Chapter 3

"Well, since you were so forthcoming…" Cora couldn't help but look at him invitingly from under her long eyelashes.

She was definitely flirting with him, and she was pretty certain he was flirting back. She only hoped he didn't lose interest in her after she told him how she was captured. It was embarrassing, to say the least.

"I was in the next star system, Ora'Ve, with my family," she began.

Her flirtatious smile faltered a little now that her mind was drawn back to the reality of her situation.

"My parents booked a trip to Egshur for all of us—them, me, and my little brother. It should have just been a nice, easy family holiday. But I managed to mess it up…"

For a second, she wasn't sure she could tell him after all. The image of her parents' faces flashed in her mind, and she felt her heart catch in her chest for a second. She knew they must be worried sick about her by now. The thought of them frantically canvassing the hotel, the resort, the island, and then all of Egshur for her was more than she could bear.

They'd done nothing to deserve that fate except give birth to an overcurious daughter.

But as she struggled with the thoughts, and with telling Levi what happened, she suddenly felt a warm hand close around hers.

It was Levi's, of course. When she looked up to meet his gaze again, she found that the confident, mischievous smile was gone, replaced by a look of compassion that hit her right in the chest. He must have seen the worry and embarrassment etched on her face and intuited its meaning without her even having to say anything.

"I won't press you to tell me," he whispered. "But I hope you know there's no judgment here. I literally got captured while sticking my nose into a crate full of drugs on an enemy ship, so I'm not in a position to judge anyway."

A small smile crept over his lips again, and Cora found herself smiling back. It was no longer the conspiratorial flirtation from before but the bond of two beings finding themselves in the same terrible situation and choosing to trust each other. It felt good.

Levi's hand was still on hers, and she glanced down at it unintentionally. She hadn't meant to draw attention to his unsolicited touch, but this acknowledgment broke the spell. He seemed to be suddenly aware that they were still strangers and probably feared that he'd been touching her for too long. He hadn't been, though. Normally, she might have objected to the quick intimacy. But with him, she felt immediately comfortable, even though she didn't know quite why.

As he pulled his hand away, Cora silently kicked herself. She hadn't intended to indicate he should stop. Quite the opposite. She'd liked the warmth of his skin and the fact he'd broken the touch barrier so soon into their acquaintanceship. But she couldn't very well ask for his hand back. That would have sounded absurd and maybe a little desperate.

Instead, she continued with her story, nodding as if to say she trusted him to stay true to his word and not judge her.

"My parents were having cocktails, and my brother had gone swimming, but I didn't really want to do either of those things. So, I decided to go exploring," she murmured, her mind's eye remembering the last time she saw her family.

"The resort was on an island. It was pretty isolated except for tourists, and I decided I'd take a walk into the rainforest. I figured no one else would be out there. But then I came across this huge building. You couldn't see it from afar, so I didn't really realize it was there until I was right in front of it."

He kept his attention focused solely on her, not once looking away.

"The front door was open, and I could see inside. It was some kind of tech facility," Cora continued, feeling more comfortable from his rapt attention. "Everything looked so shiny and new, and I'm a massive tech nerd—not just as a hobby, I mean professionally. I'm a computer engineer, and I'm also way too curious for my own good…"

Cora took a deep breath, remembering the allure of the building, the hum of the machinery working away inside at something that was sure to be interesting and would scratch the itch of curiosity that constantly resided in the back of her mind.

She noticed Levi staring at her, waiting for her to go on. Somehow in the presence of this warrior, who'd had enough courage to put himself in danger and intentionally get imprisoned to help the beings of his planet, she felt a little sheepish.

"So, you went in?" he asked suddenly, his hushed tone speaking volumes—not just about her actions but about his understanding of her actions.

Cora nodded, bringing her eyes up to meet him again. That same look of compassion was there, and another layer of her reticence seemed to melt away.

"Yeah, I went in," she confirmed. "It seemed pretty empty at first, and I kind of just let myself wander around. I found this huge room full of robots working on a production line, and I just got really excited, trying to figure out what they were making. Which is why I didn't realize until it was too late that a couple of Jorvlens had come into the room. It became pretty clear that I wasn't supposed to be there when they started yelling."

She let out a big sigh at the memory. "I tried to run, but they were way faster than me. They grabbed me and threw me into a shuttle, which brought me here." She shuddered a little as she remembered the words the Jorvlen had said to her as they threw her into the shuttle.

"I hope you said your goodbyes."

She'd watched as Egshur receded behind the shuttle, screaming helplessly as the island became smaller and smaller, soon disappearing into the planet's ocean as the shuttle breached the atmosphere and rocketed toward the mothership.

Her family was still down there, and she was only getting further and further away from them. The Jorvlens had even blocked her comm so she couldn't make contact with them. She couldn't, as the Jorvlen had so cruelly suggested, say her goodbyes.

"And you've been in here since?" Levi asked gently, breaking her out of her sad memories.

"Unfortunately," she replied. "However, at least one decent thing has come out of this, I guess."

Levi looked puzzled for a moment, and Cora liked the face he made when he was confused. It was endearing.

"What's that?" he asked.

"At least there's good company," she answered, managing a smile.

Levi kept the same puzzled expression, looking over his shoulder to where the guard still patrolled the other corridor, and Cora knew the joke before he even said it.

"Who? These guys?" he asked, turning back to her and jerking a thumb over his shoulder. He winked and gave her a side-eyed look, letting her know he was playing.

Cora couldn't help but laugh, or rather, stifle a laugh. She saw Levi grin back at her, and she could tell he'd enjoyed getting a chuckle out of her.

No doubt about it now. She definitely liked him. Only there was something she still needed to ask.