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Ardol searched her features and tone for any little note of excitement. Sadly, there was none. Just pleasant civility.
I can’t make love to Jade like this! She might as well be a server at a port cafe—dead-eyed and polite, handing me my order. Only this time, my order is her life and her ability to bring life into the world. It would feel like using her. Damn Rupex and his stupid meddling.
“I can’t come in for a visit just now, but we’ll be together all day tomorrow. The whole crew will be there. That brings me to an important point. My Captain is a nice enough Felid, well-meaning, I’m sure, but he tends to view his officers as his Pride. We’re not. We’re not his family. I don’t want him questioning my affairs, nor digging too deeply into who my father is.”
“Understood. There should be a clear line between business and personal life,” Jade said with a single nod.
But aren’t we hypocrites then? How have I asked her to make intimacy and married life a monetary exchange?
He tried not to think of her past at all, but suddenly the thought would not leave him alone.
Jade has put intimacy on a business footing for years. Is this what you want? A Queen who regards you as one client she can never send home?
“What is it, Ardol?”
“I want us to be... I want us to appear happy and satisfied with one another’s company. I don’t want the Captain or his wife to meddle in our affairs.”
“They’ll have no reason to,” Jade’s smile was wide and warm—and still probably false. “I’ll act infatuated with you, play the perfect newlywed. When the Queens onboard want my company, I’ll regale them with tales of your sweetness. It’s not the strangest act I’ve ever pulled off, believe me.”
An act. Just an act.
That has to be good enough. We need each other. Contract is filed. I could get out of it—
Ardol’s thoughts abruptly included his father, looming and filled with cold fury.
My title doesn’t belong to anyone else. I’ll do what it takes to secure it.
“I’ll see you at sunrise unless you’d like to bring your things over today.”
Jade shook her head. “I’ve paid for my room up until the end of the cycle. Might as well just bring my things with me tomorrow night.”
Tomorrow night.
Ardol hated uncertainty. He wasn’t supposed to experience it. That was for lesser beings, not future District Lords. Nonetheless, he smiled and nodded. “Until tomorrow morning. I’ll meet you at sunrise at the town hall. That’s where the weddings take place, I hear.”
“You’re right. Until tomorrow.”
JADE SPENT THE DAY in a sort of haze, rocking on the porch with Griselda, packing her borrowed bags with the promise to return them once her belongings were moved into the ship, and then playing a game with Claude.
“Miss Cherie wanted to see you around supper. Call over to the schoolhouse,” Griselda came past the porch with a tall glass dish of plumcotta pudding in her hands. “This is for the wedding feast. You might have told me you were planning to get hitched, too, Jade. I’ve had to hustle my tail all day to make a third one.”
“You didn’t have to do that.” Jade shook her head incredulously.
“Silly. I wanted to. You’ve gotten to be like one of my own girls, even if you’re as prickly as a razortusk’s hide sometimes.” Griselda clicked her tongue. “Claude. Go and get anything ripe out of the garden.”
“Yes, Grandma. Jade, we’ll finish our game tomorrow—oh. No, we won’t, I guess.” Claude rose from his chair, face drooping.
“The ship stays docked here for a cycle. I’ll come to visit you. Maybe you could come to see me, too. Have you ever been inside of a fancy long-haul ship like the Comet Stalker?” Jade asked.
Claude’s eyes widened. “No, ma’am. The only long-haul ships this far out are transporters, freighters, and mining ships. Most of them are rusty old pieces of—”
“Claude Emmanuel.” Griselda’s warning shut the cub’s mouth.
Jade laughed. “I bet you can come and take a tour. I’ll be married to an officer, after all.” And he wants to keep me happy.
Ardol was clumsy and sweet one moment and too arrogant and sure of himself the next. Oddly enough, Jade realized that when she thought of him, it wasn’t with the resignation or revulsion she usually associated with her past clients.
He’s sweeter than not.
