Page 98 of Commander’s Mate

Fuel reserve.

Medical reserve.

Repair reserve.

Legal reserve.

Recovery reserve.

Mercenary work was becoming less profitable by the minute.

More sustainable too.

That was the difference between getting paid and building something.

Chapter Seventeen

Harper

Zared’s office looked different with the door open.

Less like a place where a commander could order things and more like a room where two people might have to be honest whether they liked it or not. He had moved the chairs away from the desk. I noticed that immediately. One chair closer to the door. One farther in. He did not tell me which one to take.

That should not have mattered.

It did.

He waited until I sat before he sat across from me.

Scarlet leaned one shoulder against the corridor wall outside, clearly visible through the open doorway. She had the posture of a woman who had once worn a uniform and would absolutely use the metal water cup in her hand as a weapon if necessary.

I loved her a little for that.

Zared’s gaze flicked toward Scarlet once, then returned to me. “You are safe here.”

His throat moved.

I had surprised him.

Good. I needed some advantage, even a tiny one.

“I don’t know what I’m doing,” I said.

“That makes two of us.”

I let out a short laugh. “You’re the commander of a dreadnought.”

“I have commanded ground assaults, evacuations, orbital insertions, and siege responses.” His violet eyes held mine. “I have never courted a stolen woman from an unknown world who is grieving that world and also happens to be my solmatu.”

The laugh tried to become a sob. I swallowed it.

“Is that what this is? Courting?”

“If you permit it.”

“What happens if I don’t?”

He did not answer quickly. I appreciated that.