Free The Melier (Women of Dor Nye Book 1) by Poppy Rhys Page A

like this type of arrangement.”
    You’re going to do it, aren’t you?
    I’m not talking to myself, remember?
    I’m shaking my head at you!
    “Soren?” Lucia hedged, trying her hardest not to roll her eyes at herself.
    “Loo-Sha?”
    A strained sound eked from the back of her throat and she rubbed at the skin. “Do you want to come home with me?” She felt terrible at the idea of just leaving him at Dor Nye’s capital. With his luck, he’d be enslaved again.
    “Do you want me to?” he countered.
    He’s going to put this all on me.
    The shit!
    And she couldn’t help but smirk that he was learning his way around simple conversation. His comprehension of sarcasm was still a work in progress, though. “We’re friends,” she shrugged, eyes rolling around the command room before sweeping back to Soren. “I think it’s for the best you let me teach you how the rest of civilization lives.”
    He smiled toothily and Lucia shook her head.
    “Then I will go with you.”
    “We have entered Dor Nye rotation space, captain. We are being hailed by control tower.”
    “Looks like we’re almost home then. Strap in,” Lu told Soren and turned to face forward in the command chair. “Connect comms, Wade.”
    “Control tower. Please state your intentions.”
    Ahh, sweet English.
    “Seeking permission to land.”
    After a few more routine questions, they were breaching atmosphere and landing at the colossal port. Before leaving the craft, Lucia comm’d Boomer, the best fence on all five trade planets. It had taken two years of working with Raz’s crew for Boomer to even consider doing deals with Lu directly. It was all about trust and Boomer was worth it. There was no product he couldn’t find a buyer for. She gave him the security codes for the ship, which Soren had reset during their journey to Dor Nye, and their port location. Lu gave him special instructions about the tomes as those credits were to go directly to her account and a couple other notes on certain products in the hold. The rest of the loot could be divvied up between Raz, Trey and Mima.
    “I have a stop to make before we leave the capital,” Lu told Soren as she tucked the single YutYut tome she was keeping inside his folded lome hide. The tome, the hide, the necklace, the salve and the basket of seetkut were the only items they were taking. Soren easily carried those items atop the basket and followed her through the bustling port. She was just happy to be planet side and not zooming through space. She’d had her fill of Treps, explosions and strange festivals to last her a while.
    “Loo-Sha,” Soren growled closely behind her. “I do not like the way these males are looking at you.” The growl continued on steadily, never breaking as they moved through the bustling crowds.
    Lu looked around, catching the eyes of passersby, most of them sleazy males of all species who’d been in space too long and were salivating for a warm body. A short, tentacle’d blob bleated at her and said something vulgar. Soren bared his teeth and snarled at the creature, causing it to skirt away several paces. She oddly felt at ease with Soren at her back, defending her honor.
    It’s kind of adorable.
    And since she still didn’t have a blaster, she wasn’t going to tell him to calm down and risk getting into an altercation without any weaponry. Even in a place like the port, crime happened in plain sight and some of the leering cretins had toxin coated appendages that would make it easy to incapacitate a human; best to keep them wary of even trying anything.
    It doesn’t help that you’re leaving nothing to the imagination with the spacesuit.
    Still not talking to youuuu.
    Once they got to a quieter, more civilized part of the capital, she was where she needed to be. The colorful shopfronts were a confirmation she really was almost home. The smells of cooking food, sun ripened produce and various other aromas sent a tingle of delight through her body. The