Arloa stepped inside, then shut and locked the door. Jerry raised an eyebrow at her. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”

  “Why?”

  “You said to trust you. Trust me. You don’t want to be in here with me.”

  “Is it that bad already?”

  Clenching her jaw, Jerry stared down at Arloa. “What the hell are you talking about?”

  Arloa’s lips twitched as if she knew already. “You’re already feeling the effects of the virus. You’re struggling to control it.”

  Jerry growled. The sound leaving her throat was a surprise to both of them, but where Jerry hated it, Arloa seemed spurred on by it. Arloa touched Jerry’s hand, but Jerry ripped it away. “Don’t touch me.”

  Arloa frowned. “I have something for you.”

  Nothing would make this better. None of them would survive the week without vestigen, and Arloa had already told her she didn’t have any. Stepping away from Arloa, Jerry put space between them, afraid she might do something stupid if Arloa were too close to her.

  “Here.” Arloa reached for the small pouch attached to her waist.

  Jerry hadn’t even noticed it. She eyed Arloa’s small dexterous fingers as she pulled at the string and then took out a white cloth. When she unwrapped the cloth, red covered it. The scent hit Jerry first. She jerked her head to the side, her entire body tensing as the smell filled her completely. She knew exactly what that was.

  “How did you get that?”

  “It doesn’t matter.”

  “It does.” Jerry frowned. “Trust me, it does.”

  “On the way here, a crew member had an accident. He didn’t make it.”

  Jerry wasn’t sure if she believed Arloa or not. Accidents happened all the time on ships, but not usually ships as pristine as this one. Whenever they lost a crew member, they always tossed them overboard to let the sea do its work. Why wouldn’t Arloa do the same?

  “What happened?”

  “We hit turbulence, and he was in the galley cooking. The knife slipped. It was a slow death.”

  “Why couldn’t Maisie heal him?”

  “She wasn’t paid for them.”

  Jerry locked her gaze on Arloa’s face. “She was paid for us?”

  “No one else knows she’s on board.”

  “It’s her duty as a healer.”

  Arloa shook her head sharply. “No. We pay only for those we want healed.”

  “And you didn’t want your crew healed?” Jerry didn’t know whether to be offended or impressed by Arloa’s clear ethical miss. Stepping closer, Jerry pulled away the cloth to see exactly what she was looking at. Her stomach churned at the thought, not just of what she knew she was ultimately going to do, but that Arloa had done it as well. She may not have consumed whoever this was, but she had carved him up for her.

  “I didn’t agree to heal them in their contract.”

  “You are ruthless.” Jerry couldn’t tear her gaze away from the brain matter. It was only a small sliver, enough that it would sustain her but not give her a high.

  “Take it,” Arloa whispered, pushing it toward Jerry.

  With a deep breath, Jerry plucked the red mass from Arloa’s palm and shoved it between her lips. She didn’t chew. She didn’t try to taste it. All she wanted to do was swallow and move on. Arloa handed her a packet of water, something Jerry hadn’t seen her bring in. She downed it to wash the flavor from her tongue.

  “Thank you.” Jerry wasn’t sure she could look Arloa in the eye after that. She wanted to hide away at the embarrassment that raged through her. It was enough that she was completely infected with a virus, but to have to stoop so low as to eat another person in front of the one person she—Jerry stopped that thought in her tracks.

  Arloa moved in, her skirts brushing Jerry’s boots. “Talk to me, Jer. You’ve hardly spoken since we found you.”

  “There isn’t anything to say.”

  “There has to be. The way we left off—”

  “We didn’t leave off anything, Arloa. We’re not together. We fuck, sometimes, when it’s convenient. You gave me information that would benefit both of us, and so I took it and ran with it, and look where it landed me.”

  “But I came to find you.”

  “Yes, and you have wasted your precious time because there is nothing that can save me.” Jerry hardened her gaze, glaring. “I can’t be saved.”

  “I don’t want to save you.” Arloa’s lips parted as if she was offended, which had been exactly what Jerry was hoping for. She wanted to push her away, make her stop being so damn nice.

  “You’ve always wanted to save me. Why the fuck else would you go into that bar?”

  Arloa gripped Jerry’s hands hard, holding her in place as if she was going to bolt, which perhaps she had been about to do. Staying put, Jerry stared down into Arloa’s eyes. “Don’t talk to me like I don’t know you.”

  “You don’t know me.”

  Arloa blinked slowly. “You are stunning in your ability to be so obtuse sometimes.”

  Jerry’s heart raced. She ground her teeth together, bending lower so her lips were right against Arloa’s ear when she spoke next. “And you are stunning in your ability not to recognize reality.”

  “And what reality is it that you see? Hmm?” Arloa raised an eyebrow and turned into Jerry. “Because all I see is a lost woman searching for something, and I’m not even sure you know what that is yet.”

  “Fuck you,” Jerry cursed.

  “I want you to thrive, Jer. I want Raegina to thrive. That’s why I ran for Senate. We need new voices who care about the people.”

  “You don’t even know the people.”

  “Don’t try me.” Arloa glared. “I know far more than you think I do, and I understand Raegina’s politics better than you could imagine. I grew up in that world, and I have lived it far longer than you have. I will make change.”

  “Nothing will change.” Jerry’s upper lip curled in a sneer. “Nothing has ever changed, and it’s only gotten worse. We’re dying and no one gives a flying fuck.”

  Arloa pursed her lips, anger lighting in her eyes. They had never argued like this. They’d had verbal battles, but never a true argument. Jerry knew it was because she still couldn’t control herself, because she was embarrassed, and because she didn’t want Arloa to see her like this. Ever. She barely wanted Yafe and Azar to see her like this and she lived with them. They were her family.

  “Tell me, Jeraldine Adelric, do you truly want change in Raegina? In Penum? Or are you just going to throw your weight around when that change is made?”

  “Fuck you and your politics. Until you live like I have, you’ll never know what it truly means to be a citizen of our grand world.” Jerry went to move away, but Arloa’s hands on her arms were firm and held her in place.

  Arloa leaned up on her toes. “I know you’ve had a rough start to life, but before this virus, you were making a name for yourself. You were an owner of a ship doing legal work. Don’t think I know you chose that line of work without a purpose. You could have continued pirating as soon as you got out of Joab.”

  Jerry tensed. “How did you know I was in Joab?”

  “I am Joab,” Arloa whispered. “Well, my family is. I didn’t miss when we met last year that you recognized my name from that. We hadn’t been in the news during that time. I drew that connection on my own, and it seems as though I was right.”

  Jerry growled again, hating how Arloa kept backing her into a corner.

  “And you know what? I don’t care. I don’t care that you were in Joab. I don’t care that you run illegal jobs and pirate things. I don’t care that you aren’t from a rich family.”

  Her heart thundered. What the hell was Arloa getting at? Her mouth went dry, and Jerry wished she had another packet of water, but she knew they were likely in as short supply on this ship as they were everywhere else. “What do you care about?”

  “You,” Arloa murmured. “I care about you. Why do you think I spent weeks of my time searching these waters for you? Hmm?”

  Jerry stared down at her, still not sure what to say or how to break the moment. Instantly, the high from the hormones she had been lacking hit her. Within a second, she crashed their mouths together, turning Arloa to push her against the wall and cover her entirely. Jerry skimmed hands down Arloa’s body and back up, cupping her breasts through the corset. She kept it rough, knowing Arloa liked it with passion as she would say.

  Arloa moaned, the sound Jerry had dreamed of for months echoing in her ears. She’d longed for that sound, to be the cause of it, and here she was standing with Arloa against her. She nipped at Arloa’s lip, pulling it hard enough that Arloa squeaked, but Jerry didn’t let up. If Arloa wanted her, like she had implied so many times, then Jerry would give her want she wanted.

  Arloa dug her nails into Jerry’s sides, the thin material of her newly cleaned tunic doing nothing to protect her. Shoving one leg between Arloa’s, Jerry cursed the skirts she wore and readjusted herself.

  “You brought some to the others, right?” She breathed heavily as she pressed kisses with bites in between her words down Arloa’s neck to the tops of her breasts. “You helped them, right?”

  “Yes,” Arloa groaned, her fingers dug deep into Jerry’s hair. “Yes, I gave them some.”

  Jerry scraped her teeth along the tops of Arloa’s breasts, marveling at the red welts she left when she pulled away. Jerking back, she twisted Arloa around and pressed her front into the cold wall of the vessel. She tugged sharply at the ties to the corset, needing to have Arloa’s skin against her hands immediately. She didn’t want to wait. She couldn’t wait.

  Arloa stayed perfectly still while Jerry worked her clothes, getting the damn overskirt off first, then the under one, then the undergarments. Leaving the corset half undone, Jerry pushed her fingers between Arloa’s legs. She dripped.

  Biting the top of Arloa’s shoulder, Jerry shoved two fingers inside her. Arloa cried out, her eyes clenched against the intrusion, but in two seconds, she pushed back against Jerry. Smiling, Jerry trailed her tongue against Arloa’s unblemished skin, tracing lines from freckle to freckle along her back and connecting them.

  She took the slow route, knowing it would torture Arloa until she was begging for release, which Jerry would eventually give her. Arloa pressed the side of her face against the metal wall of the vessel. Jerry wished it was wood. It would feel so much better than the cold. She reached around Arloa’s front and cupped her breast, massaging as much as she could through the bones of the corset.

  Arloa let out heavy breaths, and Jerry knew she was getting closer. She rocked her hips in time with her hand until she added her thumb to the back tightly puckered opening they had never played with before. Arloa cried out, but she moved in time with Jerry.

  “Do you like that?” Jerry muttered harshly in Arloa’s ear. “Do you like being fucked like a whore?”

  Arloa whimpered. Jerry had no idea if what she’d said was something Arloa liked or not, but she wasn’t complaining so far. Her heart hammered in her chest, not just from the moment of sexual energy but from the hormones as they shifted back to normal and her body moved into balance again. As soon as it was in place, she wouldn’t be the person who was doing this.

  “Tell me,” Jerry ordered.

  Arloa normally gave commands as they fucked, telling Jerry exactly what to do, where to touch, how to please her, but she remained absolutely silent this time. As Jerry’s brain clicked slowly back into the place it should be, she stayed her pleasurable torment and did nothing new until Arloa caught her breath.

  “Clit,” Arloa murmured.

  “There’s my girl,” Jerry whispered before lowering her hand from Arloa’s breasts to between her legs.

  “Rub it. Pinch it.”

  Chuckling lowly, Jerry did exactly as she was told. This was why she loved fucking Arloa. They were on even footing, Jerry wanting to please in whatever way Arloa wanted, and Arloa telling her exactly what she needed. Both were absolutely open to the other, no barriers in place.

  “Oh, fuck.” Arloa’s voice was so quiet that Jerry almost missed it as she cried out her release. The tight pull against Jerry’s fingers was exactly what she had been hoping for, and as Arloa stayed put, Jerry thought about putting her through the rounds again. “I need to breathe.”

  “What?” Jerry slid away slightly, looking over Arloa’s face. Her cheeks were red, but her lips—they were not looking the right color.

  “My corset.”

  “Fuck.” Jerry ripped her hands from Arloa’s body and pulled the ties on the corset. She thought she’d undone it enough, but once she looked, she realized she’d tangled the ties and it had been pulling tighter with each breath Arloa had taken. She was about to grab for her knife to cut them when finally she got the knot loose.

  Arloa dragged in a deep breath of air, holding herself against the wall of the cabin with her palms on the metal. “Thank you.”

  Jerry snorted “For what? Fucking you or nearly killing you?”

  “That…” Arloa paused a minute, then finally opened her eyes to lock her gaze on Jerry. “That was the best damn orgasm I’ve ever had.”

  “Really?” Jerry raised an eyebrow at her.

  “Yes.” Arloa slowly turned around, putting her shoulders on the wall. She pulled the corset and dropped it down her body to kick it away. She stood completely naked in front of Jerry except for the heeled brown leather boots she wore, ones that were so pristine Jerry would know from a mile away that she was rich. “Fuck me again.”

  Jerry canted her head to the side as Arloa pushed her fingers between her legs, dragging her wetness on her stomach, the trail clear in the light of the room.

  “With your mouth this time.”

  Doing as commanded, Jerry got onto her knees. She gathered Arloa’s juices on her tongue, swallowing, and then latched her mouth onto her already-swollen clit.

  “Yes,” Arloa whispered. “I have missed you, Jer.”

  The feeling was mutual, not that Jerry could say that with her mouth on Arloa—and not that she would ever admit that to anyone but herself. Dreams of this woman had been what kept her going when she thought she was going to die—not dreams that they would see each other, but just the distraction from her reality.

  She would give Arloa whatever she wanted. When Arloa finally came again, she screamed. Jerry knew anyone in the vicinity of her cabin would know what they were doing in there, and she quite honestly didn’t care. Her crew knew she had sex, and they’d all done it a time or two where the others heard. The tight confines of ships were like that.

  Arloa slipped down the wall, Jerry catching her as they went. They kissed, this time messy and uncoordinated. Arloa’s limbs looked weak, as though she couldn’t hold herself up even if she wanted to. Jerry cradled her gently as they sat on the floor together.

  “I’m so glad I found you,” Arloa said, her voice barely loud enough for Jerry to hear her.

  Jerry didn’t know what to say in return. Was she glad? Yes. But she would have been glad even if Captain Blaise Lotchski himself had come back for her. She was just glad to be off the damn island of death. Arloa pressed a gentle kiss to Jerry’s neck.

  “I promise you that I’ll find a new drug. I’ll find something that will help you.”

  Jerry wanted to believe her. She really did. But there was that pesky word again, and Jerry didn’t know if she could trust Arloa.

  CHAPTER 4

  Jerry had all but moved into Arloa’s cabin. Not that she had much to move other than herself and the clothes on her back. They lay naked one morning, Arloa tracing patterns on Jerry’s chest and around her breasts and nipples. Arloa wasn’t meaning to incite anything, rather just absentmindedly thinking.

  This was the most time the two of them had spent together in an entire year. Jerry frowned at the thought. She couldn’t get this woman off her mind most days, and yet they had never spent more than a handful of hours together in the same room. That week, the journey back to Raegina had been an oasis in the middle of a storm.

  “What are you thinking?” Arloa asked so innocently.

  Jerry was not going to answer that question honestly. She stared at the ceiling and tracked another thread to follow. “The others aren’t doing as well as I am, Sacha particularly.”

  Arloa sighed. “I know. And they have inspections now.”

  “What?” Jerry furrowed her brow and faced Arloa. “What do you mean inspections?”

  “When a medical vessel comes into harbor, it’s inspected—including all of the crew and travelers.”

  “What for?” Jerry tangled her fingers in Arloa’s mass of blonde curls. She’d taken great pleasure in undoing the pins that held Arloa’s hair up a few hours ago, finding out just how much of it there was.

  Arloa took her time answering, flicking Jerry’s nipple before she spoke. “To avoid bringing the virus into port.”

  “It’s already there.”

  “I know, but they don’t want any variations of it.”

  “Has it mutated?”

  Arloa nodded slowly. “It has. I forget you’ve been gone so long.”

  Jerry swallowed hard. She wondered if Ursula had thought she was dead and begun the process to transfer her other ship into her hands. Frowning at the thought, Jerry knew she’d have to rectify that. “What’s the new mutation?”

  “It’s affecting more people.”

  “You mean the upper classes.”

  “Yes.” Arloa flicked Jerry’s nipple again before settling her hand on Jerry’s hip. She buried her face into Jerry’s chest and breathed deeply. “They’re working on a vaccination, but these things take time.”

  “Nice that they’re just now working on one,” Jerry muttered, even though she knew Arloa could hear her. The scientists and the government didn’t seem to care so long as it was only the unsightly creatures who were infected.

 

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