Dance of Time Read Free Page A

Time will tell.”
    She really wanted to punch him, but she was too tired. With her body feeling as if it was filling with lead, she dragged herself to the bunk in the first room she found.
    She was too exhausted to put up much of a fight. That could wait until she was rested.
     

Chapter Three
     
     
    “I am not a slave.” She announced it when he came into the galley where she was eating breakfast.
    “I never said you were. You are a talent of the Citadel. You are trained for this activity.” Immune prepared tea for himself.
    “I am.”
    “You are also paying a debt for your education and upkeep for the last decade. This first mission has done much toward clearing your debt. Each person you saved was worth one week of your training.”
    “Oh. So, six years’ worth.”
    “Indeed, leaving you fourteen years of compensation.” Immune smiled.
    “What?”
    “Oh, you have to pay for your sister as well. The Citadel does not pay for family members. It is not a forgiven debt just because you now work for them.”
    She glared at him as he sat across from him. “You are an ass.”
    He smiled slightly, looking extremely charming. The pleased expression made her want to punch him.
    She frowned. “How do you know so much about it?”
    “I did research on you before I agreed to take you on as my partner. I was expecting something a little more brutal looking.”
    Zez frowned. “Why?”
    “You are a mass murderer. It is in your file. Eleven dead. The Sector Guard was nervous about taking you on missions. I was the only option to get you off Necridid.”
    She swallowed and pushed the remains of her meal aside. “I can explain that.”
    He laughed. “I am impressed that you don’t deny it. You were a child, and you managed to kill nearly a dozen grown men, in front of a Citadel Specialist, no less.”
    “She was stuck with the others.”
    “So, you killed men in cold blood.”
    She pulled her self-control in and stared at him. “I killed men who deserved death. Those who prey on the helpless don’t have an entitlement to breathe the same air I do.”
    “And you are the one who decides?”
    “I did then, and if necessary, I will again.”
    He nodded with a slight smile. “And that is why I am with you. I am here to keep you from activating that sense of justice.”
    “You are my jailer.”
    “I prefer the terms companion or partner.”
    She crossed her arms. “I don’t.”
    He shrugged. “Not my problem. I am assigned to you, and that is the end of the discussion.”
    Zez got up and headed to the command deck. She pulled the data sheet into her lap and started reading. Arrival reports were coming in from the evacuees. Their ships were landing on their home worlds or the arranged safe worlds.
    Immune sat in the pilot’s seat, and he commented, “We are still on course.”
    “Yes.”
    “I thought you would turn us around and head back to Necridid.”
    She didn’t look up. “I have a sister. She is pregnant. She has a good man, and he will take care of her. I am also certain that if she needs any medical care, it will be billed to my account. If I purchase items for the baby, can I get them couriered to Necridid?”
    “Of course. You are serious.”
    “I am.”
    “You accept your situation?”
    “Despite what you think, I am a woman of honour. I killed those men because I thought they had raped my sister to death. I was a child, and my defenseless sister had been held for ransom, and when I tried to pay it, I found that she was bleeding to death.”
    He turned to her, and she could feel his gaze watching her.
    “If I had to do it again, I wouldn’t hesitate, but I wouldn’t kill them fast. I would cause wounds that would take them down and let them bleed to death in the most agonizing of manners. I took a class for that, too.”
    “So, I should keep an eye on you.”
    “If we are around rapists, yes.” She looked at him directly and met his calm gaze with her own.
    He extended his hand. “I am