Beauty and the Fleet (Intergalactic Fairy Tales Book 2) (14 page)

Woolly pulled out a key to the inner door and let her into the prison. He followed immediately on her heels. Apparently, he would be her chaperon on this visit. She was glad to see that her old cell was still empty. "Hello," she called. Four faces poked out of their cells almost immediately, followed by a chorus of "Sting". She walked down the line and touched each of their hands, giving greetings before turning back and stopping at Torch's cell. Woolly was content leaning against the wall near the door. Well, at least as content as he was capable of. His arms were crossed and he still scowled like he was ready to kill someone.

"Heya, Cap," said Beatrix, unsure what else to say. "How are you holding up?"

"Bored out of my skull, but at least now I have your wit to entertain me."

"It's a sad, sad day when you're depending on me to be witty. Sarcastic and bitchy I've got covered. I've never been too much with the wit."

He leaned forward and spoke just above a whisper. "Well, I guess I'll just have to rely on you for a sarcastic and bitchy escape plan."

Woolly took a step forward and snarled, showing one of his long, pointed fangs. Beatrix held up her hands in a submissive gesture and he slumped back against the wall. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

"Somebody had to test the limits. It might as well be me." He frowned and glared at the wall that was blocking his view of Woolly. "They have freakishly good hearing."

The rest of her visit was little more than idle chatter. They couldn't make any real plans without setting off the Woolly alarm. So, they told jokes and reminisced as best they could with bars and walls separating them. If Beatrix sat between two cells, they could have a three-sided conversation. She spread her time out evenly and actually started to enjoy herself once she could put the environment out of her mind. They closed her visit with requests. Mostly they just wanted something to entertain them. She promised to try and bring books on her next visit.

Woolly escorted her back to the outer door and gave her another of his signature grunts before pulling the door closed and leaving her alone in the wine cellar. By the time she hit the top of the stairs, her mind was already back on the book she'd left in the library. Unfortunately, her stomach had other ideas. It let out a loud gurgle. She checked a clock in the kitchen and found that it was almost four in the afternoon.

"There's no telling when he'll come back. He said evening, so that could be any time now. Nice job, Sting. You didn't even manage to make a plan and now it's too late." A small niggling voice in the back of her mind told her she was still making excuses. She silenced it with a promise of food.

In the refrigerator she found an assortment of strange vegetables, sauces, and a tub containing something that looked like tofu. She tasted little bits of everything and finally chopped it up and threw it all in some oil and made a stir-fry. There were a couple of bits burned in the name of slipping down to the library to get her new book, but all in all it was delicious, even if she had to say so herself. When she was done eating, she realized there was more than enough for another person to eat. She promised herself she'd put it away as soon as she finished the page that she was on.

Josh walked into the kitchen fifty pages later and started heating up the leftovers. Beatrix glanced up at him and felt herself smile at the realization that he hadn't interrupted her reading. She forced her smile off her face with some effort. He probably just cared more about food than giving her a greeting. She read a few more pages while he heated up the food. He made wielding a frying pan look graceful, despite the oven mitts he still wore on both hands. The pan handle didn't even get hot, so they were totally unnecessary. She began to suspect he wore them just to amuse her.

He put his food on a plate and sat at the spot across from her. When she couldn't take it any more and looked up at him, he said, "Hello Beatrix. How was your day?"

Damn it. He really was just being respectful. Now what was she supposed to do? "Wonderful for a day of captivity in the house of the monster that murdered my father." The venom in her voice surprised her. She'd actually had a rather pleasant day and it was probably that very thing that pissed her off. She wasn't supposed to be having a good time. She was supposed to burn this place to the ground and laugh the whole flight home. "How was your day?" She leveled her best glare at him.

His mouth flapped open several times before he got out a single word. "Fine." He got up and left the kitchen without another word.

Beatrix buried her nose in her book.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Beatrix resolutely ignored Pillow Dave that night when she went to bed and he tried to heckle her about not exploring the west wing. He eventually gave up and pretended to be just an ordinary pillow. He didn't even complain when she propped herself up on him so she could read the rest of her book.

The next morning she climbed out of bed and dressed in the new package of clothing in her bathroom. She was starting to get quite a collection. The day's outfit consisted of yet another blue dress, this time in a more modern cut. It was much more form fitting than the other clothes had been. She found herself admiring her figure in the mirror, and smiling at what she saw. If she didn't think too much about where the dress came from, she could admit that she liked it. It had nothing on the way her flight suit made her feel though. She missed the feeling of power she got when she was in the cockpit of her Talon.

Her morning trip to the library found an unexpected visitor. Josh was sitting in one of the leather chairs; the one Beatrix usually sat in, actually. She almost turned around and left, but she needed a new book if she was ever going to make it through the day. She'd finished the one she picked out yesterday. It was one of those books where the protagonist is an empty-headed waif, determined to find herself a prince. It was sweet at times, but there wasn't nearly enough adventure for her tastes.

Maybe she could just find some books for her friends and slip out without him noticing her. She read through the titles and even pulled a couple off the shelves.

"Those are all rather dry," called Josh, still looking down at the book in his hands. Colarians really did have disturbing hearing. "You'll find more exciting titles in this alcove. We like to keep our favorites close to our reading space."

Beatrix stepped out of the shadows and walked purposely toward the shelves in the alcove that were farthest from the beast. She put the completed book back in its place and purposely mis-shelved the other books in her hands. She heard Josh's book snap closed and the leather in the chair creaked.

"That book was lovely. We especially loved the princess. She knew what she wanted and she went after it," he said, commenting on the book she'd just finished.

"Are you kidding me?" retorted Beatrix. She spun to face Josh and found him grinning. "She was a complete dolt. It's a wonder she found her way out of bed in the morning. She only got to be princess because she had big tits." Josh's laugh made her cut the tirade short. "What's so funny?"

"We actually hated that book for the same reasons you did. We just leave it on that shelf because we really like the cover."

Beatrix glared at him. It annoyed her that she had such a hard time figuring out when he was joking. His facial expressions were too subtle. "It was a beautiful cover," she admitted grudgingly. "That's why I picked it out. You'd be surprised by how often it actually does work to judge a book by its cover."

"True enough. Though that tends to only work with much newer books. Older books have some really dreadful cover art. We'd be ashamed to have them on our shelves if the stories weren't so good." He stalked over to stand next to Beatrix. She held her ground, glaring at him, but he wasn't paying her any attention. His eyes were focused on the book in his hand. "Like this one," he said, handing it to her. "It's an amazing adventure. It's dark and gritty, but with a good sense of humor. And dragons."

The cover showed a man holding a sword so large that he couldn't have possibly swung it. Behind him a woman was sprawled over a throne in apparent ecstasy. It looked like really bad erotic fantasy. She glared up at him. He was messing with her again. "Come on. I'm not falling for that."

Josh's velvety laugh echoed through the library. It made her shiver, but it wasn't completely unpleasant. "We're serious. Read the first page. That's all it will take."

She flipped open the book and read, expecting a bodice to rip in the first paragraph. What she found was a sword fight with dark and witty banter. She finished the page and immediately wanted to sit down and continue reading. She kept her face schooled to neutral. "That wasn't so bad."

"If you read it, you'll have to tell me what you think about the—"

"Spoilers!" shouted Beatrix, and clamped her hands over her ears. The book thumped her in the head and she groaned. "Ouch." Josh had stopped talking, so she lowered her hands.

"Spoilers?" he asked, cocking an eyebrow.

"Don't mention anything in the book. You'll spoil the surprise of me reading it for the first time."

"Aaah, we see. Clever phrase. We will avoid spoilers." He smiled to himself at the use of the new word. "Does that mean you're going to read the book?"

Beatrix frowned and rubbed the sore spot on the side of her head. "Yes, mainly because I want to figure out how they thought this cover was appropriate."

"We look forward to discussing it when you've finished," said Josh.

Beatrix stalked off without another word. She didn't want to have another conversation with the beast. They'd become far too frequent. How had she just ended up taking a book recommendation from him? If she didn't read it, she could avoid the conversation, but that first page was really intriguing. She argued with herself all the way back to her room. By the time she got there, she decided that she would just return it and get a different book later. She cursed the beast for ruining her attempt to get some books for her friends.

When she smelled food a half hour later, she looked down at the book in her lap like it had ambushed her. Somehow her resolve had slipped and she was thirty pages into the book. She wouldn't have stopped reading if her stomach hadn't growled so loudly at the delicious smells. Beatrix put the book down on her bedside table with the horrible cover facing down, and padded to the kitchen.

Josh was standing at the stove, tossing something high into the air and catching it back in the pan. It smelled deliciously savory. Beatrix quickly hid her smile at the ostentatious oven mitts and sat down. The food turned out to be a scramble with some tofu-like substance. It was filled with vegetables and very meaty mushrooms. They both ate quietly, savoring the meal.

Josh cleared the plates and sat back at the table. "Did you start the book?" he asked.

"Not yet," she lied. Her cheeks immediately heated, so she stumbled on to cover it up. "That reminds me. Um. Would it be alright if I took some books down to my friends?"

Josh frowned. She could tell it was going to be a no. She'd expected it. "We don't see why not." Her shock must have registered on her face because his frown immediately morphed into his signature lop-sided grin. "They will have to be inspected to make sure you haven't written any messages in them, of course."

"Of course," she said. She still didn't believe that Woolly would allow it, but at least she would have some leverage when he denied her.

Josh pushed away from the table. "Make sure to seek us out when you've read
Song of Shadow.
"

It took Beatrix a while to realize he meant the book he gave her. The art was so bad that she hadn't even consciously read the title. "Uh, sure," she said when it was clear he expected an answer. She had no intention of doing so.

"Have a pleasant day," he said, and gave her a slight bow before stalking out of the kitchen.

"Did he just bow?" She scoffed. "That's just plain ridiculous."

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Beatrix finished reading
Song of Shadow
late that night and found herself pacing the floor, wondering where Josh spent his nights. None of the bedrooms she'd seen were occupied, but they all had the feel of guest rooms; far too sterile and small for them to be the master. None of the other soldiers slept in the house, so she assumed there was a barracks somewhere close by. He probably spent his nights there to be close to his soldiers. His warning to stay away from the west wing seemed far too vehement for it to be something as simple as his bedroom.

She debated looking around the house to see if she'd missed a wing or room somewhere. When she reached for the doorknob, she realized all of her wondering was because she wanted to talk to him about the book. It had gripped her like no other book had since she was a child. It was far darker and more violent than anything her father would have allowed her to read, and he was incredibly loose with his restrictions. Despite its darkness, it still managed to make her laugh out loud on many occasions. It was a curious blend that cried out for an in-depth discussion. She had gotten so carried away with her thoughts that she hadn't considered that she was planning to talk to the beast about it.

Beatrix stomped away from the door and flopped heavily on her bed. She scowled at the ceiling and fought the urge to hunt around the house for Josh's bedroom until her eyes drifted closed.

Beatrix found herself in the grand ballroom of the dream she'd had in the hospital room. She danced with the beast as she had before, except this time she didn't watch it as a spectator. She actively participated in the dance, delighting in the strong but gentle touch of Josh's hands; one in hers and the other on her waist. They smiled and laughed their way through a whole night of dancing. When Josh spoke, it was in a husky whisper that made her stomach flutter. In the beginning there was a strange dual nature to her feelings. She could still feel her revulsion and confusion at her actions, but after a few dances it disappeared.