Zodiac (Zodiac, #1)(101)
I nod and try to smile. “The plan will work. It has to.”
He studies my forehead, my mouth, my chin. I can’t read his expression. “When was the last time you had a decent meal?”
“I ate some breakfast.” Actually, I had a tube of fortified energy paste, but it counts. “I’m going to get ready for my meeting with the Psy experts.”
Mathias and I agreed that I would consult the foremost Psy scholars in our fleet while we’re on our way to see whether they can help me defend myself in the Psy, if I’m forced to fight Ochus.
One of the three notables is Chronicler Yuu, a Capricorn. The second is a Piscene mystic, Disciple Psamathe, and the third is a Virgo I met during our visit. Moira’s gray-haired courtier, Talein.
“Eat a little more,” Mathias calls on my way out.
37
VERY SOON NOW, WE’LL BE entering the Kyros Belt. Our scans show the ice field glittering in the distance like a fine mist.
Blinking signal lamps are not the speediest way to communicate, especially when the signals have to be relayed through the fleet from ship to ship, so it will take more than one galactic hour to shuttle Yuu, Psamathe, and Talein aboard Firebird for our meeting.
While I wait, I run through the pilot training course Ignus gave me on my Wave. I decided to bring it with me, since the Psy shield will protect us from Ophiuchus accessing the tutorial Ephemeris.
After a bit, I start to space out and watch the Leonine mechanics armor my Wasp gunship. They’re covering the side and rear windows with thick plates of tungsten carbide, while a guy named Peero tells an awful joke about a Capricorn who was reading an instruction manual for how to lose his virginity. Leos have always had little love for Capricorns.
This training course makes steering a Wasp look easy, though the sight of the ship makes me claustrophobic.
“Would you like to help?” a girl named Cendia asks. I instantly like her wide, friendly face. She keeps her thick mane of brown hair tied in a topknot, and her arms are covered in artistic tattoos. “You can hold this panel while I weld the seam.”
“Sure,” I say, glad for a chance to do something.
Hanging out with the mechanics helps me relax. They’re only a couple of years older than me, and their rowdy good humor reminds me of the dining hall at the Academy. When Cendia and I lift the panel into place over the window, I lean against it to keep it from slipping.
“You’re all right, lady,” she says. “All the other Guardians are, like, senior citizens.”
“You’re screwing up the seam,” says a short guy with a button nose and a space between his front teeth. He’s Foth, the chief mechanic. When he jerks the welder out of Cendia’s hands and starts re-welding her seam, she rolls her eyes. “There’s only one correct way to weld a reliable seam in tungsten carbide,” he says, lengthening his neck and trying his best to look down his stubby nose at us.
Cendia goes at her seam again, and when Foth steps away to revamp someone else’s work, she whispers, “He’s bossy, but he knows how to weld.”
“Your seam looks fine to me.”
“Yeah, not your usual shabby mess,” says Peero, joining us.
“Shut up, you.” She elbows him. “You’ll make us look bad in front of Holy Mother Rho.”
Peero grins at me. His chin whiskers are dyed in stripes of red, yellow, and blue. “You won’t fire us, will you, Mother? We’re making you bulletproof against Ocú.”
“Sack man,” Cendia explains, even though I already know. “That’s what we call him in our House. He comes at Winter Solstice with a sack over his shoulder to kidnap bad children.”
“Yeah, and he eats ’em.” Peero chomps his teeth and pretends to bite Cendia. She laughs and swats him away. Then she and I set the next panel into place.
Someone comes up behind me and lifts the weight from my hands. “Hysan,” I say, my smile burning through my cheeks.
He’s clipped his blond hair in a new military style and traded in his court suits for the simple gray coveralls he’s most comfortable in. “Your watchdog paid me a compliment this morning,” he says, offering me his arm after he’s helped Cendia in my stead. “He said I aced my pilot’s test.”
“I hope you didn’t cheat,” I say, linking my hand through.
“Me, use trickery?” He fakes a wounded look that makes me laugh out loud. Then he turns and kisses Cendia’s hand and bows elaborately to the other mechanics. “Excellencies.”
Cendia looks up at him adoringly. “Your Psy shield is genius. I can’t wait to study it when we get back.”
Hysan tries not to look too pleased. “Can’t take all the credit, of course. My android helped.”
Looking away from a befuddled Cendia, he pulls me along the corridor and says, “Ignus wants you on the bridge. Your first guest arrived.”
“I’m not sure about this meeting,” I say as we walk to the forward section. “Come with me?”
He bows his head. “I live to serve, my queen.”
I start to laugh again, and Hysan pulls me into a lavatory stall. “What are you doing?” I whisper as he locks the door behind us. The space is so small we’re squeezed together.
“Serving you,” he whispers, pressing me into the wall. “We won’t keep your Psy scholars waiting . . . too long.” When his lips meet mine, thoughts of everything else disappear.