Free The Prodigal Sun by Sean Williams, Shane Dix Page A
Authors: Sean Williams, Shane Dix
and keeps them focused on my face to stop me seeing anything. But it isn’t working.> Roche sensed amusement as the girl added:
Roche suppressed a shudder, and barely caught herself from using her training to keep the girl out of her head, if she could at all. There was no point. If the reave noticed her revulsion, she didn’t mention it.
“Maii, I want you to tell me about Veden. Who is he, and what were you doing with him?”
said the girl.
Roche turned to Cane, who shrugged. “She says they’re not really transportees—or rather, they are, but not criminals.”
“That doesn’t make sense.”
The Surin’s narrow tongue licked at the fine hair around her black lips.
“I did,” said Cane.
Roche’s eyes flicked from Maii to Cane. “And what did he say?”
“Nothing.”
“I didn’t think he would.” Roche moved around the cockpit and came up beside the girl’s couch. “Is he using you against your will?”
Something rippled gently through Roche’s mind—Maii was chuckling.
“No, I meant...” She shook her head. “You know what I meant.”
The girl looked annoyed for an instant, the flash of emotion the first true vitality Roche had seen in the Surin’s face.
“That didn’t stop you before,” said Roche. “Back in the lander bay.” The experience was still vivid in her mind.
The girl looked genuinely sad for a moment.
Roche snorted. “Yeah, they just aren’t very high.”
said the Surin.
“Not to mention immoral.”
Roche mentally conceded the point, and wondered if she was being more than a little paranoid. She was imagining dark motives behind everything the reave said and did—sophisticated deceits that only an adult would be capable of. The ritually blinded Surin, for all her psychic talents, was still little more than a child. Petulant sometimes, perhaps even vicious, but a child nonetheless.
What the Surin had been doing in the company of Makil Veden remained a concern, however. To Roche, the long- faced and grey-skinned Eckandi made an odd figure beside the tawny Surin, with her wide jaws and lightly fuzzed complexion. Obviously their relationship went back a lot farther than the Midnight , perhaps even as far as the Surin’s birth. Certainly Maii seemed to regard Veden in a respectful light; maybe the Eckandi had adopted her as his surrogate daughter.
“You’re very young,” said Roche. “Far younger than any other reave I’ve met.”
Maii’s face closed instantly.
“Hey, I was just—”
Roche turned away from the Surin.
She groaned inwardly.
She braced herself against the nearest couch.
Roche suppressed a shudder, and barely caught herself from using her training to keep the girl out of her head, if she could at all. There was no point. If the reave noticed her revulsion, she didn’t mention it.
“Maii, I want you to tell me about Veden. Who is he, and what were you doing with him?”
Roche turned to Cane, who shrugged. “She says they’re not really transportees—or rather, they are, but not criminals.”
“That doesn’t make sense.”
The Surin’s narrow tongue licked at the fine hair around her black lips.
“I did,” said Cane.
Roche’s eyes flicked from Maii to Cane. “And what did he say?”
“Nothing.”
“I didn’t think he would.” Roche moved around the cockpit and came up beside the girl’s couch. “Is he using you against your will?”
Something rippled gently through Roche’s mind—Maii was chuckling.
“No, I meant...” She shook her head. “You know what I meant.”
The girl looked annoyed for an instant, the flash of emotion the first true vitality Roche had seen in the Surin’s face.
“That didn’t stop you before,” said Roche. “Back in the lander bay.” The experience was still vivid in her mind.
Roche snorted. “Yeah, they just aren’t very high.”
“Not to mention immoral.”
Roche mentally conceded the point, and wondered if she was being more than a little paranoid. She was imagining dark motives behind everything the reave said and did—sophisticated deceits that only an adult would be capable of. The ritually blinded Surin, for all her psychic talents, was still little more than a child. Petulant sometimes, perhaps even vicious, but a child nonetheless.
What the Surin had been doing in the company of Makil Veden remained a concern, however. To Roche, the long- faced and grey-skinned Eckandi made an odd figure beside the tawny Surin, with her wide jaws and lightly fuzzed complexion. Obviously their relationship went back a lot farther than the Midnight , perhaps even as far as the Surin’s birth. Certainly Maii seemed to regard Veden in a respectful light; maybe the Eckandi had adopted her as his surrogate daughter.
“You’re very young,” said Roche. “Far younger than any other reave I’ve met.”
Maii’s face closed instantly.
“Hey, I was just—”
Roche turned away from the Surin.
She groaned inwardly.
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