort didn’t break free.
Then again, he didn’t respond, not even to look up.
Shilo stared at him for a while longer until Piper took pity on them both and cleared her throat, moving toward them.
“Shilo, your father was looking for you,” Piper said as she tossed her knapsack on a nearby bench and pulled the tool belt on.
The girl skittered off with a backward look toward Andrei, who studied the tools in his hands very intently.
“Did I ruin your moment?” She couldn’t resist the jab. And she wasn’t sorry when he looked up, one brow raised imperiously, a smile on his face.
“She’s a little young.”
“And her father is a lot big.”
He snorted. “That, too. This is in bad shape, Piper.” He indicated the valve.
“It’s been struggling. Eiriq put in an order for a new one, but you know how long that takes.”
He sighed, looking it over. He drew a soft cloth over it, noting the pockmarks. “Don’t know if this can survive another big storm. Do you have a shop here? I can fashion a replacement if you’ve got the tools and raw materials.”
“You can?”
“I have a few skills that come in handy at times like these.”
“So you say.” She stood, brushing her hands off. “Come on. We’ve got a shop of sorts. Let’s see if it’s what you need.”
He stood and followed. A fierce need to know about him had burned her gut; now it flushed over her skin. What had he been doing that he was so proficient at mechanics as well as killing men?
What she did know, as they moved through the compound, was that he didn’t miss anything. His careful, wary eyes took in everything and everyone.
“This is good.” He looked around, placing the valve on the tabletop in the makeshift shop. “What you’ve built here.”
“Things need fixing. It makes sense to have a place to repair our gear.”
He bent to look through some scrap metal, pulling out pieces, rejecting most. “I meant the compound.”
She hopped up onto a nearby stool and gave over to the simple pleasure at watching him work. “Thank you. We try. You know Taryn. He saw a need and wanted to fill it. Most of the families here are his doing.”
“I’ve taken a look around. I’d like to speak to the three of you later about some ways to improve on what you have.”
“Talk to me now about it. I’m here.”
“Yes, you are. But I’m sure your brothers have a few things to say about how things run around here as well.”
She wanted to know more but would force herself to be patient until later. “They do, yes. But they’d be the first to tell you I make all the big decisions. The final choice, I mean. We do try to run things by consensus.”
“You need a better water collection system. Given the rate of population here, you’re vastly underequipped. One cistern is not enough.”
“I know. It’s on the list of projects. But the list is long.”
“There are thirty-one adults living here. Most of them are able-bodied. Why are they not all working on it now?”
They’d asked for volunteers, but it was slow going. Not everyone had the expertise, and she told him so.
“Does everyone here drink and use the water for home and cooking? Yes. Everyone here eats the produce from Taryn’s greenhouses. There’s no volunteering when it comes to using the water, so why not assign people a task? You can’t make this work if everyone isn’t invested.”
Kenner had made a similar comment, but coming from Andrei, it was easier to hear for some reason.
“They look to you for direction, Piper. It’s why they stay. They could live in town if they wanted. But they choose to be here, and you provide them with something. Let them be invested in this place, too. Starting with giving them some shovels and getting some pits for the cisterns started. I can draw out some rough plans for the cisterns themselves.”
Eleven years later, he walks back into her life and begins taking care of her again. “I’ll dis
cuss it with the others. Thank you. Where’d you learn all this?” She indicated the tabletop strewn with bits of metal.
“I was stuck on Parron once. Eight standard months.” He shuddered as he made some quick calculations and began to measure out the piece he needed to replace. “The place I stayed in was little more than a pile of broken shit.”
The way he was now might have been different than he’d been before, but there was something very comfortable about being with him. The way he moved was graceful and predatory. His focus as he cut and worked the threading on the new parts to slide together was impressive.
“So you taught yourself all this?”
He shrugged with one shoulder. “Either that or deal with broken crap and time in lockup for assaulting the owner for not taking care of business.”
“Wouldn’t be the first time you were in lockup for knocking heads.”
“No. But I don’t do that anymore.”
“All right. What do you do then?”
He looked up at her briefly. “Pretty much what I did before, only I don’t go to lockup for it. What do you do then?”
She snorted at his evasion, waving a hand around. “This is what I do. I run cargo. My crew isn’t so big as to attract unwanted attention but big enough that most of the time we’re left alone by the others. That took a while. I’ve got a great right hook, or so I’m told.”
“I remember that about you.”
That warmed her. Odd as it was.
They fell into long, quiet periods as she cleaned her weapons.
She was conscious of him on a whole different level, in ways she hadn’t known to even be at seventeen. She knew it now. There hadn’t been a steady man in a long time, but there had been enough of them for her to recognize that purely female fascination with an attractive male. Even through the sharp scent of the lubricant and heated metal, she could pick him up. He smelled good. Like warm earth and a hint of something else. Something wholly male. There was darkness in his eyes. Enough a wise woman would understand and avoid. But she was never very wise.