Mission Read Free Page A

days with only water. She was weak, shaking and unsteady on her feet when they took her to medical again and demanded that she calm their horned patient again.
    She took two steps toward him and fell to her knees. She was working to calm him, but she felt a weird pushback on her mind.
    Jewel heard an uproar in the medical center and arms lifted her before placing her on one of the beds.
    “Treat her before you touch me. Put it on my account.”
    His words echoed in her ears. Everything sounded like it was being shouted down a tube.
    “Champion, she doesn’t need treatment.”
    Jewel listened to her guard’s voice. He was the one that spoke to her.
    “Why is she so grey, so weak?”
    The guard cleared his throat. “She hasn’t eaten since she saw you last. Doctor’s orders.”
    Jewel looked over at the assistant who was approaching her with a hypospray. The burning hiss struck her, and she jolted but hands held her down.
    Five more shots were administered before her vision cleared. She sat up and nodded. “I am fine. Apologies for the disturbance.”
    An assistant brought her a glass of juice and it gave her a boost of energy. “Thank you.”
    The patient was next to her. Looking down with concern. “Why didn’t you eat? Was the thought of seeing me so unpleasant?”
    She shook her head. “No. There was no food.”
    His look of concern must have changed when he looked away from her, because the doctors took a step back. “I see. That won’t happen again.”
    She swung her legs over the edge of the bed and swayed a little. “You are bleeding. You need medical attention.”
    “Yes, but you are not stable.”
    “I am fine. I can make it through your repairs.”
    “That is not why I am concerned. I believe I have a solution.” He smiled and picked her up, the gash on his arm and wrist bleeding as he carried her.
    He settled in the station where he was normally repaired in relative privacy, and he kept her in his lap.
    “Proceed with the repairs, Doctor.”
    He extended his arm toward the stunned physicians.
    The doctor nearest them picked up his kit and started work. Someone with the look of an administrator came to them and he inclined his head.
    “Champion Stormyo. We regret the discomfort you must have felt while waiting for treatment. I promise there will be no delay after your next injury.”
    Jewel felt the chuckle before she heard it.
    “I know. She is coming with me. If you will not care for her properly, I will.”
     

Chapter Three
     
     
    Jewel sat quietly for the half hour that the repair took, and when she tried to rise from the Champion’s lap, he gripped her with an arm around her waist.
    “Excuse me, sir. I need to return to my cell.” Her guards were shifting nervously, so she calmed them.
    “No. If the station wants to play games with your health, I will simply tuck responsibility for you under my wishes.” He smiled softly. “I am Stormyo.”
    “I am—”
    “Springs.”
    “Jewel. Springs is my surname. My parents’ name.”
    His arm tightened on her waist. “A lovely name.”
    “Thank you. What are you saying?”
    He got to his feet with her in his arms. “You are coming with me.”
    The administrator looked at him in frustration, and Stormyo stared at him for a moment in clear challenge. When the challenge wasn’t taken up, Stormyo walked out of medical via an exit that Jewel had not left through before.
    “I can walk.”
    “I want to carry you. We are returning to my quarters via the private walkway used by fighters who have won more than five fights in a row.”
    “What happens when you lose?”
    He smiled. “I don’t lose.”
    The hallway was sparsely lined with doors, some transparent walls showed elegant apartments and others were opaque.
    He paused in front of a door and pressed his hand to the plate. The door disappeared and he stepped into a room three times as large as Jewel’s first apartment.
    “We are going to bathe and I will send for appropriate