Page 84 of Smuggler's Beauty

“You can do both.” Lillian shrugged. “Does the motivation really matter if the results are what you wanted and everyone’s happy in the end?”

Aiden laughed. He sat back again and let his shoulders shake as he realized the advice his mother was giving him amounted, quite succinctly, to “fuck it, let it go.”

Did it really matter how they met? Maybe Aiden would feel better about himself if he had found Evelyn in a grocery store, stealing bananas out of his cart, or if he’d bumped into her in line at a spaceport instead of a highly adrenalized escape from an isolated medivessel. The lingering doubts that had needled him since he’d had his realization earlier began to dissipate.

So he’d liberated her from political imprisonment. So what? The power dynamic established there was pretty neatly smashed by the fact that Evelyn was positioned to take control of an entire planet as its sovereign. Queens weren’t beholden to their rescuers.

Queens could probably do a lot better than smugglers who didn’t have any idea how to have a relationship that lasted longer than a few nights, who ran around the galaxy avoiding heartbreak and figuring out what they wanted to do with their lives by putting everyone else they loved first. Really, she was entirely too good for him.

If Vinnie hadn’t manipulated the whole lot of them into this quest for Tanalian freedom, Aiden would never have met Evelyn. The thought of not having her in his life now felt alien.

Maybe that’s because it was foreseen by that damn precog.

He could forgive the manipulation. Stars knew he’d finagled circumstances in any of a dozen cases to get the desired outcome for himself or a client. At least Vinnie’s desired outcome was vaguely more honorable than lining his credit account.

He could let go of the guilt he had piled on himself for failing to stay away from Evelyn for her own good. Who was he to deny her anything she wanted? If he were lucky, maybe she’d fall in love with him, too, before she realized how much better she could do.

Fuck a fruit basket, I should buy Vinnie an orchard. Or a vineyard.

“I needed that,” Aiden said. He got out of the chair and gave his mother a quick hug. “You’re right. It’s irrelevant.”

Lillian patted his shoulder and eased back from the hug so she could see Aiden’s face. She gave him a quick smile.

“For what it’s worth, we like her.”

“That’s worth a lot, ” he said, breaking the hug and turning toward the view screen. He gestured at the stacks of data Lillian had been sorting. “Now, walk me through this.”

Aiden had poredover the documents Lillian had been sorting for an hour before he thought his eyes were going to melt. Leaving the data to his mother, he went to the gym-turned-armory in search of another planning contingent. The usual sound of upbeat music that accompanied Nannette’s religious cardio was missing today, replaced by the sound of bickering. Loud bickering.

Nannette and Mathias stood in the center of the room at opposite sides of a folding table strewn with maps and file folders. There was a lot of pointing and hand-waving going on. Derisive snorts happened on both sides, their faces flushed, eyes bright with anger.

Veselko and Elenor were leaning up against a treadmill, watching the show. Veselko nodded to the communicator he was holding. Aiden checked his own.

I give it ten minutes before she stabs him. Your mom gave them fifteen before they make out.

Aiden was starting to get a little worried that Elenor was developing a gambling problem.

“Children,” Elenor said. “This can’t possibly be productive.”

“Thismoronhad an absolutelysuicidalsuggestion for the men on the ground,” Nannette seethed. She actually pointed a finger at Mathias, in case the moron she was speaking of happened to be in question. It wasn’t.

“It’s only suicidal if it doesn’t work. And it will. Probably,” Mathias said, looking appropriately embarrassed as he took in their audience.

Good, there’s more than charm happening here.

“Oh, because the great Mathias knows all,” Nannette said, wiggling her fingers. Derisive finger waggling was hard to nail, but every movement of her hands positively dripped scorn. Aiden was glad to see she was back on her game.

“That’s not what I’m saying,” Mathias said. “I’m saying that it’s an angle that could be explored, and it’s a calculated risk that may be worth taking. Which is why I brought it to your attention.” He turned to Elenor, the clear adult in the room. “Would you like to come and examine these maps? I have some thoughts.”

Nannette stomped her foot. “You are not going to be the reasonable one here. I’m reasonable!”

Veselko slowly approached Nannette the way one would approach a rabid raccoon with a fist full of dynamite. He laid a hand on her shoulder. “Hey, I’m super thirsty. Why don’t we go get some bottled water?”

She glared at him before turning to stomp out of the armory. Veselko winked at the table.

“She’ll cool off in a few,” he whispered as he left.

Mathias ran a hand through his hair, radiating frustration. He gave Elenor and Aiden a sheepish smile and adjusted the collar of his shirt.