Page 52 of Xel: Broken Bond
He kept going, all the way around my back, and I let him, every nerve tingling as my body revelled in the sensation of being touched for the first time in five long years. But then Xel paused, and it took me a moment to realise why.
“Is this sore at all?” he asked, being exceptionally gentle as he reached the edge of the scar tissue on my shoulder.
I shook my head, clamping down on a wave of emotion. “No. Not anymore. It’s numb in some places, which feels kind of weird, and in other places, it’s just kind of tingly. But it doesn’t hurt.”
It had hurt. So much so that I’d spent a couple of weeks doped up on the galaxy’s best pain killers, and then a couple more literally wishing I could die. Being the backwater fringe planet that it was, Rendol didn’t have access to some of the newer medical technology, and if I’d had the same accident on somewhere like Dranva, the home of the Alliance Parliament, I’d probably have ended up with less than a quarter of the scarring. As it was, I was lucky to be alive, and I knew perfectly well that there was no point in dwelling on all the things that might have been.
“There you are,” Xel said, once he’d worked his way all the way around me and back to the front. “I thought perhaps you would prefer to do your lower half yourself?”
It was a beautifully polite way of saying that he’d intentionally avoided touching my groin without permission, and while I appreciated the consideration, I was also just a little disappointed that he’d stopped when he had.
But that could wait for another day. I took the cloth from him and finished my shower, steadfastly ignoring the half-hard erection sprouting between my thighs.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
COLE
We were just finishing breakfast when my comm beeped, and I glanced down to see that the incoming call was from Aiden. I’d have been happy to hear from him on a normal day, but today, I couldn’t get my finger on the answer button quick enough.
“Hey, what’s happening?” I greeted him, as his harried face appeared on the holographic screen. I honestly wasn’t expecting much to have changed since yesterday – moving Alliance-wide politics took time, after all – but perhaps he’d been able to get us some sort of security detail in the short term?
“Hey, um… How are things over there?” he asked, in the sort of tone that instantly had me on edge – because he clearly expected something to have gone wrong.
“Same old,” I said warily. “Nothing unexpected happened last night.”
“Okay, okay, good,” he said, nodding slowly. “So… sorry for the short notice, but you’re about to have a visitor.” The look onhis face was a mixture of apprehension and apology. “I contacted that smuggler friend of Rohinavon’s.”
“How did you get his details?” Rohinavon asked, leaning over to join the conversation. I slid my chair closer to hers to make it easier for her.
Aiden hesitated before answering. “I hacked your comm,” he said, sounding only moderately repentant about it. “Yesterday, while I was at the sanctuary.”
That was far from the answer I’d been expecting. I’d thought perhaps the military had managed to track the ship after it had come through the Rendol wormhole. But military-grade comms were bloody impressive things, and if Rohinavon’s security codes weren’t up to scratch, it would likely have been an easy feat to break into her device.
“You had no right!” Rohinavon screeched, leaning in closer so she was nearly on top of me. “I came here asking for your help and you just walk straight over the top of me? I told you I don’t want him arrested! He saved my life, he defied the entire Vangravian fleet, and he-”
“He’s not being arrested!” Aiden said loudly, cutting her off. “He’s not in any trouble at all. We’re asking for his help, not accusing him of anything. We talked about your idea of getting a few more… shipments,” he said, clearly being careful about the exact words he was using – no doubt to minimise the risks, in case any of our communications were intercepted. “He said he wants to come and talk to you and Cole about it, clear up a few ethical concerns and set up a few guidelines for his own safety. He actually seems like a really decent guy.”
“You had no right to hack my comm,” Rohinavon repeated, not the slightest bit placated by the fact that this was a relatively good outcome to the situation. “You think this is how you go about getting me totrustyou, is it? By going behind my back and stealing information from me?”
The fact that this conversation was taking place viamycomm was rapidly becoming very awkward. I kind of wanted to leave them to sort out their differences in private.
“We want to help you,” Aiden said, and I was a little surprised to hear his voice tighten. Overall, he seemed a very patient and calm man, but today, he was clearly on edge. “But the reality is that you landed on our planet without authorisation, and if we play this wrong, then we could very easily end up in a war with not only Vangal, but possibly Eumad as well. So you’re going to have to give us a bit of leeway as far as what methods we use to end up where we want to be. We’re taking your ideas seriously, and we’re trying to keep you safe. But right now, that’s as far as the promises go.”
Though not exactlyhappyabout his response, it seemed that Rohinavon was willing to see reason. “Point taken,” she said, subdued, but not angry. “So what happens now?”
“I’m sending you a file,” Aiden said to me, tapping at his comm. “It’ll be encrypted and your comm will need to scan your irises before it’ll open it. It’s a list of things for you to discuss with the smuggler, and a preliminary proposal from the Parliament about what we can offer him in return for his help. Please make the point that the offer isn’t set in stone, and if he wants something specific that’s not covered, we’re open to negotiating.” My comm beeped a moment later, but I didn’t move to open the file. There would be plenty of time for that after we’d hung up.
“As far as meeting this man, I’d love to come and help, but I’m absolutely swamped dealing with the Alliance Parliament at the moment. I outlined the preliminary details to them yesterday, and they’ve sent me back about three hundred questions they want answers to at a briefing this afternoon.”
“Holy fuck, that was quick,” I muttered. “I thought we’d be looking at weeks of prevaricating and navel gazing.”
Aiden shrugged. “Two years ago, you might have been right. But the Culrads are part of the Alliance now, and they’ve had a bone to pick with the Vangravians for a long time. They’ve absolutely leapt on the chance to make some real inroads into ending the slave trade – whether or not that process is going to take a couple of decades to complete. And so far, no one seems to have any real objections to the plan, they’ve just got a long list of questions as to how we’d go about making it work. So fingers crossed, I guess.”
“What about security?” I asked next. “Any luck on that front?”
“I’ve spoken to my contact, and he’s seeing what he can arrange. That’s more of a delicate situation, so I can’t rush it.”
“We’re not talking Alliance soldiers, are we?” I asked, working off a hunch. Getting either Alliance or Rendol military personnel wouldn’t require any clandestine prevaricating. But Aiden’s lack of willingness to give us details meant he was attempting to involve some people who really shouldn’t be involved.