Page 59 of Smuggler's Beauty

“You scare him. You’d want to make that call anyway.”

“I mean, yes. It’s fun watching him flinch. Big, bad planetary leader can’t take direct eye contact from someone unafraid to shoot him. But I don’t want to ever have to use the comm. It’s a waste of time. Clients are the worst part of this job.”

Pearl snorted. “You mean the part that means we get paid?”

“I didn’t say they weren’t necessary.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

Evelyn tossed and turned,silky sheets twisting around her legs. She’d lain there in her room, awake, for two hours. No matter how deeply she breathed, how gently she relaxed her limbs, sleep would not come to her.

This was a problem she had never had before. She’d always been an excellent sleeper. She could fall asleep anywhere, on any mode of transportation.

It was a real problem on an unfamiliar bus route. She’d missed her stop more than once when she’d first set up residence in Vegas.

She rolled over and cracked an eye to read the ship’s time. Somehow, only five minutes had passed since the last time she’d checked. It had felt like at least three times that.

Not sleeping would be a lot more fun with a partner.

She couldn’t chalk up her sudden bout of insomnia to nerves. While the endeavor they were starting upon was enough to give the most serene monk anxiety, it was the energy pulsing through her body that was the culprit here.

It had been three days since she’d started experimenting with the box of electronics that Corrie had left her. She’dbeen successful at draining all the knickknacks of their energy supplies, but without knowing where the energy she had absorbed was being stored in her own body, she couldn’t figure out how to get it back out again.

I need a psychic x-ray machine.

She was used to feeling drained after she Amplified, but now her veins thrummed with the energy she’d taken, setting off every self disparaging thought on a loop in her head.

What are you even good for, Evelyn? Can’t do anything right. Children manage their talents better than you do.

At least she was getting marginally better at jumping rope.

Fuck this.

Evelyn threw the covers off and got out of bed. Grabbing her bottle of water, she headed back to her storage closet, not bothering to change out of her satin pajama set. She removed a box from the shelf and peeked inside. Books. She set it to one side and grabbed another.

Aiden foundher six hours later.

He’d been trying to temper his constant desire to hover around Evelyn, knowing that his presence would distract her in her endeavors. He had helped Tariel source a specific bolt of wool he wanted to make her some sort of costume and had arranged for Veselko and Elenor to pick up a shipment of blasters to arm civilians on Tanalia when the time came. He’d also been reading the more well-loved books in Evelyn’s collection, having had L.I.N.D.A. add them to his tablet.

Staying away was driving him crazy, but he was trying desperately to not fuck up Evelyn’s fledgling training schedule. He’d satisfied himself with taking little peeks at the securityfeeds, checking to see that she’d eaten. He sneaked water into her vicinity, noticing that she would drink it if appeared.

If he stayed away any longer, he’d have to actively start sitting on his hands.

So when he saw her on his view screen, feverishly organizing media in her supply closet, Aiden decided that enough was enough.

She had alphabetized her books and had moved on to the movie disks. The sleeves of her pajama jacket were rolled up to the elbows. Her hair was in a chaotic knot at the top of her head, flopping from side to side with every turn of her head. He clocked three empty water bottles on the desk.

Need to replenish the supply.

“Busy night?”

Evelyn jumped, dropping the movie box she’d been about to shelve. Aiden strode across the room to pick it up for her.

“Couldn’t sleep. I originally shelved everything by vibe, but that’d make it super difficult if anyone wants to borrow anything, so I’m redoing it.”

“I don’t know,” he said, considering her state more than the possible implications of her lending library. “Maybe making it more difficult for potential borrowers of your treasures would be a good thing. Make ’em work for it.”

She snorted. “I’m not putting it back. I’ve been chanting the alphabet in my head for two hours. Never again.”