she’d charged in without thought to her personal safety, received a nasty wound, and saved a drug addict. They’d certainly killed before and if what he saw was normal behavior, they’d kill again. One thing was for certain, Ava Frost wasn’t as cold as she’d like him to think. There were so many contradictions to her icy exterior.
“I still have a job to do, and you’re under surveillance until I get some answers.”
“Fine, then surveil me in a safer location.”
Chapter Six
Brodie pulled Ava down the street. He held her hand, his fingers laced into hers. Energy zinged from the point of contact, making her stomach flip. “You didn’t think I forgot your birthday, did you?”
“It’s my birthday?” Ava stumbled and came to a stop. She’d not celebrated the silly Terran tradition since she was six, and only because her father had insisted. With her father and mother gone, the day seemed to become a normal day, twenty-six of the same hours she lived every year.
Brodie turned around and stepped in front of her. He took her other hand and walked backward, pulling her along. “It is.” He smiled. “I didn’t forget.” Mischief sparkled in his eyes, and Ava’s heart skipped.
“It’s not important.” Ava rolled her eyes. “You shouldn’t bother.”
“Your uncle told me your father was Terran, that you celebrated your birthday every year when he was alive.”
She shrugged. “But I’m only half Terran. To the Nexians, it’s insignificant, a waste of time. Our births, our sex—everything about us is engineered from the embryo. Why celebrate the day you became a slave to a government?”
“But you weren’t engineered.”
“Many Nexians are. My mother…it’s not important.” She sighed. Maybe it was. She missed sitting with her family, opening gifts to celebrate holidays from another world. A child of two worlds, Ava never lacked for heritage, and her family had ensured she knew where she came from and who she was. Even so, they never tried to make her into somebody she wasn’t. Strange, Brodie would want to renew the traditions that died with her family.
“I’m Nexian, and I celebrate my beginning, even though I don’t know the exact date.” He let go of one hand and turned, tugging her along. “Almost there.”
She reflected on the direction they’d traveled, through back alleys, down the infamous Slaughter Ave., and deeper into the Blue District, heading for the hovering docks of the darker sector of the city. The star had already begun to sink on the horizon, and if she weren’t in Brodie’s company, she wouldn’t have set foot anywhere near where they now traveled. “Where are we going?”
“I told you, it’s a surprise.”
A surprise could be anything with Brodie. The neighborhood didn’t seem to faze him. A street orphan from birth, Brodie never lived in one spot long, bouncing from abandoned building to abandoned building with other unfortunates. At one time, he even took up residence in the scrap yard, where she’d first met him.
Since he’d joined the resistance, he had a steady income, and it seemed doubtful he’d remained homeless. Yet, he traveled in the direction that only one without a dwelling would go, into the bowels of Lamor’s pit, Nexian hell on New Xiera. Regardless, she knew the surprise wouldn’t include capture by the Mish, or an attack by street orphans. “Should we…?”
“Wherever you go with me, you’re safe. Wherever you go without me, you’re safe as long as you wear the necklace I gave you.”
Ava reached up and wrapped her fingers around the medallion. “Where did you get it?”
“I broke into a house where your mother used to live.”
Ava’s mouth dropped open. He’d stolen from her grandfather? “Brodie….” They’d execute him if they caught him. Robbing someone on the street was one thing, breaking into the residence of the aristocracy, one of the leaders of the Nexian people, suicidal, and yet
“I still have a job to do, and you’re under surveillance until I get some answers.”
“Fine, then surveil me in a safer location.”
Chapter Six
Brodie pulled Ava down the street. He held her hand, his fingers laced into hers. Energy zinged from the point of contact, making her stomach flip. “You didn’t think I forgot your birthday, did you?”
“It’s my birthday?” Ava stumbled and came to a stop. She’d not celebrated the silly Terran tradition since she was six, and only because her father had insisted. With her father and mother gone, the day seemed to become a normal day, twenty-six of the same hours she lived every year.
Brodie turned around and stepped in front of her. He took her other hand and walked backward, pulling her along. “It is.” He smiled. “I didn’t forget.” Mischief sparkled in his eyes, and Ava’s heart skipped.
“It’s not important.” Ava rolled her eyes. “You shouldn’t bother.”
“Your uncle told me your father was Terran, that you celebrated your birthday every year when he was alive.”
She shrugged. “But I’m only half Terran. To the Nexians, it’s insignificant, a waste of time. Our births, our sex—everything about us is engineered from the embryo. Why celebrate the day you became a slave to a government?”
“But you weren’t engineered.”
“Many Nexians are. My mother…it’s not important.” She sighed. Maybe it was. She missed sitting with her family, opening gifts to celebrate holidays from another world. A child of two worlds, Ava never lacked for heritage, and her family had ensured she knew where she came from and who she was. Even so, they never tried to make her into somebody she wasn’t. Strange, Brodie would want to renew the traditions that died with her family.
“I’m Nexian, and I celebrate my beginning, even though I don’t know the exact date.” He let go of one hand and turned, tugging her along. “Almost there.”
She reflected on the direction they’d traveled, through back alleys, down the infamous Slaughter Ave., and deeper into the Blue District, heading for the hovering docks of the darker sector of the city. The star had already begun to sink on the horizon, and if she weren’t in Brodie’s company, she wouldn’t have set foot anywhere near where they now traveled. “Where are we going?”
“I told you, it’s a surprise.”
A surprise could be anything with Brodie. The neighborhood didn’t seem to faze him. A street orphan from birth, Brodie never lived in one spot long, bouncing from abandoned building to abandoned building with other unfortunates. At one time, he even took up residence in the scrap yard, where she’d first met him.
Since he’d joined the resistance, he had a steady income, and it seemed doubtful he’d remained homeless. Yet, he traveled in the direction that only one without a dwelling would go, into the bowels of Lamor’s pit, Nexian hell on New Xiera. Regardless, she knew the surprise wouldn’t include capture by the Mish, or an attack by street orphans. “Should we…?”
“Wherever you go with me, you’re safe. Wherever you go without me, you’re safe as long as you wear the necklace I gave you.”
Ava reached up and wrapped her fingers around the medallion. “Where did you get it?”
“I broke into a house where your mother used to live.”
Ava’s mouth dropped open. He’d stolen from her grandfather? “Brodie….” They’d execute him if they caught him. Robbing someone on the street was one thing, breaking into the residence of the aristocracy, one of the leaders of the Nexian people, suicidal, and yet
Similar Books
