The Dream Thief by Kari Kilgore (books for 10th graders txt) 📕

"It will be done," Bill said. "When we arrive in Waldron's Gate, we leave him with his blasted letter pinned to his chest. Let that person see what kind of unstable mess he's gotten wrapped up with. Once we find out who's pulling his strings, I no longer have a brother."

"I'm sorry I ever dragged you into this, Bill," Loretta said.

"No, you have nothing to be sorry for. Rullin has betrayed my family far more than he should have been allowed to. You coming to me for help exposed a threat neither of us were aware of." The pilot turned to Karl. "I am once again in your debt for protecting Loretta, and I must add her grandmother and a young boy to the list. Please let me know if I may ever repay you. Goodnight."

Neither Karl nor Loretta spoke on the way through the narrow, dark corridors back to their smuggler's cabins, but she did hold his hand the whole way. He tried to focus on the warmth of her fingers, the way they fit so well with his.

The past several days, all of it somehow related back to this woman, threatened to block out the rest of the world. Rullin's sneer, Morgan's scream, Gemma's tears. The baby ’ster's eyes, Rhysto's threats, Bill's broken voice. The terror of the patient forced off of Crumble, Karl's own terrors and hallucinations doing the same.

Karl was afraid he was going to spend the rest of this long night reliving every awful moment. He couldn’t deny there'd been happiness, joy in his new surroundings. The thrill of learning of a wider world than he had ever imagined had been part of all of this, too. He just couldn't call any of that to mind.

When they got to the cabins, his mouth had the good sense to act without consulting his overheated brain.

"Want company tonight?" he said.

"I do, very much," Loretta said. "But not just anyone. I want you, Karl."

Loretta stepped into his arms, and everything that had been out of place between them vanished. He couldn't remember what had held him back even a few seconds before. He no longer cared to try.

This time, when Karl pushed the door to Loretta's cabin open, he followed her inside. He had no illusions that this was any sort of love, true or temporary. He simply needed to be with her and get away from everything he'd done. He'd deal with all the rest when the time came.

Chapter 35

Loretta woke, warm and comfortable enough that she had trouble remembering where she was. This wasn't her own bed or Gemma's house. She had to reach out and touch the rough wooden wall before she was convinced the smuggler's cabin on Bill's shaw could possibly feel so secure.

Karl stirred against her, turning onto his side with an arm around her waist. That was nearly as much of a surprise. After whatever ritual or routine he needed, they'd finally spent the night together, and not just sleeping back to back like they had at Gemma's.

The contrast to her first experience not far from her grandmother's house, and to her last experience with Rhysto, could not have been sharper. Karl had been the best lover she'd had for a long while. Not so rushed or inexperienced as those men who'd paid for her before she was old enough to leave school, and not nearly so close to violence and cruelty as Rhysto himself.

Well, best not to think about that right now. No one had ever lived up to the boss of the shaw pilots in a few memorable ways. The man beside her had done better than most who'd tried.

She got up slowly, wanting a little time to herself before Karl and everyone else woke. She dressed as quickly and quietly as she could, taking the excuse of moving around on the ship to wear her pants one last time before the return to Waldron's Gate's polite daytime society.

Rhysto. Loretta shouldn't have thought of him at all. If Rullin was telling the truth and it wasn't her former lover, who was behind all this nonsense? Even with Bess and all of her built-in security, Loretta couldn't possibly leave such interference unanswered. And the attack on Morgan, and the attempted attack on Gemma, was unforgivable.

Whoever it was would have to be stopped, at whatever cost it took. The calm, almost relaxed persona of the city dweller returning to visit country relatives was falling away with every mile they sped south.

Persona or not, Loretta wasn't returning after one of these visits as she normally did: with her grandmother seen to and some sort of new gadget ready to be installed in her house in Waldron’s Gate. She had no idea when she’d get back to the normal, private life she'd worked so hard to build.

Gemma was not far from Bill himself, settled in and sleeping in Rullin's former quarters at everyone's insistence. She wasn't coming for a quick visit, or even an extended stay like when she helped design Loretta's house.

As far as anyone knew, Gemma was going to be a permanent resident. She might even be a permanent resident of the same small house. Loretta set her shoulders, pulled on her cloak, and slipped out of the room.

Karl could turn out to be a problem himself, another thing she simply wasn't used to dealing with. Loretta was afraid Karl would be like so many other men, and a few women. He'd start to want to see her more and more often, to stay with her, to eventually want to live with her and have way too much input into her life. She was afraid he'd want to fulfill the same fantasies of marriage and motherhood Gemma was forever holding out hope for.

Loretta opened the door to the top deck, the icy wind making her glad she'd fetched goggles on the way up. The day was barely dawning, the gray of Fog on the horizon tinged with pink