His Fire Maiden - Michelle M. Pillow Page 0,29

and refused to bring Dev food. Ghost…well he just didn’t bother to show up when she called to him.

“Your ship,” Jo said, stroking his hand along the metal control panel. “But she’s my lady.”

“I don’t even have words,” Violette muttered, leaving the cockpit.

“She never lets me down,” Jo called after her.

“Just get us to the port!” Violette marched down the passageway to the small dining area. Without much thought, she grabbed a couple of food packs from a crate before turning around to make her way toward her quarters. No one was starving on her watch.

Violette stopped walking and stared down the corridor. She didn’t want to face Dev. If she looked at him, she’d want to hit him, then kiss him, then hit him, then kiss him, then yell at him, and then kiss him to keep him from yelling back.

He was wrong about her father. The general was a good man. She’d seen it for herself. She knew the many missions he took part of to help people. She’d seen the orders he’d signed, and the awards and honors he had received. She’d watched the thank you transmissions.

Violette looked down at the food packs in her hand. Regardless of the fact she wanted to run away and hide, she had a duty to perform. Repeating the words her father said to her on many occasions, she uttered, “Family first. Duty second. Then everything else.”

Since her family was dead that left duty. She wasn’t a killer or torturer or kidnapper. Dev was in her care and duty demanded that she bring him food and see to his needs. Remembering his heated touch, she shivered and tried to suppress the feeling. “Not those needs, Vi.”

She forced her feet to move. The plan was to drop off food and leave.

Drop off. Leave. Drop off. Leave. Drop off…

Violette stopped at the door to her quarters and ran her hand over the scanner. Dev sat on the floor like he merely waited for her to return. His blank expression didn’t give any hint as to what he was thinking. The drugs Gil gave him had worked their way out of his system, and there was a new clarity in his gaze when he looked at her. There was no fear in him, which took away any leverage she might have to keep him in line.

“You may sit on the bed.” She tossed a food pack at him, and he caught it easily with one hand. “There is no reason for you to be uncomfortable.”

Dev studied her for a moment before slowly pushing up from the floor to sit on the edge of the bed. She waited for him to speak and was a little glad when he didn’t. There was no reason to continue their previous conversation. She didn’t want to fight with him. She just wanted him off her ship and for her life to go back to what it was—seeking revenge.

Violette motioned to the food pack he held, “It’s not fancy, but it’s all we have on board.” She tore hers open with her teeth and then drank more than ate the thick contents.

Dev followed suit and tilted his head to consume the meal. When he’d finished, he said, “These are like eating fuel sludge runoff. Your father was a general, and you don’t have a food simulator on your ship? How do you not have access to that technology?”

“We have a Thinean on board, and he requires a special filtration modification in our life support system. It sends off a frequency that is incompatible with food simulators. The units kept breaking,” she explained. “Besides, I was raised on Federation meal packs. One can get used to anything if it’s for survival.”

“I understand. I was raised with branding sessions to make me tougher.”

“You’re comparing meal packs to mutilation ceremonies?”

“They both must be suffered through,” Dev stated.

She thought he might be making a joke, but he didn’t show emotion, so she didn’t either.

Her eyes traveled to his skin. There were scars, but most looked like the result of combat, not branding. The red bloodlines moving over his flesh were less noticeable than before. She wanted to ask him to lie down so she could follow them with her finger, tracing them until she could understand the pattern they would form. “You don’t look branded.”

When she continued to study his arms and neck, searching for the memory he’d mentioned so casually, he stood. Violette took an involuntary step back. Dev dropped the empty