save you.”
“You saved me. How?”
“Malahki told me to feed you a dehydrated mushroom, to draw the poison out. There was also some drinking of water and puking involved, but that’s a messy part not worth mentioning. That’s pretty much it—about the sick part. Though I do need to talk to you about something else, now.”
“There was also a kiss, wasn’t there?” The memory of it flooded his mind. He’d seen people bringing their mouths together in videos. Some kissing was friendly, some sexual. When Svetlana had kissed him, though, it was more than anything he could have expected. “I couldn’t have dreamed that. I simply wouldn’t be able to conjure that on my own.”
The pink on her cheeks deepened. It went well with the sweet smile that curved her lips.
“It was pretty amazing, wasn’t it?” She dropped her gaze to his chest, then slowly raised it back to his face.
He pondered the best way to tell her how he felt but couldn’t come up with anything smooth or romantic.
“I want to do that again,” he said simply, choosing the most direct route to get his point across. “The kissing. And more. I want to have sex with you, too. Real sex.”
Maybe he should have thought about it longer before blurting it out. Something about his words or his tone must have been wrong because Svetlana’s expression changed from the sweet and unguarded back to her usual frown.
“Hold your horses, Romeo.” She pushed to her feet. “You’ve just come back from the dead. Plus, there are a lot of other issues.”
Not all of what she’d said made sense to him, but the essence was clear. There’d be no sex right now.
“What issues?”
“Crux is taking over your ship as we speak.”
“Crux?”
“Yes. I overheard him speaking with Wyck about it. I have a suspicion he’s behind the wine poisoning, too.”
“Most likely.”
He tried to get up. His head swam violently, sending him down to his knees.
“Careful.” She grabbed his arm, steadying him. “You need some time to recuperate, get better, and come up with a plan while Crux thinks you’re dead and out of the picture.”
She was right. He was still too weak. If Crux thought him dead, it could be used to their advantage.
“One thing I’d love to do as soon as possible is to get out of this room.” Holding on to his arm, she rubbed her forehead with her other hand. “I have a feeling they’ll be coming for me any minute.”
“Right.” Svetlana was the bounty Crux wouldn’t wait long to claim. “We need to leave.”
“Your room might be better,” she suggested. “If they think you’re dead, they may leave you alone for a while. Especially since Crux is not fond of places made entirely of glass and has no interest in taking your room for himself.”
“Not the room, but he’d want to get to my weapon storage, eventually.”
“You store weapons in your bedroom?” she asked, then slid her gaze to his chest. “That shouldn’t surprise me since you store a lot of them on your body, too.”
He patted his chest, remembering giving her the dagger and the gun. “You went out there on your own.”
“Yes. That’s why you’re still alive.” She brought his boots over, placing them in front of him. “Get ready.”
He hadn’t even realized he had his boots off. The blanket he was standing on with his knees had been draped over his legs when he woke up.
“Did you...take my boots off?” He stared at them. The only time he had ever had them off was when he removed them himself. He only ever had a blanket over him when he remembered to cover himself before falling asleep. “No one has ever done things like that for me before...”
“Like what? Looking after you while you’re sick?” She gave him her arm for support as he put his boots back on. “Someone had to. I’m glad I was around.” She picked up the blanket, taking it back to the bed.
Regret suddenly tugged at his heart. He would have liked to be awake and aware when she had been tucking that blanket around him. For the first time, someone had taken care of him, and he was too out of it to even know what it felt like.
“I’m...um, grateful.” He raked his claws through the fur on his nape. “Thank you—”
A screeching noise suddenly came from the door, as if someone scraped it with a metal blade. Or a tool.
Svetlana jerked her head toward the sound, color draining from her