The Girl Who Fell From The Sky - Rebecca Royce Page 0,34

him. Officially and until whatever such time he released me. The thought made panic oscillate inside my chest. Or maybe not panic, not fear. Curiosity? Adrenaline? It was weird, and I wasn’t fond of it. Except that I sort of was.

I followed Torrin—still with his shortened strides for my benefit, though I’m sure he would never admit to adjusting his pace for me—back out to the hangar. I’d never seen it more crammed with vehicles, but there were at least ten in here, and the air was thick with fumes from all those combustion engines. Metal flaps had been pulled back on a few, and people were bent over the machine innards. Mechanics, I realized. One of the teachers I used to work with was married to a mechanic on Jooron Five, though she fixed starships.

Someone approached Torrin and asked a question, and he answered. Then someone else came up with a different information bit to share. He didn’t intimidate these people, and he responded effortlessly, encouraging more questions and gently nudging others to realize answers that were staring them in the face. He didn’t always behave like a tyrant, then. Maybe he saved that for me?

After talking to at least five different people, he reached toward me, and… Maybe all the time I’d spent with handsy men like Mattis and Astor and even Nox had changed my own need for touch. Whatever the reason, I reached back and clasped his hand, as if it was the most natural thing.

He stopped, looked down at me with a quizzical brow-twitch, and then, I swear, he smiled.

“I require something urgently,” he said, “and I suspect you do as well.”

Where I came from, that statement, especially accompanied by a handclasp and a look from eyes that burned like stars, was absolutely a double entendre.

And what if it was? I had been claimed by him, belonged to him. In this society, that meant he could do anything he wanted with me. I bit my bottom lip between my teeth, hard, and let him lead me out of the wide cavern and into daylight.

The air was still dusty up here, even with the cooler shift in weather, and though it made breathing less than easy, I didn’t want to search for my scarf. Or to be more honest with myself, I didn’t want to let loose of Torrin’s hand. People stared when we walked past. Some greeted him, and some even called him “highness” and nodded to me, but everyone was warm and congratulatory. Walking beside him, with his number on my skin, made me feel…proud? Was that the right word for it?

I didn’t know my way around the tiny town all that well, so I wasn’t sure where we were heading until we got there, and then relief flooded me. Mattis’ bar.

We ducked inside, and to my surprise, the place was empty. Only Mattis was there, tucked into his private room in back, where he had done my brand. He looked up when we arrived, and the question on his face almost broke my heart before he spoke.

“Any update?”

Torrin released my hand and flopped down in a chair. It was the most casual, normal thing I’d ever seen him do, very un-kingly, but also very, very human.

“He’s been treated still, and now we wait. Bianca and I need drinks. You, too.”

“On it,” said Mattis, moving into action, already gathering bottles and these little mineral pods that made liquids fizzy and cool.

Torrin tipped his head back against the chair and closed his eyes. “You will forgive me if I don’t thank you properly. But thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” I said. With Mattis off mixing cocktails, Torrin almost had to be talking to me.

“Not just for saving Nox, but also for taking care of Astor and letting Dreama feel important and… You have done much.”

I blinked. “Anything I’ve done has just been accidental. I don’t think you should be thanking me.”

He shook his head. “Sometimes, people are naturally helpful.” He opened his eyes. “I am glad you are one of those people. Those books you can read? Could you teach me to do so?”

“I was hoping I could be of use that way. I was a teacher of reading, of books. Before most of them were banned as inappropriate. I’d like to teach whoever would like to learn.”

He nodded, and his gaze could best be called haunted. I wondered what had put that look there. “The Reamers still have weapons, but once you show us how to