Page 127 of Star-Crossed Captive
It had been a month sinceOrionbegan orbiting Saturn. During that time, Nia accepted this was her new home. The urge to return to the CORE, toElara Five, had dissolved into nothing. She missed her parents and being able to communicate with them whenever she wanted, but consciously allowing her old life to slip from her fingers had been…liberating.
Her new life wasn’t without obstacles. With Commander Foley’s death, Mace became the head of security forOrion. He also refused to give up teaching the tyros. Each day was a struggle for him to find balance. From what Nia had seen of his interactions with Cache, his CO was about ready to intervene. But that worry was for another day.
For the time being, Nia had decided to remain in family medicine, taking full shifts instead of abbreviated “captive” ones. She couldn’t say why she’d decided to remain in her original med bay. Since being emancipated, she could apply for other positions. Maybe it was pure stubbornness because Mayra and Faas continued to try and make her life miserable, and she didn’t want to give them the satisfaction of chasing her away.
Because both she and Mace were so busy, some days they only saw each other in bed. There wasn’t a night that went by that they didn’t take advantage of being together, of showing how much they loved one another. With what had happened with Foley, and Mace’s injury, both of them almost touching tragedy, they didn’t want to take a second of their time together for granted.
Tragedy…the most painful part of their lives was that Lexi was still missing.
They couldn’t find Mace’s sister—not even word that she’d been executed. Mace had used all of his contacts and assets, everyone close to him doing the same, including Admiral Krispin who’d made a full recovery, but no one could find what had happened to her. It was like she’d been flung out of the system in an escape pod, never to be seen or heard from again. Nia’s stomach lurched at the thought.
That didn’t mean they’d given up.Far from it.Nia swallowed the new batch of nerves bubbling up her throat. Tomorrow would begin a completely new adventure.
Dee and Kessy stepped back, admiring their handiwork. From their expressions, they seemed pleased, but Nia looked down and all she saw were her nipples covered in blue.
“I cannotgo out like this.” She loved Mace with her whole being, but this was asking too much.
“Oh!” Dee hopped up and scurried to the rear of her shop. “I’ll grab the dress,” she said over her shoulder. “Newly fabricated this morning.”
Kessy’s mischievous smile should have warned her. When Dee returned with the garment, Nia’s jaw dropped.
“You’ve got to be kidding me.”
It wasn’t a dress; it was a blue mesh bag.
Dee frowned. “What’s wrong with it?”
“It’s entirely see-through! Everyone can seeeverything!”
Her friend’s frown morphed into a grin. “That’s the point.” She stopped in front of Nia and motioned for her to lower her head. The light material fell onto her shoulders, cascading down her body.
Surprisingly, Nia did feel more covered than she would have thought. Everything was still visible, but it felt like she’d donned shielding.
“Mace is going to lose his shit when he sees you,” Dee murmured.
If it were only him, Nia wouldn’t hesitate walking through the door and head straight to the arboretum where he waited. But knowing other guests waited with him made her bare feet feel like they were glued to the deck.
Thankfully, she’d been told the ceremony would be small. She hoped “small” meant the same thing here as it did for the CORE.
“Ready?” Kessy asked from beside her.
Was she ready to marry Mace?
Technically, they were still married, but Mace kept saying he wanted to “do it right” then would quickly add, “but only if you want to.”
There wasn’t anything she wanted more.
“I’m ready.”
With her friends on either side of her, they left Dee’s shop. The bracing temperature of the deck against her bare feet made her move fast. A few people walked the level, going about their day, but when they saw Nia, they stopped and stepped to the side to wait.
Tension climbed Nia’s spine.
“Don’t worry,” Kessy whispered beside her. “That’s normal. It’s out of respect for the bride.”
Even if everyone only stopped out of respect, it didn’t erase the embarrassing reality that they could see her nipples—whether they were covered in blue paint or not. Swallowing her nerves, she followed the two women who led the way around the atrium to the third level access of the arboretum.
Tiny butterflies danced in her stomach as they walked through the narrow corridor and onto a catwalk that ran the circumference of the arboretum. Moist air wafted around them, saturated by the scent of the trees and earth. It was quiet up here, the dust and rocks of Saturn’s rings reflecting through the crisscrossed lights above. Birds chirped and cawed, the noise of the atrium floating away behind them.
