Testing Truth (Cyborg Space Exploration #6) - Cynthia Sax Page 0,46
his mirth.
“What is it, Princess?” Her cyborg must have read her mood. He rested his chin on her right shoulder. “If you’re concerned about Claude, you needn’t be worried. He’ll live, although, in his stories, he veers closer to death with each rendition.”
“He loves to relay his war stories.” She pushed the plotting to the back of her mind and concentrated on Truth, the male she loved. “Telling those tales brings him joy.”
Nancy shifted on her cyborg’s lap, maneuvering her body until she straddled his waist. She gazed up at him and her heart beat harder, pounding in her chest.
He was handsome. All the cyborgs she’d met over the communication lines had been good-looking. But none of them took her breath away like he did.
None of them appealed to her, made her want to discard her honor and her duty and recklessly defy the queen, risk charges of treason to be with them.
“Claude means the universe to me.” She removed her gloves, bracketed Truth’s smiling face with her bare hands, savoring that skin-on-skin contact, that connection with her male. “Thank you for carrying him to safety.”
“It was nothing.” Her cyborg, her warrior, her love, nuzzled against her palms, his eyelids partially lowering. “Your brother and the Palavian are drinking beverages and devouring nourishment bars in the chamber I never used. Our chamber was too large for them. They’re accustomed to smaller spaces.”
“My brother calls his male the Palavian.” The queen wouldn’t like that relationship either. Princes were expected to make kingdom-strengthening matches also.
“He might not wish to share his name. Or he might have suffered trauma and no longer has that information in his databases.” Truth’s tone held no judgment. “Humanoids…and humans…are fragile.” He nipped at her fingertips.
She yelped, pulled her hands away from him. “This fragile human is grateful to you.” She tilted her body toward his. “Thank you for everything you’ve done for me, for my brother, for Claude, for Royaume.”
“I would do anything for you.” He encircled her waist with his large hands. “You’re my female.”
She hesitated, not wanting to risk spoiling the moment, but she had to ask him the question. The answer could impact their future. “If an enemy attacked Royaume, and I asked you to fight with me, would you fight?”
“And increase my kill rate? Frag yes.” Her cyborg’s grin stretched from ear to ear. “I will always fight for you, Princess.”
She met his brilliant blue gaze directly. “Would any of your brethren join you?”
“87.5969 percent of my brethren would join us.” He cocked his head to the right and then to the left. “The remaining 12.4031 percent would have to miss the fun as they’re needed to safeguard the Homeland and other cyborg-controlled terrain. Then there’s Power.” His lips twisted. “He considers himself to be the head of the Cyborg Council and he rarely follows any direction other than his own.”
Power must be their Ruler. “But he would allow you to fight for Royaume?”
“He wouldn’t, couldn’t, stop us.” Truth’s good humor returned. “My brethren enjoy battle, and defending my female’s homeland is a valid reason for us to fight.”
“Because your brethren would believe a conflict like that would be fun.” She relaxed.
“It would be fun.” He grinned at her.
She smiled back at him. An alliance with the male she loved would guarantee her planet’s, her subjects’, freedom. She wouldn’t harm them by pursuing it.
The queen was unlikely to approve the match. And if she didn’t approve it, Royaumes wouldn’t support it. They would consider her to be a traitor. She’d be banished from the planet for her now-long lifespan, would never see her brothers, Claude, Valentin, or Marthe again.
“You find joy in every situation.” Nancy met her cyborg’s gaze. “I want that future. I want…I choose you.” And she chose the safety of Royaumes over their acceptance. “I’ll fight for you.” She flattened her palms against Truth’s body armor-clad chest. “I might not be successful, but—”
“We’ll be successful.” He brushed his lips over hers, leaving a trail of his nanocybotics on her flesh.
She bubbled with that part of him, with happiness. Her decision was made. She would risk everything, would walk away from all she knew, to be with him.
“I want you.” Nancy attempted to lift the largest piece of his body armor over his head. “I need you.”
She struggled with the protective garment.
Truth, that fool, lifted his eyebrows. His chest shook with suppressed mirth.
That was not the reaction she was trying to inspire.