Dark Matters - Michelle Diener Page 0,43
he didn't have the same need to bond to her as she did to him.
He would have his own kind around him all the time.
She was the one who didn't fit.
“You fit in with the Grih,” he said, and startled, she realized he was responding to her statement, which she hadn't realized she'd spoken out loud.
“You fit in with me, too.” Bane said softly.
She bent her head, her hands clasped together. She couldn't help the hot flow of tears that dripped off her cheeks.
“What do you need?” Dray asked. “You must eat.”
She lifted her head and sniffed. The thought of Tecran food made her stomach cramp. She was hungry but not hungry enough to eat anything he'd put out for her. “I had some nutrition bars in Fa'allen. I think I'd like to rest for a bit. I've been snatching bits of sleep in uncomfortable places for a few days now. And that couch looks pretty good.”
He looked over to where she pointed.
“You don't want to use one of the bedrooms?”
She shook her head. “No. I'll be more relaxed here.” There was something unsettling about the thought of sleeping uninvited in someone else's bed.
The bedrooms were also small and dark, whereas the lounge was big and airy. She wouldn't feel trapped here.
She sensed a change in the fog behind her and turned to see it had parted a little, so she could look out to sea by the light of Tecra's two moons.
There was a massive rock standing a little way out, as if part of the cliff had been sliced off and pushed out to sea. She caught the faintest suggestion of movement on its sheer black walls.
“What's that?” She looked over her shoulder, saw Dray had found a blanket somewhere and was carrying it under an arm.
He came to stand beside her, his shoulder brushing her own.
“That's a baug colony. The Tecran like to climb the cliffs for sport and hunt them.”
Lucy watched them move and flutter over the sheer rock face for a few more minutes, and then the fog closed in again.
She turned back to the room, and Dray handed her the folded blanket.
“Sleep,” he said. “I'll keep watch.”
She didn't want him to stand watch over her, the thought of being that vulnerable didn't sit well with her, but she couldn't find a way to refuse without sounding ungrateful. “Thank you.”
She settled down on one of the couches facing the windows, and pulled the blanket up. It smelled clean, the scent on it told her they must use the same detergent as the facility, because it was familiar to her.
She didn't think she would fall asleep easily, but Dray had left the room, and as soon as she laid her head on a cushion, her whole body seemed to cry out in relief that she was off her feet and lying down.
She hadn't scratched the surface of the questions she wanted to ask, and she could see an equal number in Dray's eyes, but for now she was safe, warm and for the first time had not one but two people looking out for her.
Considering how her life had looked just over a full day ago, things were definitely improving.
Chapter 20
Dray looked in on Lucy a few times as he prowled around the house, but mainly he stood watch two floors above.
The fog was thinner higher up, and he liked to think if the Tecran were coming for them using hovers, he'd see a reflection of the lights in the smokey gray cloud.
“Hear anything out there?” he asked Bane.
“No. I'm not going to be as much help as I was before. I can't see anything. There are no lenses out here. And after I took control of those two hovers, they'll know I'm helping you. They'll be more careful, more difficult to catch out.”
“We wouldn't have made it this far without you.” Lucy would have probably been caught before he'd even managed to get to her. “How long have you known about her?”
“I was told there was a possibility she was here before I left with the Urna. But I was reluctant to say anything. If I was wrong, that would have been bad for everyone.”
“True,” Dray acknowledged. “The UC would have wondered if you were stirring up trouble against the Tecran, and the Tecran would have felt even more persecuted than they already do.”
“And if one of the UC team told the wrong Tecran, and she was somewhere on Tecra and alive, it could have