Page 44

‘T,’ she greeted stoically. I did my best not to flinch at her emotionless tone and the stabbing sensation it caused in my chest.

‘A,’ I greeted back.

Her eyes darted away from me as she focused them on the boy in her arms. A beat later she was looking at me again, an unreadable emotion passing behind her eyes in a flash before it was gone again.

‘I wasn’t expecting to see you here,’ she said.

‘Well, I didn’t expect to see you here, either,’ I snapped, my tone sharper than it should have been. She hadn’t done anything wrong and she didn’t deserve my ire.

‘Sorry,’ I backtracked. ‘It’s been a rough few days.’

She inhaled slowly before blowing out a long breath. ‘I can imagine. I’m sorry for your loss.’

My lips tilted up into a sad smile that I already knew wouldn’t reach my eyes. ‘Yeah.’

‘It’s been a rough few days for a lot of people,’ she said, and I didn’t know how to respond. Awkwardness invaded the space in a thick smog that made it difficult to breath, and I stepped forward towards the counter that held an open box of the Nutri-Bars.

‘I just need to…’

‘Right,’ she said, stepping back to give me more room despite the gaping chasm already between us. ‘You’re probably hungry, huh.’

I hummed my agreement, stuffing a few of the bars into my pockets to take back to the room. Mother wouldn’t want to leave, so I would make sure she had everything she needed until she was ready to rejoin us.

I lifted a hand to open the door, but something in me twisted at leaving this interaction like it was. I turned back around and caught her eye. ‘Hey, I- ‘

The door opened, knocking into me and shoving me forward. I stumbled before I caught my balance and faced the newcomer with a scowl. My frown deepened and I pursed my lips when I made eye contact with purple irises that assessed me with a raised brow. His attention quickly turned to Artemis, effectively dismissing me.

‘Hey, Arty,’ Cadmus said with a beaming smile that revealed rows of straight, white, perfect teeth. Teeth I wanted to knock from his fucking face. ‘I was looking for you.’

She smiled back at him, curiosity alighting in her eyes where there was previously nothing but guardedness when she’d looked at me. My heart shrivelled a little bit more inside my chest.

‘Cadmus,’ she greeted him, her happiness at his arrival driving the knife deeper into my gut. She used to look at me like that. She never would again.

I tried to hide my hurt and jealousy, but from the sudden darkening of Cadmus’s expression as he moved to stand beside Artemis, eyeing me warily, I didn’t think I was successful.

‘I’ll just leave you two alone then,’ I said curtly, my sudden shift in mood causing Dave Junior to snarl in warning.

‘There’s no need. I’m just here to grab Artemis. You don’t have to leave,’ Cadmus said and my eyes zeroed in to where his hand pressed against the small of her back as he started to guide her from the room. Except I was still standing in their way.

‘It’s fine. I’ve got what I needed. There’s nothing else for me in here now.’

I swore I saw a flash of hurt in Artemis’s eyes, but she covered it with a blank look before I could be sure. All it did was make me feel like the shittiest person in the entire Intergalactic Union and beyond. I was just putting my foot in my mouth, spewing shit I didn’t want to mean but kind of did. There really wasn’t anything for me in here. I wasn’t wanted. But that was on me, not her.

Without waiting for a response, I took the cowardly way out and stormed out of the kitchen. I picked my way through the army of small children as carefully as I could while still rushing to get as far away from the woman I’d left behind as I could. I could have tried to apologise or elaborate, but I didn’t think my efforts would have been appreciated anyway.

Once free from the cafeteria, the doors closing behind me dangerously close to crushing the reaching fingers of several of the small children as they attempted to crawl to freedom, I hurried back to my room, the ghosts of that interaction haunting me the rest of the way.

The light was on when I entered, and I found that Mother had cleaned up and changed into her own jumpsuit. The old Program uniform lay in tattered shreds around the room as if she’d torn them off her body in a blind rage, but the smile she sent my way showed that some of the weight dragging her down had lifted.

I dug into my pocket to pull out a Nutri-Bar, handing it to her while I studied her sudden turn-about. She thanked me, tearing into it with shocking gusto.

‘These things are terrible,’ she said around a mouthful, scrunching her nose as she chewed. ‘Your father detested them.’

I blinked, surprised at the casual way she’d just mentioned her recently deceased mate. Concern for her rose within me as I watched her move about the room, straightening the place up and disposing of the destroyed uniform. When she turned to me with a smile on her face, I knew something was up.

‘Stop,’ I said, pushing her to sit down on her bed with my hands on her shoulders. I looked deep into her eyes, holding them with mine. ‘What’s going on? Why are you acting like this?’

‘Like what?’