Page 24 of The Last Hope

Court licks his lips. “He may be Saltarian, but we don’t know where he was raised, Mykal, or who he really is.”

I lean my head back. “You won’t be letting him try anything—”

“He’ll never,” Court says powerfully, looking me right in the eye with forceful promise. “I can’t even bear the thought.”

He speaks truth. His muscles clench, and hot breath expels from his nose. He’s been grinding his teeth more than I.

I find myself smiling, and I’m not sure why.

He rolls his eyes, but they drift over to the cockpit. The man-boy has suddenly unclipped his straps, and he’s standing out of his pilot seat.

Franny raises her fork like a weapon. “What are you doing?”

He saunters over to us. Finally taking his beady eyes off me. “I need the med kit.” Where Franny hit him, dried clumps of blood tangle in his blond hair.

He looks all right to me.

“Heya, man-boy,” I call out and point to the empty cockpit. “Who’s flying the starcraft while you’re walking about?”

“It’s on autopilot.” He approaches the corner booth and nears Franny’s end.

She scoots closer to Court. Giving the man-boy room at our table. Which is the only table. Maybe she thinks if we’re kind to him, he’ll be granting us answers. I trust her with her own plans, but my guards are still mountains high around him.

He stays standing for a moment. And he massages his jaw with a wince. We watch as he sticks two fingers in his mouth. In a hard tug, he yanks out a molar.

I must’ve knocked it loose.

I grin wider at Court. “Power of the gods.”

Court rolls his eyes again. Morose in thought.

As the man-boy slides in, I hold out my hand to him. “In battle, we take what we earn,” I say.

A dry smile hoists his mouth, but he’s lost in my bloody markings and eyes again. “You think you earned my tooth?”

“I loosened it.”

“I pulled it out myself,” he combats.

“Doesn’t matter.” I wag my fingers for the molar.

He blinks a few times and shakes his head. “No.” He tucks the tooth in a pouch on his waist. His skirt has no pockets. “You’re not taking anything else of mine.”

I dunno what he’s talking about. “I’ve taken nothing from you.Yet.”

He unbuckles his heavy-looking armor in silence. Pulling off the bronze breastplate, letting it clunk to the floor. “We’re on a straight course to theLucretzia.”

Court watches him with a keen eye. Which is making me feel better. Court can outwit any man, lady, and person alive.

Court taps his thumb to the table. “TheLucretzia?”

From the med kit on our table, the man-boy removes gauze, tubes of ointment, and pills, and he says, “A ship that belongs to the Earthen Fleet.”

Franny flinches. “You work for Earth?”

He laughs shortly, their gazes latching. “Lord, I’ve never heard anyone say it like that. I do more thanworkfor Earth. I’m devoted to the planet and the people.”

“Bludrader,” Court says in thought. “Saltarians call you a blood traitor because you’re against your own people.”