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Authors: S. Reesa Herberth, Michelle Moore
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Mel . And it wasn’t that he was that embarrassed about his relationship with Ducks.
No, more a matter of not having a clue as to what that relationship actually was. And if he couldn’t accurately describe it to himself, there was no way in hell he was explaining it to anyone else.
Riv sighed. “I’m not going to go running off. He’s still in a facility on Karibee for the foreseeable future. We vid each other. A lot.”
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35
S. Reesa Herberth and Michelle Moore
“And?”
“And what? That’s about it.”
“And, are you going to go visit him? And, is he getting better? And, are you madly in love?” For a second he could see her as the teenage girl he’d first come to know, and her barely hidden giggle did little to put aside the image.
He shrugged, getting up from the table to refill his mug of tea from the pot he’d set on the counter.
“You’ve seemed better since you came back,” she said quietly, and he let her go on as he spooned some sugar into the cup. “Like you’ve finally forgiven yourself for what happened. And maybe like you’re waiting for something, but nobody can figure out what. Bin thinks you’re going to leave us for ReliefCorp permanently.”
“I’m not,” he told her as he sat back down, offering her the mug he’d fixed without her requesting it.
She drank coffee with Bin, but with him it was tea, and she seemed to enjoy the different blends he ordered.
He’d been amused to realize that he was the closest thing she had to a girlfriend. “I’m not leaving, but I don’t exactly feel like I’m all here, either.”
“So is part of you on Karibee?”
“Hell if I know.”
When he didn’t say anything else, Del scowled. “You’re not going to leave it like that, are you?” she demanded. “You need to be completely someplace, Riv, and you just admitted that it’s not here.”
“Are you trying to get Bin to kick my ass? Because I’m not above telling him that you told me to leave.” He grinned at her annoyed huff and slouched deeper into his chair. Damned if he was going to give her credit for saying out loud what he’d been thinking for the last few weeks. Did he need to leave?
She was suddenly pacing the small galley, table to counter and then behind him so that he had to crane his neck to keep her in view. “We’ve got a lot more in common than you might think, Riv.” He winced as she clenched her hands together, knuckles white. “Did Bin ever tell you why Den and I were looking to get off-world when he picked us up? Because I’m going to guess Denny didn’t.”
Den’s face as he’d first seen him, bruised, painfully thin and unmistakably terrified, flashed through his mind. Riv had never asked—it was Den’s story to tell or not. But then again, it had been obvious enough that someone had abused the kid. Later on had come the story of a childhood lost, of ignorant, superstitious relatives on a backwater planet. Hard to see how Del’s question connected with any of that right now though, but he was willing to play along. “Don’t think he ever did, now that you mention it. I kind of wondered how Bin ended up with a couple of scruffy planetside runaways.”
“I killed someone.” The words were offered in a completely inflectionless voice. “The man—” She cut herself off. “The priest who hurt Denny so bad. He would’ve killed him, would’ve fucking beat him to death if I hadn’t…stopped him.” Del paused next to his chair, and although she was standing still, he could see the tension thrumming through her body. “We both killed somebody for Den.”
36
www.samhainpublishing.com
The Balance of Silence
Riv grabbed her hands, unclenching one fist and then the other, and rubbing at the half-moon holes she’d left in her palms. “Shit, Del, I had no idea.” He swallowed hard. “A priest?”
“You know how they feel on Camargue about people who are different.” Her voice gave the word a
No, more a matter of not having a clue as to what that relationship actually was. And if he couldn’t accurately describe it to himself, there was no way in hell he was explaining it to anyone else.
Riv sighed. “I’m not going to go running off. He’s still in a facility on Karibee for the foreseeable future. We vid each other. A lot.”
www.samhainpublishing.com
35
S. Reesa Herberth and Michelle Moore
“And?”
“And what? That’s about it.”
“And, are you going to go visit him? And, is he getting better? And, are you madly in love?” For a second he could see her as the teenage girl he’d first come to know, and her barely hidden giggle did little to put aside the image.
He shrugged, getting up from the table to refill his mug of tea from the pot he’d set on the counter.
“You’ve seemed better since you came back,” she said quietly, and he let her go on as he spooned some sugar into the cup. “Like you’ve finally forgiven yourself for what happened. And maybe like you’re waiting for something, but nobody can figure out what. Bin thinks you’re going to leave us for ReliefCorp permanently.”
“I’m not,” he told her as he sat back down, offering her the mug he’d fixed without her requesting it.
She drank coffee with Bin, but with him it was tea, and she seemed to enjoy the different blends he ordered.
He’d been amused to realize that he was the closest thing she had to a girlfriend. “I’m not leaving, but I don’t exactly feel like I’m all here, either.”
“So is part of you on Karibee?”
“Hell if I know.”
When he didn’t say anything else, Del scowled. “You’re not going to leave it like that, are you?” she demanded. “You need to be completely someplace, Riv, and you just admitted that it’s not here.”
“Are you trying to get Bin to kick my ass? Because I’m not above telling him that you told me to leave.” He grinned at her annoyed huff and slouched deeper into his chair. Damned if he was going to give her credit for saying out loud what he’d been thinking for the last few weeks. Did he need to leave?
She was suddenly pacing the small galley, table to counter and then behind him so that he had to crane his neck to keep her in view. “We’ve got a lot more in common than you might think, Riv.” He winced as she clenched her hands together, knuckles white. “Did Bin ever tell you why Den and I were looking to get off-world when he picked us up? Because I’m going to guess Denny didn’t.”
Den’s face as he’d first seen him, bruised, painfully thin and unmistakably terrified, flashed through his mind. Riv had never asked—it was Den’s story to tell or not. But then again, it had been obvious enough that someone had abused the kid. Later on had come the story of a childhood lost, of ignorant, superstitious relatives on a backwater planet. Hard to see how Del’s question connected with any of that right now though, but he was willing to play along. “Don’t think he ever did, now that you mention it. I kind of wondered how Bin ended up with a couple of scruffy planetside runaways.”
“I killed someone.” The words were offered in a completely inflectionless voice. “The man—” She cut herself off. “The priest who hurt Denny so bad. He would’ve killed him, would’ve fucking beat him to death if I hadn’t…stopped him.” Del paused next to his chair, and although she was standing still, he could see the tension thrumming through her body. “We both killed somebody for Den.”
36
www.samhainpublishing.com
The Balance of Silence
Riv grabbed her hands, unclenching one fist and then the other, and rubbing at the half-moon holes she’d left in her palms. “Shit, Del, I had no idea.” He swallowed hard. “A priest?”
“You know how they feel on Camargue about people who are different.” Her voice gave the word a
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