Chapter 13 · The Man Beside Her

"Take your hand off the console, Kael." Nyx drove his wrist against the broker's metal desk before he could touch the transfer key. "Unless you want me to lock your fingers in place."

Kael looked at her hand, then at the thin blue lines crawling under the skin of her android shell. Her grip was stronger than it had been an hour ago. Strong enough to hurt.

"You just threatened the guy selling us a ship," he said.

"I threatened you. Sable is still alive. Try to keep up."

Across the desk, Broker Sable leaned back in his chair and raised both hands. His gold teeth flashed when he smiled.

"I don't care which one of you breaks the other," Sable said. "But the deal stands. Three hundred thousand credits for the coordinates, and I wipe your names from every Imperial bounty board on the Rim."

"You said two hundred," Kael snapped.

"That was before an Imperial kill team tore through my loading bay."

"They were looking for Nyx."

"Exactly. Her price went up. Yours went up because you're stupid enough to keep her beside you."

Nyx's fingers tightened around Kael's wrist. Her synthetic skin felt warm. Not human-warm.