sit. It takes a moment, but I realize I'm still in med-bay, still naked with dozens of tubes attached to my skin, and still in the hated, hated stasis pod. A whimper escapes me as bad memories flood back. "I want to get out of this thing."
"I've got you," Adiron says gently. He helps me yank the tubes off, each one leaving behind a little prick of pain as it exits my skin. Then, his big warm hands are on my back and he lifts me out of the stasis pod and into his arms. In the next moment, I'm curled against warm, familiar chest and he drapes fabric around me. "Did they hurt you?" Adiron asks, the protectiveness back in his voice.
I swallow hard. I want to whine that they did, that after I punched Shaalyn she had her goons hold me down and shove me into the stasis pod, kicking and screaming. That it was awful and traumatizing, because I could feel my body dying as the chemicals spread through my veins to put me to sleep. That she just smirked down at me as if it gave her great pleasure to fuck me over. But I'm alive, and I've woken up in Adiron's arms, so I can live with this. I can be fragile later, in private. "I'll be all right. Where's that bitch?" I peer around the room. "We're still on her ship. Where is she? I'm going to kill her."
"She's imprisoned," Adiron tells me, adjusting the blanket around me as a cocoon. "We've taken over the ship."
I shake my head, tucking myself against his chest. "I…I don't understand. How?"
"Let's just say that the stars aligned in our favor." He presses a gentle kiss to my forehead. "If you're done punching things, I'd like to introduce you to my sister."
"Your…sister? Zoey?" My brain must be fried from stasis because none of what he says makes sense. "She was on the ship somewhere?"
"Er…no. We've been rescued."
"We have?" I rub my eyes, but my fingers are so cold and my eyes so blurry that I feel like a popsicle. A popsicle with a brain still frozen.
"Maybe we should get her something to eat," says another voice. It's human, and female, though she speaks with the same sharp accent in English that Adiron does. His sister. I peer around, but my eyes feel like bricks of ice and I can't see farther than a few feet.
"Food's a good idea," Adiron says, pressing another kiss to my forehead. He cradles me against his chest and shifts his weight, getting to his feet. "Stasis on an empty belly can be hard. She'll perk up once she has something in her."
The woman who must be Zoey groans. "Must. Resist. So. Many. Filthy. Puns."
Adiron just chuckles.
I press my face closer to his neck, breathing in his scent as the world bobs around me. My stomach isn't doing so hot, but then again, what part of me is right now? Some water and something cracker-like will settle my gut and perk me up.
Zoey speaks again. "You know what she needs? A big bowl of piping hot noodles."
Noodles. Just the word brings to mind a bowl of the hated things, and their scent, and my stomach rebels. My mouth fills with saliva and a cold sweat breaks out over my skin.
"Uhhh," Adiron says as the knot in my throat grows enormous.
I tap on his chest, bile rising. My guy must know what's up, because he sets me down a split second before I puke everywhere.
"We're gonna have to find something other than noodles," Adiron says, good-humored. "Jade, love, let me know when it's all out. I've got you." He holds my hair back and pets my shoulder as I get sick everywhere.
It's ridiculous, to be so sick over nothing at all. I tell myself it's the stasis and an empty stomach. I tell myself it's nerves and the gently swaying movement of the ship. I'm lying to myself, of course. I know exactly what it is. It's a baby. Our baby. And I don't know how Adiron is going to feel about that.
He's a pirate. I'm not exactly sure “dad” is high on his list of career choices. Even if it is…how can I mention it? His brothers are still missing. He needs to go after them. I'm just not sure what that means for me.
It also means that I can't go back to the Star, either. Lost in space is no place for a