Page 13 of Dark Destiny: The Fates' Bargain

"What?" Yaaf asked.

"Smack your lips when you found something particularly tasty." She tilted her head to look at him. "Do you still do that?"

He shook his head. "I didn't even remember that I used to do that. Some of the memories are still fuzzy. Some more than others." He lifted a pitcher, and as he poured water into his and her glasses, she noticed that his hand was shaking a little.

"What's wrong?"

He frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Your hand. It's shaking, and it can't be that the pitcher is too heavy for you."

He looked at his hand as if it was a foreign object, put it down on the table, and covered it with his other hand. "The drugs are wearing off," he said in a near whisper. "We need another dose, and we don't have one ready."

Her gut clenched with worry. "What are you going to do?"

"Nothing. I hope Petrov and Dimitri can set up their lab quickly and make us what we need."

"Will they do it here?"

Yaaf shook his head. "They will set it up when we get to America. There is no time to do it now."

"Can you hold on for so long?"

"We'll manage."

That wasn't an answer, but she had a feeling it was all she was going to get.

Partway through the meal, Jade and another woman who looked like her came with armloads of folded clothing and started distributing bundles to the women, Yaaf and the other seven, Petrov and Dimitri.

When Sullha's turn came, she looked at what had been put in front of her. The items looked brand new, but even folded she could tell that they were men-sized clothing.

"It's what we've got," the younger version of Jade said, catching her expression. "We have mostly men here, so that is what we stock. You ladies were a surprise addition."

"I'm not complaining," Sullha said. "Anything dry that smells fresh is wonderful."

"Shoes are the real problem." The young alien-looking woman pulled out a pair of thin plastic sandals from a bag that was slung over her arm. They were clearly cut for a man's foot as well. "Shower flip-flops are the best we could do on short notice. You'll have to shuffle instead of walk so you don't lose them."

"After swimming in a wetsuit two sizes too big, I think I can manage a shuffle." Sullha turned one of the flip-flops over in her hands. "Believe me, I'm grateful, especially since these are new. We never got anything new in the enclosure."

The woman's gaze flicked toward Yaaf, and she nodded at him, the way one warrior acknowledged another. "Number One."

"Drova."

So that was her name. Drova.

After she walked away, Sullha leaned closer to him. "Now can you tell me?"

"Different species. That's all I can say for now. I'll tell you everything when we get to our destination."

"We are not going to the same place," she reminded him. "Yamanu said there would be visits, but he didn't say when. It might take a while before we will be allowed to see each other."

His hand found hers on the table, warm and solid. "We will ask for it to be sooner rather than later."

She let out a long breath. "We can ask, but it's up to them to provide. We don't get to decide." She sounded bitter, and that was ungrateful given what these strangers were doing for them, but she was so tired of having no say in her own life.

"You are not wrong."

"I don't want to be right. I want you to tell me I'm wrong."