Chapter 7

"How old is he?" Sophia asked, a disbelieving smile on her face, "The Warlock is at least eighty years old, and he's probably one of the last vanships still operational. This mechanic of yours has to be a great-grandfather at the very least." The silent bulk of the ship behind her gave the lie to her claim of it being operational, but Bren let it slide.

"Thirty-two." He said, and her brown eyes widened as she realized just who he meant.

She watched him, wary now instead of mocking, but she still didn't believe him. He probably didn't look like the sort of man she was used to believing. Instead of wearing some ambassador's uniform, complete with pointless cultural accessories that no one had actually worn in a hundred years, he was standing in a mechanic's dirty jumpsuit. Without a doubt, he had oil and grease smeared on his face and in his short black hair. He forced himself not to run a hand over his hair and make it worse.

"I appreciate your offer, Captain, but I'm confident that I can get the Warlock running on my own." Sophia gave him a tight smile that didn't even attempt to look real.

Bren ground his teeth. He was on the verge of pointing out that he was her only option. There was no way she could get the Warlock airborne within the time limit that he gave her. Not without help.

But if he was the only mechanic who knew how to repair the Warlock — knew the ship itself intimately — then he was setting himself up to be the one working alongside her. A great part of him wanted to do just that. There was the attraction of the woman herself, which wasn't insignificant, but it paled next to the consuming desire to get his hands on the Warlock again.

He was a damn good captain, but on a ship as big and complex as the Silvana, that simply meant that he was a good negotiator, planner, and manager. It was like being a navi all over again, guiding the ship without ever getting his hands dirty. What he loved to do most was fix something that even the Silvana's mechanics had abandoned as too finicky or complex or pointless to repair.

And the Warlock had been all three. He'd loved every moment of getting the ship running so well that Carolina had started to prefer it to her perfect, soulless veloship. When he had finally figured out how to rig the Warlock so that it could be run by only a pilot, he had felt as though the world was at his feet.

Then the Warlock had crashed with Carolina in the pilot's seat. Bren hadn't even waited to see if the Warlock could be salvaged. He'd grabbed his clothes and his money and walked away from the entire thing before he could be hounded by hungry media or Anatorayen soldiers.

"Is something wrong? Bren?" Sophia was frowning up at him, interrupting his ugly memories. Though she barely knew him, her voice was concerned, and she hovered close, unsure how to help him.

At least in that respect, he'd been lucky. She was only superficially like her sister in looks, and completely different in personality. The problem was that she was offering him something he'd deliberately walked away from six years ago.

And he was going to take it, too.

He looked up at the Warlock behind her, understanding that he was deliberately waking up the past. The resignation was alloyed with anticipation, though. There was the ship, and the woman that came with it.

Finally he spoke. "I can't believe your father let you go out in that ship. Any ship." He corrected himself.

Sophia shrugged once. "The Forresters have always been pilots."

Bren made a sound to indicate he was listening, but he was juggling priorities in his head. Double-checking his options. Something he'd done since he started as a navi and mechanic, years ago.

Of foremost importance was the Silvana and her crew. That meant getting the time bomb that was the Princess of Anatoray off the ship as soon as possible.

"King Sikandar himself, my father I mean. He used to fly courier missions when he was younger." Sophia continued to tell Bren what he already knew.

She had put him in a tight corner with her threats in the negotiation room, so the only way to get her off the Silvana was to give her the information she wanted, repair the Warlock, and hope that everything didn't fall apart the moment she was back in Anatoray. He accepted that the Silvana was not welcome in Anatoray, but to be actively pursued by the Anatorayen military was something he had so far managed to avoid.

"Carolina also flew ships, which you know. She was a legendary pilot." Sophia was still talking.