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Myrria knew better than to lie. “We got the notice nailed to the door. If he was anywhere near here, he’s long gone.”
“You think?” Donya cocked her head.
Myrria twitched one shoulder. “If I was a criminal, I wouldn’t hide here.” This much was true. The neighborhood wasn’t like parts of Kurril where you could disappear into crowds. “I’ll bet he’s near the slums or the warehouses. Those are good places to hide.”
Donya twisted her thin lips to one side as she considered this. “Maybe you’re right. You wouldn’t be able to hide in these parts.” Then she paused and gave Myrria a pointed smile. “Not without help.”
Myrria didn’t react to this, but Zala laughed.
Donya glared at the girl. “What’s so funny?”
“You think we’d help an outlaw. That’s what’s so funny.”
Donya’s glare didn’t soften, and Myrria wanted to groan. What was Zala doing?
“I know you two are hiding something.” Donya advanced on Zala, pointing a gnarled finger at her. “I’ve heard a man’s voice when I’ve walked by your door. I know I have.”
Zala crossed her arms over her chest and gave the landlady a defiant look. “So?”
Myrria shot her daughter a desperate look, but the girl was too busy locking horns with Donya. For a moment, Myrria wondered if she had anything she could use to knock out Donya long enough for Rixx to escape. She eyed the iron skillet hanging over the stove as cold resolve settled over her.
She could not let Rixx be taken. Not after she’d worked so hard to save him. Not after he’d saved her. But could she really strike down an old lady?
She cut her gaze to Donya, who was staring down Zala with a look of pure venom. In her landlady’s case, yes. Yes, she could.
Myrria sidestepped toward the stove, knowing she would only have a better of seconds to snatch the skillet and hit the woman over the head. There would be no time to hesitate. Not time to second guess herself. If she was going to save Rixx, she had no choice.
“Are you admitting that there is a man in here?” Donya’s voice was shrill and dripped with smug satisfaction. She glanced at Myrria, a malevolent smile spreading across her face like a virus. “Are you admitting that your mother is just as much of a whore as the whore she works for?” She wagged a finger at Myrria. “Don’t think I don’t know where you get your money.”
Zala shook her head slowly. “My father isn’t going to be happy to hear you call my mother names like that.”
Donya’s head snapped back to Zala so fast Myrria was almost surprised it didn’t spin all the way around. “Your father?”
Myrria’s stomach started to sink as she realized what Zala was about to do and she stopped moving toward the skillet.
“The male voice you heard is my father.” Zala gave the old woman a guileless smile. “He’s finally come home.”
Chapter
Eighteen
Rixx stood behind the open door to the bathing chamber and listened without making a sound, without moving a muscle. He had had just enough time to slip into the small room attached to the bedroom but not enough time to close the door without being seen. Now he listened as Myrria tried to convince the old lady who’d unlocked her door that I was nowhere near.
Rixx did not know who the woman was, but he could tell that she held some power over Myrria. He could feel Myrria’s distaste for the woman as sharply as he had felt her desire. He could not sense the old woman’s emotions, but he could tell from the tone of her voice that she was the kind of creature who enjoyed the pain of others. That did not take empathic powers to know. Her voice was laden with cruelty.
His heart hammered in his chest as he scanned the compact room for an escape but there were no windows, no skylight, not even a hatch to an attic. He was trapped. For a Dothvek raised on the open sands, being confined was akin to torture.
It had been a adjustment to live inside a sky ship, but the bounty hunting ship was sizable enough that he could almost forget that they were moving through space with only the steel hull protecting them from the frigid darkness of space. It had been torment to be held captive by the Zevrians in a small room with a blindfold over his eyes. And it was making his palms sweat to be cornered in the room barely large enough for him to take a step in either direction.
It was not only his fear that made his heart pound. Myrria’s fear had spiked as the old woman talked, and now that Zala was engaging the intruder, he could sense both regret and anxiety rising within her. She was planning to do something, something she did not want to do, but what?
Rixx was accustomed to reading the emotions of his fellow Dothveks, but he could also hear their thoughts. With Myrria, he was certain he was picking up her feelings but he could not detect her thoughts, which he found maddening. He knew she was frightened, but he did not know exactly why, which meant he did not know how to help her.
“Are you admitting that there is a man in here?” The woman’s voice was loud enough for him to hear clearly. “Are you admitting that your mother is just as much of a whore as the whore she works for? Don’t think I don’t know where you get your money.”
Rixx stiffened as anger flowed through him land he forced himself not to rush out and confront the female. How dare she speak to Myrria like that. It would take the work of a few moments to snap the creature’s neck, and he doubted the universe would miss her.
As rage pummeled him and he despised himself for not rushing to Myrria’s defense, Zala’s voice was high and clear. “My father isn’t going to be happy to hear you call my mother names like that.”
