She looks away for a second. “Not innocent.”
“It doesn’t matter what you did! They had no right to use you like this! No right to do any of this to you!”
Her brows draw together, and she studies me as though she can’t figure me out any more than I can figure her out. I start to think she’s going to say something more—something important. But then she gives a shrug and waves her hand up and down in front of me. “That’s a fancy robe.”
Hardly fancy. “Not really. I always dress like this.”
Her brows hit her hairline. “Hard luck. I thought I had it bad.”
She gestures toward her own gray prisoner jumpsuit. It’s ripped, one of the missing sleeves revealing a slender arm, the skin smooth and tattooed, and suddenly I itch to touch it.
“So, what did you do to deserve that?” she asks.
“Nothing. It’s an honor to wear the robes. I’m the High Priestess of the Sisterhood of the Light.”
She stares at me for several seconds, then throws her head back and laughs.
Huh. Not the response I usually get to that statement. I purse my lips and try not to feel offended.
“You’re not serious?” she says when I don’t say anything.
I wait another beat. “Well, I’m certainly not kidding.”
“I’ve never met a high priestess before.”
It’s not like there are a bunch of us to go around. I don’t say that, though. It sounds elitist, even in my head, though I don’t mean it that way. “Well, I’ve never met a…” I trail off as I realize I have no clue what she is or what I should call her. I don’t want to offend her. And I definitely don’t want her to leave.
“A criminal?” she suggests.
I blink a couple of times. “Is that what you are?” I whisper.
She gives a shrug, then rubs her forehead. “Probably. It’s all a little…blurry, but I’m pretty sure I was with the Rebellion.”
“Oh. Wow. Even in the monastery, I’ve heard of the rebels.” They use terror techniques to try to bring down the legal government of Senestris. Violent. Dangerous. Despicable. Certainly not working in the interest of the holy Light.
I never thought I’d ever meet one—or that I would like her when I did. But Beckett draws me in. More than she should, considering who she used to be. Maybe even who she still is.
“Aren’t you scared, little priestess?” Her tone is mocking now. “Don’t you want to run away?”
Not even a little bit. I don’t say that, though; I just shake my head.
Which has her eyes narrowing. She takes a step closer, and I don’t move a muscle. I’m not sure I could even if I wanted to. But I don’t. I really don’t, especially when she reaches out and takes hold of the end of my long braid. Her calloused fingers stroke back and forth over the wispy ends of my hair for a moment before she tugs me closer.
“Pretty,” she murmurs.
I’m not sure if she’s talking about my hair or me. I don’t suppose it really matters, considering a shiver runs through me either way. I feel quite strange, sort of hot and cold and really aware of my own skin all of a sudden.
“You interest me,” she murmurs, head cocked to one side as she studies me. “Why do you interest me so much, little priestess?”
“I—” My voice breaks, and I have to clear my throat, try again. Except my mouth is suddenly as dry as any desert in the galaxy, and something tells me it doesn’t have anything to do with the strict water rationing we’re currently experiencing. “You interest me, too.”
She laughs a little at that. “Now you’re just being nice.”
I want to argue that I’m not nice. How can I be, when I’m always having the most wicked thoughts?
“Tell me something,” she murmurs, and her fingers go from stroking my hair to stroking my cheek.
A strange, devastating heat flares inside me. “What do you want to know?” I whisper, afraid to speak too loud in case she moves her hand.
But she doesn’t stop. In fact, her fingers keep moving, sliding along the sensitive skin of my jaw until they’re dancing along the nape of my neck. “Have you ever been kissed?”
I gasp as shock runs through me, along with another delicious flare of heat.
She laughs in response, then licks her lips. And just like that, my gaze is glued to her mouth. I couldn’t look away if the fate of Senestris rested on it.
I swallow hard but don’t answer her. I can’t.
Which I’m fairly certain is an answer in and of itself, even before she murmurs, “I’ll take that as a no.”
I shake my head vehemently.
“Well, I guess that leaves me with just one more question.”
I wait for her to ask it, and when she doesn’t, a low, keening sound works its way up my throat. It echoes in the silent room, and I’d be embarrassed if I wasn’t so…hot.
She laughs again, a low, wicked sound that makes my stomach flip even as it slides along my every nerve ending. But she still doesn’t speak.
“What—” My voice cracks again. “What do you want to ask me?” I finally manage to get out.
“That’s easy.” She smiles even as she leans closer to me. “Do you want to be?”
Oh my goodness.
It’s not easy. It’s not easy at all. In fact, the answer to that question is the very opposite of easy.
I know what it should be. What it has to be. I really, really do. But for some reason I can’t make my mouth form the word. Instead, all I can do is nod.
Beckett seems as surprised by my answer as I am. But she doesn’t let her surprise stop her. Instead, her direct yellow gaze holds mine as she moves closer, her hand cupping around my neck. And then slowly—so slowly that it barely appears she’s moving at all—she leans forward and brushes her lips against my own.
I can’t breathe. I can’t move. I’m burning up.
“More?” she whispers against my lips.
My head nods without any command from my brain. And she presses her lips to mine just as the lights flash bright, an alarm rings out, and someone calls my name.
It looks like Merrick has found me.
Chapter 15
Ian
What the fuck was I thinking? Kissing Kali? What a disaster that would have been.
I didn’t see who was watching us, but the alarm that started ringing not long after was a much-needed wake-up call. For me, not her, considering I’ve got absolutely no idea why she’d suddenly want to kiss me anyway. I know she thinks I’m hot, but I have a hard time believing this has anything to do with that. More than likely she’s just trying to get on my good side so I’ll take her back to Mommy like she wants. Too bad that’s not happening—no matter what she says, the Empress would have her entire fleet on our asses within minutes of getting her baby back.
I don’t plan on keeping her forever—who the fuck wants that kind of complication?—but until Max and I find Milla and the three of us can disappear on one of the outer planets and stay completely out of the Empress’s orbit, the princess stays where I can keep an eye on her.
An eye, not a mouth, I tell myself as I race back to the bridge. No matter how sexy—how tempting—that plum-colored mouth of hers might be.