and her fury caustic acid in her veins. “But it’s the best I can do. Satisfied?”
“You could come with me.”
The world froze and when it started moving again, nothing was as it had been. “What?”
Eyes unreadable, face expressionless, his body held in straight lines that spoke once again of a military background, Stefan said, “They’re in desperate need of volunteers at the location of the quake. It’s an isolated settlement. An engineer would be more than welcome.”
“I can’t.” Frustration churned in her gut. “If the company finds out I’m moonlighting, even on a volunteer basis, they might ground me for another month.” And she needed to return to Alaris, to the place where she could almost forget how very lonely it was out here in the world.
Stefan’s eyes held hers, the dark gray intense. “I may be able to get you clearance.”
“If you can,” she said, “I’m yours.”
For an instant, her words lingered in the air, a strange tension between them. Then Stefan nodded and the taut thread broke in two. It had probably just been her imagination anyway. She’d never seen any indication that Stefan wasn’t completely Silent, his emotions contained behind a chilly wall of reserve.
Tazia wondered what he would’ve been like in a world without Silence, tried to imagine him with a smile, and felt her breath catch in her throat, her stomach flipping. He was handsome now in a stark, hard, military way . . . but she thought he might be heartbreakingly so if he smiled.
“I’ll return soon,” he said to her and disappeared beyond the front office.
Needing to keep herself busy in the interim, she handed Andres’s ID as well as her own to the unfamiliar older man manning the desk. “My friend’s family was waiting for him,” she said when the clerk held up Andres’s pass. “He scanned out at the submersible.”
The clerk ran the pass through his scanner. “Yep, all set. Was he the one with the entire clan that came out to get him? Mother wearing a yellow dress?”
“Yes, that was them.”
“Proud as punch they were.” His stern expression softened. “She came in here to check they had the right time for the submersible and spent ten minutes talking about how her boy was the smartest, most handsome creature on the planet.”
Tazia smiled with him. “He always comes back on board with the most enormous care packages and we all eat very well for a week.”
Laughing, the clerk finished the paperwork, then said, “You want to withdraw some cash from your account?”
Tazia thought about it. Almost everything in this port city ran on plastic, but if she went with Stefan to a more remote area, she’d probably need cash. “Yes,” she said and hoped the decision sent a loud signal to the universe about her intentions and desires.
She’d just completed the transaction when she was called into the back office and asked for her reasons for wanting to volunteer at the quake site. Stefan stood silently by the window as she looked the Living Resources director in the eye and told the blunt truth. “I’ve got no one upside. The month passes at a snail’s pace and I return to Alaris no more relaxed than when I got out. I’d prefer to spend that time helping people rather than feeling sorry for myself.”
The director tucked a wing of blonde hair behind her ear and said, “Well, that’s certainly honest enough.” She tapped something into the datapad in front of her. “I’m clearing you for volunteer duty with Stefan, but remember, you’ll have a physical before returning to Alaris. Make sure you’re rested and well nourished by then or I will bench you for another month—and you’ll lose that month’s salary, too.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Joy burst to life in Tazia’s bloodstream. She wouldn’t be alone and useless upside. Not this time.
• • •
It was on the high-speed jet out of the country that Tazia glanced at the man who sat next to her, their arms so close they almost touched, and said, “Thank you.”
“There’s no need. Your skills are necessary.”
Eyes on the black of his shirt where his arm lay on the armrest, she said, “Andres was right, you know. Telekinetics like you are so valuable they aren’t allowed to volunteer.” She didn’t know why she was pushing this; maybe because Stefan was an enigma, something she couldn’t take apart to figure out how it worked.
He’d been that way from the start, had always fascinated her, but something had changed in the time