Page 22 of Tethered

“We were all thinking it.” Beau shrugs gently, flipping their book onto the table and caging it in with their elbows. The cover of the book is creased and suggestive of historical fiction. Tendrils peek out of Beau’s sleeves and collar, black tattoos that look well-lived-in.

Their question is one I’ve heard so many times over the past decade that my reply is fairly practised by now. “I was young, and he was charming. Isn’t that how it usually goes?”

Beau quirks an eyebrow so pale that it’s barely visible, making the green of their eyes that much brighter. “I’m not so sure that even money could convince me to tolerate Dominik Gryphon.”

Normally, I would agree. But Vee sits nearby, without his head buried in a console for once, and the one kindness I extend to Dominik is that I don’t trash him to his son’s face. I’m surprised the crew would talk about this so openly, on Dominik’s ship with their boss in the room. Still, Khrys elbows Beau in the side and I get the sense that she’d rather they weren’t discussing this right now.

“We have a child, and that’s enough to smooth any differences between us,” I say.

Vee chews on his lip, glancing curiously around the table. It’s hard to wait for him to tell me how he feels, rather than leap in to protect him from the moment. Beau looks down at Vee and realises that they’ve erred, expression morphing from amused into apologetic.

“I’m sorry—”

“We don’t see each other much anymore, but I’ve got some great stories from when we were both young and silly.” I force a laugh.

Vee’s head swings around. “You’ve never told me those!”

I recognisethiscurl to his mouth, the playful outrage. He bounces back quickly, my kid. Still, I make a note to check in with him later when we have privacy.

“I hope you don’t have any allergies, Marlowe,” Devyaan says, breaking the tension.

“None.”

The room erupts into noise as dinnerware is sourced, and food is dished up. Drinks are poured; cutlery is shared. Tanisira slides into the chair next to me, folding her long body under the table. She showered and changed at some point, if the smell ofsoap that wafts my way is any indication. Beneath the scent of roasted meat in the air, the lavender and vanilla is subtle but lovely.

“I’m sorry about Beau,” she says quietly.

I look up at her, and I can see how earnest she is. “I appreciate that. I try to keep my opinions of Dominik to myself, otherwise I’d be badmouthing him alot. I don’t want to shape Vee’s opinion of him—he should be able to make up his own mind about his father.”

Her amber gaze roves over my face. “It must be hard to balance that. As heavy-handed as my crew is, they aren’t wrong when they say it can be difficult dealing with Dominik. But Vee is a good kid, and maybe Dominik is different around him.”

“We’ve spoken about it several times, but I can only hope he is, yes.”

“You really don’t talk much anymore? Or spend time together?” Tanisira asks. “With Vee, I mean. You know, performances, school meetings and the like.”

“We have absolutely nothing to say to each other. We tried for a while after Dominik decided he wanted to be in Vee’s life, but it didn’t work out. We’re too different.”

There’s a moment of comfortable silence between us, eyes still locked. That errant curl has been tamed. I wonder if her hair is soft, how long it is when she takes it down, if she ever does. Tanisira breaks first, clearing her throat. “I’ll speak to Beau later. I’ll tell the whole crew to be careful about making comments like that around Vee.”

“Thank you,” I murmur.

She accepts a plate and slides it before me. “Of course. I also believe I owe you an explanation.”

After her own food is handed over, I gesture for her to go on. Dinner is some kind of tender lamb curry, not a Suryavan delicacy, delicious all the same. It’s almost magical. Vee beginsshovelling it into his mouth like he has no home training, and only then does Tanisira start talking.

“Gryphon gave us less than a day’s notice. We weren’t scheduled to fly for another two weeks—”

That makes me frown, and I pause, fork halfway to my mouth. “Can he just demand a trip last minute?”

“Normally, no. I was only hired a month ago, but I didn’t have other plans; it wasn’t the same for all of the crew. Two of them weren’t even on-planet.”

“Why didn’t you say no?”

“To Dominik Gryphon?”

I grimace. Fair enough.

She absent-mindedly drags a hand down her throat. I let my eyes idly track the gesture. “He made threats, so I put it to the crew. We weighed the options and decided the journey would be straightforward.”