Ethereal Lives: A Romantic Sci-Fi Novel

Chapter 16

The beautiful view was lost on Ax. He stared unseeingly at the stars outside, unable to think of anything besides Ariane. It had taken a long time to leave her this morning. Her distress over the lives she'd taken had affected him more than he cared to acknowledge. He and his men didn't take lives lightly, but they all knew given the chance, others would kill them. They did what they had to in order to survive. Ariane wasn't used to that.

He'd been astonished to find her in the engine room working on a thruster. She was human, and as far as he knew had no idea how the ships engine worked. It appeared she'd been learning a lot as she moved freely around his ship, but why?

Did she plan to escape?

His chest tightened at the thought. He'd believed she was happy here and, surprisingly, had even entertained thoughts of letting her stay. Had it all been an act? A way to gain his trust so she could flee at the first available opportunity? His heart told him he was wrong. He held her in his arms at night, heard her cry out as he pleasured her. It couldn't all be fake, could it?

His thoughts were a muddled mess. He wanted to keep her. He had a feeling the men suspected it too. Bizax did, their exchange in the engine room proved that. As soon as Ariane had left, Bizax questioned him, asked what was going on. He'd lied, told him everything was fine, they were headed to the Sixth Galaxy as planned. Bizax had lost his temper at that reply. It appeared he'd grown quite fond of Ariane. It was as if she'd replaced the sister he lost years ago when their planet was destroyed.

"You know you want to keep her," he'd yelled.

Yes, he did want to, but he wouldn't. His men came before his desires. They needed the coin her sale would bring. With their gun shipment gone and the loss of fuel from the unexpected stop at Earth to grab her, their resources were drastically low. And it was hard enough hiding themselves without concealing a human too. He would never put himself before their welfare.

The anger that hit him when he'd found her in the kitchen with Trel had been totally unexpected. Just the thought that she'd been thinking about doing the things they did with another man had made him see red. She was causing them to fight amongst themselves. Or at least, she would cause them to, eventually. Maybe it was best to stick to his original plan of selling her.

"Ax," his name leaving her lips caused him to stiffen. It sounded awfully loud in the quiet room.

"Yes?"

"Is everything okay?"

He turned to find her leaning against the door frame, fiddling with the end of the material she'd used as a belt when she first arrived. "Everything's fine." His voice sounded sharper than intended, causing her to flinch.

She walked further into the room and sat in one of the chairs. "Did I do something wrong?"

He moved closer, stopping a few paces away. "Why are you learning how the ship works?"

Surprise crossed her face. "I thought it might be useful."

He grunted at her reply. "Useful in order to escape."

She shot to her feet. "Is that what you think? That I'm planning to escape?"

Anger burned in her eyes, but he didn't let it stop him. "You're learning how the ship works, how to fly it, how to use the guns... what else should I think, human?"

"I thought you trusted me." The words were hard and accusing.

"I thought I did too. Now I'm not so sure."

The look of hurt he saw on her face before she hid it, made him frown. Was he wrong?

"What else am I supposed to think?" He asked again, this time in a gentler voice.