Alarm flashes over Sakkar's features, and I have to admit that it feels good. "You are hurt, Lord Straik?"
"The human stabbed me with a child-sized knife." I say, tugging at the auto-fastener on the high neck of my tunic.
She makes an outraged sound from the bed. "You motherfu—"
"Do you want to be gagged or not?" I say loudly, speaking over her.
She goes silent again.
Good. I'm sick of this. I expose my shoulder and gesture at the wound. My clothes are soaked with blood, but it didn't hit anything vital. "Seal this up," I say irritably and cast another look at my silent crew. Their disloyalty stings. Have I not worked hard to win their trust? Have I not rewarded them well in our corsairing efforts?
Is this a mutiny? I look over at the female, her forehead bruising up and swelling. Sakkar coats my wound with a numbing cream that makes me painfully aware of just how irritating the wound is. Like everything else this day, it's just one more irritation. As the medic fusses over me, I study the female again. I think about my mother's response to the thinly veiled hints I gave her and I wonder if the female perhaps has a more nefarious plot in mind.
"Are you here to assassinate me?" I demand of her.
The female just laughs. "I'm here to ruin your life, buddy."
"You already have."
That makes her laughter die. A hint of confusion crosses her face, quickly hidden by her smirk. "Good."
"Sir." The new head of security, Kazex, steps forward. "Shall we take her down to the brig?"
What, so she can escape again? So they can aid her with mutiny? I snort. "Absolutely not. She's staying with me."
Kazex pauses, shooting the female an uneasy look. She frowns, too, as if this is something that she hasn't considered. All the more reason to keep her at my side. If she's under my nose at all times, she can't plot mutiny with the crew, now can she? The more I think about this, the more I like it. If the crew won't admit who's working with her, I keep her in my sights at all times, and someone is bound to mess up. They'll show their hand and I'll finally have answers.
"Keeping her here, Lord Straik?" Kazex asks.
"Yes."
"In…your bed, sir?"
"Yes."
His gaze flicks to the cuff on her hand and then to the blanket draped over her nudity. "Are you sure that's wise?"
I just smile tightly. "I'm no longer making wise decisions at all, actually. But thank you for your concern."
10
RUTH
As the crew files out of the room, they leave me alone with Straik.
I'm still naked, still vulnerable, and now he's pissed and I'm chained to his bed. Perhaps I didn't think this one through so well. I don't show my fear, though. I lift my chin and glare at him as if my hatred will protect me.
He crosses his arms over his chest, staring at me. He's shirtless now, his tunic removed so the ship's medic could stitch him up. I'm a little uneasy at the sight of him half-naked, too. It's easy to watch him from above in the vents because he can't touch me. It's another thing for him to stand five feet away from me, scowling and half-clothed. From here, I can see his arms bulging with muscles, the occasional vein tracing along under his skin. He's covered in tattoos, too, most of them symbols and designs I can't make out. One ear is crusted with jewelry, and he wears a necklace with a single, solitary sigil that I don't recognize. His pants hang loosely at his waist and slither to the floor in flowing black fabric.
I don't see any weapons, but that doesn't mean that there aren't any.
It's the look on his face that worries me the most, I decide. The unhinged, at-the-end-of-my-rope look that isn't helped by his hair that looks as if a three-year-old took scissors to it. I don't know what he's planning on doing, but it worries me.
I'm not scared of being killed. I'm scared of him deciding to keep me, because that death would be slow and awful.
He drums his fingers on his arm, watching me. I shift on the bed, making sure the blanket covers my nudity, and it's silent between us. Neither one of us speaks and it feels a bit like a dare—who is going to break first and say something?
His head cocks.
I tense.
He tilts his jaw, studying me, and everything in me screams for me to run. I tug on my wrist again, wondering if I can break it to get free of the cuffs…but then what? By now Dopekh's going to be removing me from the computer's system (if he hasn't gotten in trouble already) and I won't be able to get far. I certainly can't get away. I'm stuck on a ship in deep space and at the mercy of this asshole.
"Just throw me in the brig already," I spit at him, thinking of what the crew said earlier. "I'm not going to tell you anything."
Straik moves forward, and he's so focused I get the impression of a snake, waiting to strike. "You are going to tell me everything, little human. And I do mean everything."
"Bullshit."
"I want to know everything about the mutiny. I want to know names. I want to know details. And most of all, I want to know why." He leans over me, his words sharp, his expression bitter. "So you're going to share everything you've got, and then if your answers please me, I might let you live."
I roll my eyes at him, even though I'm starting to get afraid. I'm not going to show fear, though. People like him are bullies. He feeds off of fear, so I'm going to be as unafraid and utterly obnoxious as I can.
Also…mutiny? What mutiny? He thinks there's more going on than me and Dopekh being friends and him helping me hide my tracks? That's…bananas.
"Start with names," he demands. "Go on."
"You don't know my name?" I keep my voice sweet. "My feelings are hurt."
"Names!"
"If you must know, I'm Ruth." I shrug. "That's the only name I have to give you."
His dark eyes narrow. "I don't care about your name. I care about who's working with you."
Well, he sure isn't getting shit now. That's just rude. "You want to know who else is working with me?" When he nods, I gesture that he should lean in again.
Straik bares his teeth. "I am not falling for that again."
"So you're only slightly as stupid as you look," I muse. "Fine. No one's working with me. It's Ruth, Ruth, and Ruth."
"You can't protect them."
I shrug. "Obviously I can, since I am." And since they don't exist. I mean, Dopekh helped me, but mostly because I was already on board and he was just trying to triage the damage done. I'm not about to sell him out to his asshole boss, though. "Torture won't work on me, by the way."
He straightens, a look of disgust on his face. "You think I would torture you?"
"Why wouldn't I?" I gesture at the cuff binding me to his bed. "You've already got me in chains."
"I'm no monster."
"Aren't you?" I give him a defiant look, squaring my shoulders. "Maybe if you weren't such a goddamn monster, your crew wouldn't be turning against you."