“It’s an herb called Draegon Teeth,” he added, shaking his head. “For poison.”
Well, that explained why some poor vendor cared enough to keep it in stock. “How useful,” Jeline said cheerfully, determined to change the topic. “Do you use it often on your planet?”
“Zurole doesn’t have many native toxins,” Kogav dismissed her question easily.
“Because there isn’t much vegetation,” Jeline said, snapping her fingers like she’d forgotten. “Well, then I guess this little weed is kind of a miracle, right?” she looked at him hopefully.
Kogav scowled. “Wait,” he said. “You heard that? I thought you were asleep.”
He seemed troubled by the realization, and Jeline had to wonder if what he’d said last night had been meant more for himself than for her. “I’m glad you told me,” she said quickly. “And after I said those things about using technology to change a planet for our benefit,” she sighed.
“It’s just as well,” Kogav shrugged, apparently unbothered by her earlier insensitive logic. Then, almost as an afterthought, he said, “Too bad you didn’t run into Dojan. He’s from Saros, the water planet with a dozen moons. Bet you two would’ve had plenty to talk about.”
“Don’t be stupid,” Jeline rolled her eyes. Flipping her hair over her shoulder, she took Kogav’s hand again and cradled the Draegon Teeth in her other arm. “And tell me more about Zurole already.”
Kogav
Kogav led Jeline to the parked pod quickly enough, though he did stop to satisfy her curiosity at the occasional alien stalls along the way. It was obvious that she’d never been to a space station before, and he couldn’t convince himself to pass up the pure wonder that seemed to shine in her eyes every time she paused to stare at something.
“There are so many ships,” Jeline observed as they finally left the main market and turned into the station lot. It was quieter here, and Kogav wrinkled his nose as the stench of gasoline replaced the sprinkle of spices and aroma of baked goods.
“Well, it is a parking deck,” he pointed out.
“I mean,” Jeline shook her head, blushing. “There are so many different kinds of ships. On Earth, everything is the same shape, more or less.”
Kogav wondered about that. He supposed that it could be the one drawback to having a universal military: ugly ships that all looked the same. “Your, uh, moon friends don’t have their own design?” he asked.
“You mean the Lunarians?” she asked, hiding a laugh behind her hand. “No, the academy extends to every colony under Earth, so we all get the same uniforms and ships. It’s smart, really,” she added with a shrug. “Since we almost split up and rebelled as separate forces a while ago.”
Kogav frowned. “What made them change their mind?”
“Oh, the jump gates,” she supplied. “Once we realized what they could do, we all kind of banded together against the scary unknown. It’s why we’re working so hard to explore – so we can find the enemy before it finds us.”
“Well,” Kogav grunted. “If you want to set your Earth’s military might against the Thagzars, be my guest.” It wouldn’t hurt to add another planet under the alliance.
“Maybe,” Jeline nodded.
The pod was just where Kogav had left it, settled between a Pameric map maker’s caravan and a Saedhymp’s prowler.
“Here we are,” he said, slapping a hand to the ship’s side to activate the bridge. Sweeping an arm to send Jeline up ahead of him, he smirked as she giggled.
But the overwhelming smell of Draegon Teeth made him frown as she passed by.
“You don’t wear anything?” he asked, raising an eyebrow as he started up after her. “No perfume, no oils?”
Suddenly, the smell was gone – replaced by a foul aftertaste of Necteen again and a worried look from Jeline.
And just like that, Kogav knew.
“Oh shit,” he said.
They had bonded.
Jeline
Jeline cocked her head as she watched Kogav widen his eyes and place a hand over his heart. “What’s wrong?” she asked.
Without blinking, he moved his hand in a quick, fluid motion across his chest and down his side, like he was reacting to something more than communicating.
Still, Jeline couldn’t ignore the way that his signing seemed to make sense.
“You believe in soul mates?” she repeated, saying it like a question.
Kogav dropped his arm, and nodded – hesitantly, almost regretfully – once.
A blush crept up her neck before she could stop it, but Jeline slapped the thought that she’d been avoiding back down before it could form.
After all, there was no way he, the muscle-bound engineer