Corsairs: Kaspar (Corsair Brothers 2) - Page 93

"Breathe," I say again, calm. I stroke my thumbs over her cheeks, my tone gentle. "If you don't calm down, Sterre is going to eat him."

"Good—"

"We need him and you know it, Sunshine. I don't like it any more than you do, but let's calm down and think for a moment."

She gives me a fierce glare.

I'm not thrilled with it either, but I need to make my mate realize this will help our plans, not hinder them. "Lucky for you, I have a lot of experience working with idiots."

A small laugh huffs out of her. "Don't make me smile. I'm still mad."

"My brother can be an absolute kef-brain, make no mistake. But he's smart in other ways, and a good person to have at your back. Gloom will have his uses, even if his head's full of noodles. He needs us. I think we've flushed all the truth out of him at this point, and he wants to stay alive. More importantly, he wants to get off this planet just as badly as we do. And he has knowledge of the compound where they're keeping the gladiators. This all works to our advantage, love. We just need to take our personal dislike of him out of the equation."

Alice's nostrils flare again, and then she sighs heavily. "I know. I just…I don't like him risking your life—and that of our baby's—just because he's a big stupid idiot. We've worked so hard to be safe and careful."

"Yes, but we can't stay here forever."

Her gaze flicks to me. "Maybe we could." Then she quickly shakes her head. "Never mind. I mean, of course we can't. We have to get out of here. We have to find Jade and Helen and Ruth and your brothers. I'm just…"

"Annoyed," I finish. "I know. We'll use him as a tool," I promise her.

"Oh, he's a tool all right," she mutters, and then puts on a sweet, cloying smile. "Okay, let's go talk to our new friend, shall we?" She slips her hand into the crook of my arm. "And I'll be nice, Killer."

Right. At some point we should probably tell him that I'm not a gladiator either. I consider how to broach the subject as we return. Gloom is exactly where we left him, licking the inukni worm tube.

He glances over at us and burps. "These things aren't half bad. How many was I supposed to eat?"

"One," I say, trying not to grimace. "How many did you eat?"

"Oh." Gloom looks worried. "All of them?"

63

ALICE

Gloom spends most of the night purging to try and get the worms out of his system. I never intended on him actually EATING them, just threatening him with it. Turns out he's dumber than a box of rocks. Luckily it doesn't take that much to get him to purge. We just have to hand him one of the blister fruit, step back, and watch the purging occur the moment he tries to figure out how to eat it.

I feel a little bad. Just a little. Now that I know he's a clone, his dopey-ness probably has a lot more to do with innocence than anything else. He's like Helen—he's got an adult body and an adult brain but zero life experience. I should be nicer to him. It's just…maybe it's the fact that I'm pregnant (theoretically) or that we've been betrayed every time we turn around, but I don't entirely trust him. I don't trust anyone.

Except Kaspar.

I sit a little ways back with Sterre pressed against my side, her head resting on my thigh as Kas and Gloom draw plans in the dirt. Kas wants a layout of the compound, and he absolutely won't let Gloom up into our ship, so we're here on the ground. I can't sit nearby and watch because Sterre gets possessive and starts snarling if Gloom even looks my way.

Which he does. A lot. I don't think he's been around many women.

He peers over at me between each drawing and explanation, so I scowl at him. If he's as clueless and innocent as I think, even a smile will probably give him the wrong idea. I plan on being as unpleasant as possible just so he knows that I am absolutely not interested. Maybe that's me projecting, but I've been around too many horny aliens that thought humans were a convenient dick-pocket and I'm not about to let down my guard.

They draw in the dirt for what seems like hours, and I stretch out, leaning my head against Sterre's side. She helpfully “washes” my hand and arm, her big scratchy tongue cleaning me until I push her head away. The heat of the day rises, and Sterre gets sleepy. I do, too, and so I curl up against her and doze.

"Come on, Sunshine," Kas says in a gentle voice.

Tags: Ruby Dixon Corsair Brothers Fantasy
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