Free The Cyber Chronicles V - Overlord by T C Southwell Page B

loose
about her shoulders. She still wore the pretty grey trouser suit
Tarl had given her, although it had evidently been laundered.
    "So now we've
got rid of the enforcers and replaced them with an Overlord. Can
things get any worse?" she asked.
    Sabre lowered
his gaze to his shiny wrist guards, wishing he had been able to
change before speaking to her, but she had been waiting for him
when he returned.
    She faced him.
"What are we going to do?"
    "I don't
know."
    "Don't think
I'm going back to Omega Five without you. It's not going to
happen."
    Sabre glanced
up at her. "You'd stay here?"
    "I'm staying
with you."
    "Could you be
happy here? Wouldn't you miss your home; your friends and
family?"
    "Not as much as
I'd miss you."
    He frowned at
the wrist guards again, fiddling with a dagger.
    She sat beside
him and placed a hand on his arm. "Would you miss me too?"
    "Yes."
    "Then let's go
home. Surely we can get there without this Ramadaus finding us, and
once you're there, you'll be safe."
    He shook his
head. "I don't think the restrictions will stop an Overlord, and
he'll find out where I am."
    "Then we'll
deal with that when we have to. Do you want to stay here?"
    "No."
    Tassin moved
closer, making him uncomfortably aware of her presence. "Good. Kole
has summoned Striker. She'll be here within a few days, and then
he'll be returning to Ferrinon. Tarl still wants to come with us.
Ask Ravian for a ship to take us home. Perhaps Overlord Ramadaus
will think twice about attacking one of Ravian's ships. Ask him for
a small one we can hide in the forest, and then if Ramadaus does
find you, we can flee."
    "All right."
Sabre tensed as Tassin twined her arms around his neck and hugged
him, laying her cheek on his shoulder with a sigh. He patted her
back. "Are you upset about something?"
    "Yes. In all
the time we've been together, you haven't held me even once. You
say you care about me, but you don't show it."
    "Ah. Well...
it's not really in my nature, I suppose."
    "I know; which
is why we have to change that."
    "We do?"
    "Yes." She
released his neck and slid her arms around his chest, snuggling
closer. "You can start any time about now."
    "Right." He put
his arms around her.
    Sabre found her
proximity disconcerting and the intimacy alien, even, in a way,
unwelcome. On another level, it was enjoyable, but the nagging,
hated voice in the back of his mind shouted that he was just a
broken killing machine, and this was wrong. All his training urged
him to push her away and return to his familiar solitary state of
being, but he could not. A flashing amber proximity alert prickled
in the back of his mind, and it should not be there, since she was
his owner. A proximity alert was for a stranger’s approach, and
contact would be a red proximity violation.
    Sabre tried to
analyse the strange feelings her closeness evoked, identifying
embarrassment and nervousness, but unable to name the warmth in his
chest. Closing his eyes, he let his head fall back against the
couch to gain a little distance. Proximity alert, the amber words
warned, over and over again. For several minutes Tassin remained
still, and the tension leaked out of him. He became aware that she
had raised her head, and opened his eyes.
    Tassin smiled,
squirmed onto his lap and slipped her arms around his neck, causing
a fresh wave of tension and awkwardness to engulf him. The urge to
escape grew stronger, but now it had become a lot more difficult.
She trailed her fingers along the edge of his jaw and the bridge of
his nose, her eyes following her hand. Sabre sat frozen with
embarrassment, not knowing what to do.
    The moment,
though awkward, was precious. Not since he had been taken from
Omega Five on that terrible night had he felt the special warmth
her affection brought, and he realised that in some strange way he
craved it. Tassin hugged his neck again and buried her face in the
side of it. After several moments, driven by some inexplicable
desire, he turned his head and